Monsters with fake fingernails are applauding...
Hi there, a really good friend of mine posted a great article about character deaths in TV shows on her website, so I thought I'd post some of the relevant/Interesting parts here. To read the whole post, go here.
"In a soap opera it’s all about connecting with at least one, preferably more, characters. Either because we see ourselves in them, we see somebody we would like to be, they amuse us or we love to hate them. They intrigue us because they are like you and me - just better. So, we want to laugh with them, cry with them and sometimes, sleep with them
While the last may be hard to achieve, the first two along other emotions are mandatory to keep people watching month after month, week after week, day after day. You think it’s the plot? Nope, sorry it’s not. I only discovered this recently by talking to earlier mentioned friend, whom we shall call Agnes. Agnes isn’t a big monster time travel fan and yet watches Primeval week after week and to say this right away, not to just torture me. To quote her “it was the [love] triangle” that got her. Through this love triangle, she got to love and hate other characters as well. The same I must say goes for me with House MD, it’s not the clever doctor in a hospital that is superbly sarcastic whom everybody seems to have the hots for, that got me watching, but the portrayal of a cripple “as it is”."
"As some may know in House MD as well as Primeval, main characters died. Now what does the crazy lady even want to say with that? Are all shows doomed to fail because of deaths? After all they happen in real life too! Yes, yes they do. Deaths in shows are sometimes just necessary because actors/actresses leave for whatever reasons but my rant is more about -how- they leave the show. We laughed with them, we got all horny when they took of their shirts and now we demand to grieve! Sudden death can be original and/or somewhat unexpected, that isn’t enough to make something good. Like exams, usually original and unexpected but that doesn’t make me like them. If you want to be all mysterious about the ‘why’s’ at least give me a grieving mother for the muse’s sake. Not just an interview as excuse, make your excuses in the show while getting the emotions as well as the plot up."
"After writing all this, I can’t help but wonder if it’s not lame plot lines I am upset about, but just the mirror author’s hold up against us, the audience. Are we really all that superficial that we don’t go into the depth of emotion is causes when somebody is leaving our lives. Not necessarily death but also with relationships. Be it that a love relationship ends or a best friend moving. Is it true that it doesn’t matter anymore? That for every loss there is a new gain? A new plot line in our lives? Most definitely but is today’s society so cold hearted to just wait for another episode of their lives and ignore the previous one?"
"Am I exaggerating? Of course I am but that is not the point of this way too long rant! The point is, that I went on this all wrong. Dear Agnes as well as myself aren’t actually ranting about producers fucking our shows up, we’re ranting about society fucking our emotions up. That we should not have, judging by TV shows that are just mirror images of our lives. Maybe, no, most definitely, artists of any sort are the real victims and only fellow artists can see that. Perhaps the sudden deaths of all these characters is a cry for emotions, to fill the holes trends left in us. A cry for help on stage while monsters with fake fingernails are applauding."
"In a soap opera it’s all about connecting with at least one, preferably more, characters. Either because we see ourselves in them, we see somebody we would like to be, they amuse us or we love to hate them. They intrigue us because they are like you and me - just better. So, we want to laugh with them, cry with them and sometimes, sleep with them
While the last may be hard to achieve, the first two along other emotions are mandatory to keep people watching month after month, week after week, day after day. You think it’s the plot? Nope, sorry it’s not. I only discovered this recently by talking to earlier mentioned friend, whom we shall call Agnes. Agnes isn’t a big monster time travel fan and yet watches Primeval week after week and to say this right away, not to just torture me. To quote her “it was the [love] triangle” that got her. Through this love triangle, she got to love and hate other characters as well. The same I must say goes for me with House MD, it’s not the clever doctor in a hospital that is superbly sarcastic whom everybody seems to have the hots for, that got me watching, but the portrayal of a cripple “as it is”."
"As some may know in House MD as well as Primeval, main characters died. Now what does the crazy lady even want to say with that? Are all shows doomed to fail because of deaths? After all they happen in real life too! Yes, yes they do. Deaths in shows are sometimes just necessary because actors/actresses leave for whatever reasons but my rant is more about -how- they leave the show. We laughed with them, we got all horny when they took of their shirts and now we demand to grieve! Sudden death can be original and/or somewhat unexpected, that isn’t enough to make something good. Like exams, usually original and unexpected but that doesn’t make me like them. If you want to be all mysterious about the ‘why’s’ at least give me a grieving mother for the muse’s sake. Not just an interview as excuse, make your excuses in the show while getting the emotions as well as the plot up."
"After writing all this, I can’t help but wonder if it’s not lame plot lines I am upset about, but just the mirror author’s hold up against us, the audience. Are we really all that superficial that we don’t go into the depth of emotion is causes when somebody is leaving our lives. Not necessarily death but also with relationships. Be it that a love relationship ends or a best friend moving. Is it true that it doesn’t matter anymore? That for every loss there is a new gain? A new plot line in our lives? Most definitely but is today’s society so cold hearted to just wait for another episode of their lives and ignore the previous one?"
"Am I exaggerating? Of course I am but that is not the point of this way too long rant! The point is, that I went on this all wrong. Dear Agnes as well as myself aren’t actually ranting about producers fucking our shows up, we’re ranting about society fucking our emotions up. That we should not have, judging by TV shows that are just mirror images of our lives. Maybe, no, most definitely, artists of any sort are the real victims and only fellow artists can see that. Perhaps the sudden deaths of all these characters is a cry for emotions, to fill the holes trends left in us. A cry for help on stage while monsters with fake fingernails are applauding."