Serenity Spoilers

[dlgood]

In discussion of the movie, particularly Wash's death - one of the more frequent comments I see comes along these lines - that Whedon kills a character showing that no one is safe, and that anyone could die at any time. It heightens the drama/urgency.

And I would say that, in context of TV shows this is somewhat true. Particularly early in the BtVS run when Jesse dies in the pilot though he looks like a long running character...

However, actually, over time I think the reverse is more true. Particularly with Wash's death in "Serenity".

In War Movies, in Horror Movies, in Action/Adventure movies... one death from a "credits" character is by no means beyond the pale. In Serenity we have stabbings, shootings, and so on... and only Wash dies. And actually, by then end, nobody else even seems to have been injured. Mal takes a stab wound to the gut (which should be crippling) and isn't even slowed.

Looking back, Whedon's genre shows have a level of violence that approaches Tom & Jerry levels. And for the most part, the violence really doesn't leave that big a trace. No post-concussion syndrome for example...

It would seem his character deaths actually are the reverse of the standard... The only reason Joss needs to kill characters to remind us that death can happen to main characters, is because death happens to his main characters far less frequently in his shows than it actually should. The character deaths aren't about making points about death - it's innoculation for the fantastical unrealistic infrequency of lasting injury relative to the volume of violence.