Well, this sort of stuff can sometimes work in games, where a character is given a name, or even the outline of a personality, leaving character and player to merge. It works because gaming is interactive. You can change the actions of the lead character and his/her interactions with other characters.
This, however, does not work so well in books, and definately not in movies. You could argue that books can leave things to the imagination, but the interactions still have to be set, which means as much as you can project yourself onto said protagonist, her actions will still be that of a flat character.
It certainly doesn't work well in movies, where less can be left to the imagination.
In summary, maybe the author was aiming to do it, but it didn't work, and probably would never have worked in the first place.
This, however, does not work so well in books, and definately not in movies. You could argue that books can leave things to the imagination, but the interactions still have to be set, which means as much as you can project yourself onto said protagonist, her actions will still be that of a flat character.
It certainly doesn't work well in movies, where less can be left to the imagination.
In summary, maybe the author was aiming to do it, but it didn't work, and probably would never have worked in the first place.
