Why is death in a movie immediately followed by a good outcome for a character, and is this realistic?
I’d like to start by saying that storytellers are doing nothing wrong by introducing a death as a plot device. In one of my books on novel writing, I remember reading that death was one of the examples. But the problem lies in the oversaturated movie culture that insists that death as a plot device already brings goodness and this is especially seen in movies.
In reality, death is never a plot device. Yes, it can help motivate, in special circumstances, but it’s not as quick and linear as movies portray it. In all honesty, how a person chooses to handle death is a choice. It can go south or north depending on the person’s mindset.
So when someone passes away prematurely in a movie, for example, a young woman commits suicide, or a child dies, you might find a lot of romanticizing of her death (think 13 Reasons Why) in popular culture. But in reality, suicide is highly traumatic.
A mother recently committed suicide in May in my area, leaving her husband and two young girls under the age of 10. I did know her, and I saw her on a regular basis, but I was not close with her. Despite that, her death was hard for me to deal with for several days because of the real ramifications that came with it. Movies don’t often touch on the mundane, maintenance parts that come after a death that are oftentimes the most hardest things to endure, accept, and overcome.
Movies like Soul food, Blue Beetle, B.A.P.S., and Corrina, Corrina (one of my favorite titles) and a bunch of other titles that I am having trouble naming right now are known (in my head at least) for using a character’s death as a plot device to “escalate” its storyline. Do I think it’s lazy writing? Yes and no. Yes because death is known as a huge emotion mover, and this technique has been taken advantage of for decades, maybe centuries. It can confuse viewers, especially children, if they believe that someone close to them dying will always bring loads of motivation, strength and realization. No because it works so well. No one will resist a wonderful story about someone who learned to overcome their worst fear by facing life without that person they loved so much by their side.
a case study: Corrina, Corrina
Unfortunately, I must critique a movie I’ve grown up watching since I was 10 and expose it for its death-as-a-plot-device shenanigans.
I am not sure why I love this movie so much, maybe it’s because I thought the actor for Manny was attractive at a young age, or maybe it is because I enjoyed seeing two races romantically fall in love. I can’t help it. I’m a romantic at heart.
The film begins with a death and ends with a death. But it’s the things in between that make this movie so swoonable for me. The way the couple just mesh together, their relationship is not at all explicitly confirmed or talked about, but rather suggested. They begin stealing each other’s cigarettes, discussing music together, watching television, and bonding over Manny’s seven year old daughter, Molly.
The death-as-a-plot-device part is that Manny’s wife has passed away before the movie’s events from something unexplained, and same with Corrina’s husband. Manny is interested in hiring a nanny for his daughter, to which Corrina replies, despite not having any experience professionally working with children. Manny sees a spark between Molly and Corrina and decides to hire her.
I believe it’s the romantic parts for me that make the movie so worthwhile. I don’t think using the wife’s death as a plot device is lazy writing (as of now), but I do think the father’s death was very lazy writing, because there is this huge argument between Corrina and Manny that breaks trust between him, and it almost seems like there are no repercussions to Corrina for lying to her boss and lover about his daughter’s school attendance. I would be very upset with her as well.
His anger was righteous, but I guess because of his father’s death, his heart was softened and he was more humbled to say he was sorry first, despite what Corrina had to say. He must have really loved and missed her, because he kept her glued cracked vase, the school picture Molly drew of her, and even talked to God and had real tears in his eyes while doing so. I just wish he would have decided to come to all those conclusions without the old gramps dying.
However, I didn’t say that the movie was terrible. They are actually some really good movies, like this one. But unfortunately I believe good writers depend on death too much to sell people on a story. It’s common knowledge that death moves people and makes them more emotional than necessary.
The main thing to learn is that as natural storytellers and examiners, we must learn to recognize the lies that movies like to sell us about realiy. Death is not good and it does not bring any goodness with it. The sooner we can realize this the better, because this trope in stories isn’t going anywhere any time soon…
Shanedra Writes Too Much 