Fanfiction musing…
Recently got into an altercation with a god-botherer in a review column on ff.net over the subject of whether dead characters should be shown enjoying an 'afterlife' in film or fiction to reassure viewers/readers. I disagree vehemently, even in a fantasy context. It is a form of sentimentality that I despise: it trivialises sacrifices made by pretending that they don't really matter - because 'something better' has happened to the people concerned.
Characters may believe in an afterlife, but to show it as unequivocally real is irresponsible. Even more disturbing are fics where real-world characters are depicted as escaping to a more interesting fantasy universe through being killed in accidents, murdered or suicide, & c - C S Lewis has a lot to answer for this unhealthy notion, and I wonder about the psychology of the fic writers who start their stories with tormented, abused young girls who kill themselves or are murdered and wake up in Middle-Earth or Narnia or wherever. If it's a reflection of their own needs, then they need help.
If I'm going to save canon characters, I try to do it in a normal, real-world way. "Pie in the sky when you die" (a nod to the beautiful Joe, there!) is not an adequate narrative solution or philosophy.
Characters may believe in an afterlife, but to show it as unequivocally real is irresponsible. Even more disturbing are fics where real-world characters are depicted as escaping to a more interesting fantasy universe through being killed in accidents, murdered or suicide, & c - C S Lewis has a lot to answer for this unhealthy notion, and I wonder about the psychology of the fic writers who start their stories with tormented, abused young girls who kill themselves or are murdered and wake up in Middle-Earth or Narnia or wherever. If it's a reflection of their own needs, then they need help.
If I'm going to save canon characters, I try to do it in a normal, real-world way. "Pie in the sky when you die" (a nod to the beautiful Joe, there!) is not an adequate narrative solution or philosophy.