The Masking Effect: What a Boring Main Character Can Do for a Story

The masking effect is used effectively in animated movies and comics. The viewer identifies with the character and see things through their eyes.

Lately, I’ve been wondering if the masking effect can be used in literature, too. Writers are told to make their characters interesting, fleshed-out, and fully developed. But can a bland, simplified main character pull a reader into a story? Can readers project themselves onto a boring main character?