McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

The Illusion of Danger

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Mickey Finn:
Oh, it was well done, but still unnecessary. ;) Whedon has this thing about killing off loved characters because he seems to think it adds to the story. While this is often true (Buffy's "The Body"), it doesn't quite feel right, other times. (Serenity, anyone?)

Kalshane:

--- Quote from: Mickey Finn on July 28, 2006, 05:12:43 PM ---Oh, it was well done, but still unnecessary. ;) Whedon has this thing about killing off loved characters because he seems to think it adds to the story. While this is often true (Buffy's "The Body"), it doesn't quite feel right, other times. (Serenity, anyone?)

--- End quote ---

I understand. For me, Wesley's death hurt (and he was one of my favorite characters on the show at that point, so it hurt a lot) but I understood it.

With Serenity, while I understand Joss' reasoning "If no one died, the last 30 minutes are nothing but a bunch of noise" the actual execution left something to be desired. I also think it suffered from the fact that he was trying to write to both the fans and the general public. For the general public, without the death, there's no tension. The death brings home that any one of these characters could die at any moment. For the fans, the death feels like a horrible betrayal, because they're already invested. I've come to grips with it in later viewings, but walking out of that initial pre-screening, I was angry when I was expecting to be feeling elated (It was the Big Damn Movie, after all.)

BigMama:
If you can accept the concept that there are things that are much worse than death, then you can certainly have an immortal character and still have a great deal of tension in the story. Especially if the character is immortal, but not invincible. Horrors!

Lord Arioch:
"Kid, don't threaten me. There are worse things than death, and uh, I can do all of them."   --The Plague, Hackers

Willowhugger:
Well I know this is necromancy but I wanted to make a statement because it reflects my views on the topic of book writing.  For me, the important thing about danger is that it isn't about whether the character will live or die but helping the reader identify with the main protagonist.

Highlander the series had characters whom were immortal but because they feared death at the hands of their enemies and had all the other mortal foibles, they were able to be identified with.

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