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Preventable Deaths

Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 18, 2025
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There's nothing more frustrating when a character dies from a situation that had no reason occuring except perhaps that the writers wanted to be edgy and make the story have more gravitas with a random death that's forced into the plot.

I've talked often over the years of writing these articles about death as a trope and how powerful it can be as well as how much it can come across as cheap if used superfluously or as a gimmick.

But what if the preventable death… is supposed to be preventable?

One of the most iconic occurences in comics is that which yielded Spiderman's motto:



no, wrong gif, I meant this:



But I used both gifs because they wrap up the transformative sequence where a preventable death (in this case Uncle Ben's, from the domino effect of Peter not stopping the thief) creates a powerful motivation in the character impacted by it.

But that's not the only type of preventable death (or deaths) that can be used in a story. Anyone remember this? Of course you do, especially if you're a GenXer or Millenial, it was sheared into our collective brains with a frigging hot iron:



There's nothing uglier or more impactful than the preventable death of a child. I was part of a generation that to a big extent grew up to hate war (and fear it- especally nuclear war) because of movies and books that tore our hearts apart showing us exactly what it really was: an endless litany of preventable deaths.

(and then we also watched GI Joe and Rambo, but that's just part of the dissonance we were bombarded with)

If used correctly, preventable death (of anyone, from animals to humans to even trees or whole environments) can have a lasting, powerful impact and give a nearly unforgettable message to an audience. What that message is depends on the storyteller, but it always points at the reason the death was preventable yet still occured as a damning, irredeemable sin. Whose sin? Again, that depends. It depends on the framing of the story, the characters that suffer through it, and those who allow it to happen. (Real Life is no different, but it's hard to pay attention to preventable deaths around us if they're not happening to us. A haunting notion maybe, but perhaps too relevant these days. I dread to imagine what can make us collectively pay attention, to be honest.)

And with that, I leave you with a cover I adore of a song that I love and which encapsulates exactly the feeling of what preventable death as a trope should add to a story and do to you as the audience:

1916


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comment

anonymous?

bravo1102 at 11:35PM, Jan. 19, 2025

What if resurrection is an everyday occurrence? Hackneyed is the only way I know how to write. It's what I do.

PaulEberhardt at 1:19PM, Jan. 19, 2025

Preventable, senseless, waste of a life... It's a trope designed to make you feel pain, indeed. I used it, too, and while I had an uneasy feeling about it at first, I must say in hindsight that it was a right decision. It makes the whole story work, but only (I think) because I used it scrupulously. I don't like death getting hackneyed in stories, with people dying all the time without provoking much of a reaction by anyone, characters getting resurrected again and again as if that was an everyday occurrence, that kind of stuff.

Tantz_Aerine at 2:04AM, Jan. 19, 2025

Hushicho: sorry it retraumatized you but at this points 'spoilers' for Grave of the Fireflies is not a thing, it's a 1988 really well known movie.

bravo1102 at 1:45AM, Jan. 19, 2025

There is a deep unspoken irony in Interstellar Battle Girls. Death has been almost taken out of blood sport that is "to the death" and it happens in the aftermath of a massive bloodletting that didn't need to happen but no one talks of it.

bravo1102 at 1:14AM, Jan. 19, 2025

There are no spoilers possible with Grave of the Fireflies if you just know the history. There are no spoilers in war. Everyone and everything dies. The final scene from Black Adder Goes Forth. The whole series is about avoiding death and how leaders sent them anyway into the mud and wire and machine guns of 1 July 1916 and 31 July 1917 when Haig did it all over again at Passchendale.

hushicho at 12:08PM, Jan. 18, 2025

Death is usually stupid in stories. It's always manipulative to some point, and it's truly something that can easily shatter any investment in a story. It's playing with things most writers can't really do well, but they think it works because they get a reaction. It's also become one of the most problematic parts of awards, because so many sad writers noticed how easy it was to win one when they write a story involving death for kids, that no kid enjoyed. Also, please don't post images like the one from Grave of the Fireflies, that just brings back trauma and it's also A HUGE SPOILER.

UnderTheBlackHat at 6:59AM, Jan. 18, 2025

Wow.. Had not seen that Motorhead cover by Sabaton... We think Lemmy absolutly would have approved. As for the unnecessary deaths. We agree, it is often misused and abused by writers that are thinking they can add gravitas to their story, it's use can be a cheap shot at the audience or, if planned and written correctly a catalyst for some serious storytelling.

TheJagged at 6:46AM, Jan. 18, 2025

I have a rule i swore i would never break for every story i write: When a character is dead, it stays dead. Forever. No resurrections, no time travel, no clones, no alternate dimensions. Dead. Forever. Especially if the death had an emotional impact in the story. I still remember the day when the Sailor Scouts valiantly gave their lives in the final battle, only to be inexplicably resurrected by the end. My 9 year old self was SO pissed. I was deeply emotionally invested into this show, and felt so betrayed by this cop-out of an ending. Let stories have consequences, damn you.

TheJagged at 6:35AM, Jan. 18, 2025

And then that death didn't matter anyway, because they retcon all the deaths in the third sequel.

Banes at 6:16AM, Jan. 18, 2025

Oh, man. Heavy thoughts. Deaths where the tragedy is made worse when "This didn't need to happen." I actually don't know the image with little Setsuko. Missed it somehow but feel compelled to find that one now.


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