And the 'Joss Award' for heartbreaking fictional loss goes to...? (Spoilers) by NervousPete

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

And the 'Joss Award' for heartbreaking fictional loss goes to...? (Spoilers)

POSTED BY: NERVOUSPETE
UPDATED: Thursday, October 20, 2005 15:29
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Thursday, October 20, 2005 1:28 PM

I loved Serenity. Even with Wash's death. I love a show or a film that can make me feel deeply, and I didn't see Joss's decision as a cheap trick at all. Narratively, thematically and emotionally it made a lot of sense to me. Yes, I blubbed the first time I saw it. Sniffled a bit the second time too.

People we love die in films, shows, books, poems and even songs. It's a poor story that shows something worth fighting for, but not the consequences. There always has to be a price, and if the writer and the rest of the team do their jobs, it will always hurt. Wash hurt.

But then I had already had my heart broken before.

Neil Gaiman. Sandman. 'The Wake'. Probably the most elegant and moving thing I've ever read. Essentially a long funeral paen and recovery from the death of a character the reader has followed, feared, loved, hated and ultimately cherished through a prior 66 issues. It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone, the conclusion, for it's inevitability is signposted for much of the journey, but it's still a shock and tore my heart out at the time.

"And some of them spoke, that day; and some of them were silent.

But we do not need to recount every sermon and eulogy. After all, you were there. You may have forgotten, in your waking hours, what you heard that day--

But you will remember it, in the soft, lost, slumbering moments between waking and true sleep:

...Remember the whispering voices of the Gods of Earth and Heaven,

... the piping laughter of innocent chaos,

... the frightened rustling of cold order...

The voices of the living. The voices of the dead.

They will haunt your sleep until you die.

And, because this is a dream -- you must never forget that this is a dream -- you are not surprised when, without any gentle transition, but as matter-of-factly as any dream discovery -- the mausoleum is no longer a mausoleum. You - all of you - are now standing upon a bridge.

Has the building become a bridge? Was it always this way? Or have you left the mausoleum far behind on some dark transitional journey?

You cannot tell...

But what you had mistaken for a bier is now, unquestionably, a boat.

Now the girl in the red dress talks to you all, as the boat begins its passage down the slow stream.

And her words make sense of everything.

She gives you peace. She gives you meaning.

And she bids her brother goodbye."

Neil Gaiman - 'The Sandman: The Wake'

So, prior to Wash, who did Death take away to make you cry so? And why did it mean so much?

Pete

P.S:

Title edited for the seven Firefly fans out there who still don't know the shocker in the tale of Serenity. Probably six now, actually.

"If you can keep your head whilst others... eurgh! Ack! I've spilt my ink! Ugh! Ink on my trousers! Agh! Ink on my shirt! My only hope! The window! Aieeeeee!" (Falls to death)
- Jonathan Nash

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Thursday, October 20, 2005 1:40 PM

EMBERS

Quote:
Originally posted by NervousPete:

So, prior to Wash, who did Death take away to make you cry so? And why did it mean so much?

well I cried when Frodo was killed...
but that was just a fake out at the end of 'Two Towers' and we learned that everyone lives in 'Return of the King' (I thought that that was a cheap ploy)....

I really cried when Beth died in 'Little Women'

and when they shot 'Old Yeller'

But Joss is the MAN for the painful horrible deaths...

of course I mostly cry for Buffy's Mom when I hear Anya's speach...

and I mostly cried for Jenny Calendar's death when we see Gile's apartment (with the rose petals...)

and I cried more over Wesley's death (when Illyria pretends to be Fred again) than when Fred actually dies,
although the song at the end of 'Hole in the World' when everyone is mourning and we see the flash back of Fred driving away from her parent's home...THAT was really moving.

I have to say that when Joss kills off someone, it remains really moving and beautiful no matter how many times you watch it again.

**********************************************
watch the R. Tam Session vids: http://www.hittarivertam.nu/
and buy the 'Serenity' comics published by Dark Horse!

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Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:04 PM

JACQUI

Well, if we're ruling out Joss himself, then my vote for the Joss Award goes to..

James Clavell, for killing Mariko in "Shogun". Seriously, that book never fails to slay me when she dies, but more so when Blackthorne gets her letter.

*~*~*
"Your toes are in the sand."
"And your head's up your..."
"Hey!"

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Thursday, October 20, 2005 2:12 PM

DONCOAT

I want to make a couple nominations for the opposite award: fictional deaths that were supposed to matter but didn't move me a whit.

-- Boromir (in either book or movie). Good riddance.

-- Tasha Yar. Oh, please. I cared more when the scientists tried to take Data apart.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ain't about you, Jayne. It's about what they need.

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Thursday, October 20, 2005 3:29 PM

SBZ

Farscape ripped my heart out a couple times - more times than anything else I had ever watched or read before. It was, in fact, the first fictional creation that actually made me cry.

Do I need to go through the list? Probably not, but I will. If anyone hasn't seen all of Farscape and the miniseries, avert your eyes now!
Aeryn at the end of season two, it still hits me and I choke up a bit during the funeral. Zhaan in the beginning of season 3. Crichton near the end of season 3. Talyn and Crais, to a lesser extent, at the end of season 3 (season 3 was a bad year, emotionally speaking). Season 4 had all kinds of emotional upheavel but no one died. D'Argo in the mini-series.

And there are a few episodes that just kill me because of what's going on but... well, if I get into it I'll be here for *hours*!

SBZ

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