donutsweeper (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
donutsweeper) wrote2016-04-12 09:50 am
donutsweeper) wrote2016-04-12 09:50 am
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Supposedly nothing is certain except for death and taxes....
Except on tv when it's just death, death and more death (and often fake death and presumed death and 'oh look it was death but now they're back' death, etc.) Add in some rape, extreme violence and nudity and writers' and producers' smile, with the idea of the big ratings these 'can't miss' episodes will bring.
I've watched soap operas on and off for YEARS. Decades even. And they use those kind of plots a lot to drive up ratings and propel the story along. In fact, the very first time I every remember watching an episode of a soap someone died. I was a little kid, home sick from school unsupervised, so of course has taken the opportunity to spend some time with the usually highly relegated boobtub.
Hero and villain were fighting and the bad guy won and shot the good guy, who fell off a cliff and onto the beach below where he managed to die heroically in his brother's arms right after telling the brother everything he'd need to go save their lady loves from the evil guy's clutches. Later, after saving the women, brother returned to collect the body only to find the beach empty, the hero presumedly having been washed to sea.
Now, I may have been a kid, but I was a cynical little thing and I still vividly remember thinking how oddly convenient it was that the body was missing. In news that will surprise no one, it turned out I was right and several years later hero returned to town as an amnesiac. (Because this was a soap, a decade or so after the return it was revealed the now-remembered-everything-not-dead-hero was actually not the actual hero, but someone brainwashed to think he was and actual hero actually returned, but that's neither here nor there.)
I'm not sure if it's a result of that or just my general cynical nature, but deaths and other big events often don't have the impact on me that they're supposed to. Sometimes I find that instead of crying I just feel used or annoyed, that tptb were jerking us around and trying to play with our emotions but taking the easy way out and going for the wrenching drama/shock/surprise vs taking the time to craft and build true emotions and heartfelt response.
From Wednesday to Monday in five shows there were four main characters killed, one who came back from the dead, one raped, one who committed rape, one dismembered and one who betrayed another. I know the various episodes were supposed to feel dramatic or something, but all I can think is 'huh, must be sweeps month.' (The fandoms, btw, were Arrow, Sleepy Hollow, SPN, Grimm and The Magicians.)
I don't thinks it's a result of sexism, racism or homophobia or anything like that. It's just laziness and taking the easy way out and it is just so frustrating. Come on writers, you can do better than this.
I've watched soap operas on and off for YEARS. Decades even. And they use those kind of plots a lot to drive up ratings and propel the story along. In fact, the very first time I every remember watching an episode of a soap someone died. I was a little kid, home sick from school unsupervised, so of course has taken the opportunity to spend some time with the usually highly relegated boobtub.
Hero and villain were fighting and the bad guy won and shot the good guy, who fell off a cliff and onto the beach below where he managed to die heroically in his brother's arms right after telling the brother everything he'd need to go save their lady loves from the evil guy's clutches. Later, after saving the women, brother returned to collect the body only to find the beach empty, the hero presumedly having been washed to sea.
Now, I may have been a kid, but I was a cynical little thing and I still vividly remember thinking how oddly convenient it was that the body was missing. In news that will surprise no one, it turned out I was right and several years later hero returned to town as an amnesiac. (Because this was a soap, a decade or so after the return it was revealed the now-remembered-everything-not-dead-hero was actually not the actual hero, but someone brainwashed to think he was and actual hero actually returned, but that's neither here nor there.)
I'm not sure if it's a result of that or just my general cynical nature, but deaths and other big events often don't have the impact on me that they're supposed to. Sometimes I find that instead of crying I just feel used or annoyed, that tptb were jerking us around and trying to play with our emotions but taking the easy way out and going for the wrenching drama/shock/surprise vs taking the time to craft and build true emotions and heartfelt response.
From Wednesday to Monday in five shows there were four main characters killed, one who came back from the dead, one raped, one who committed rape, one dismembered and one who betrayed another. I know the various episodes were supposed to feel dramatic or something, but all I can think is 'huh, must be sweeps month.' (The fandoms, btw, were Arrow, Sleepy Hollow, SPN, Grimm and The Magicians.)
I don't thinks it's a result of sexism, racism or homophobia or anything like that. It's just laziness and taking the easy way out and it is just so frustrating. Come on writers, you can do better than this.
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Stacey
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Yeah, I can still be moved by deaths too, but I think you hit the nail on the head- it's just about topping themselves, about pushing the envelop, rather than about the stories, characters or fans.
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In other words, the death has to feel inevitable rather than arbitrary. It has to feel like the inevitable outcome of all that character's actions/choices, as well as the actions/choice of the other characters.
Otherwise, the readers--or in this case the viewers--will smell a rat. They'll feel manipulated instead of sad.
It's been a long time since a death on a TV show felt inevitable.
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Stacey
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Stacey