Reader Question: Is it okay to kill a child’s parents on-screen in a screenplay?
A question from Neil:
Thanks, as always, for these question chances!
I wonder what your take is on killing a child’s parents ON-SCREEN during a children’s fantasy film? The child in question (the protagonist) is 13 years old (and my target audience would be 11+ I suppose).
Essentially, this kid’s parents are murdered right in front of him (well, he’s in the next room and sees most of it). But we, as the audience, will see it happen. It’s a magical death, not as if they’re stabbed in the gut or anything.
He is then forced into a fantasy realm, so he is unable to deal with this straight away — it’s basically what the entire film is all about.
General conception is that this is a big taboo, since it’ll be “too horrific” for the child-dominated audience. At least, that’s what some producers would say, whether it’s true or now — the fear factor.
However I KNOW that children can deal with this sort of thing in a film and it’s certainly the right thing for the story, since it’s the kid’s most significant moment, so it certainly shouldn’t happen OFF-SCREEN.
Btw, this all stems from my hatred of children’s parents just being absent and us being TOLD (not shown) that they’re dead. I always find myself thinking “well, surely that’s the kid’s most significant moment? I want to see THAT!”
Any advice would be appreciated!
Neil, this appears to be a classic example of where commerce smashes up against art. Creatively, you have zero problem with showing the death of the child’s parents on-screen. You’re convinced that children around the age of 10 should be able to handle that type of thing in a movie. Moreover you’ve got a bit of storytelling zeal at work in that we’re told as writers ad nauseum to “show it, don’t say it,” but you ask why do so many damn movies do precisely the opposite when it comes to the narrative device of dead parents (i.e., the parents’ death happens off-screen).
On the other hand, you’re also able to put on your producer’s hat and say, “But… but… but… we simply can’t show the parents getting killed, it will absolutely turn off the audience,” essentially your fear of upsetting consumers — and generating bad word of mouth — at risk of trumping your artistic impulses.
You’re smart to — at least — be cognizant of the issue. I remember a story that producer Chuck Gordon told me about a movie — which name escapes me — that went over absolutely fantastic at audience screen tests… until it hit one key moment during a fistfight: Where one character jams another character’s hand down the drain of a kitchen sink and turns on the disposal. As I recall, it was an action movie, but back then (this was in the 70s), even action crowds were repulsed by such a graphic visualization of dismemberment. Point? Even one ‘bad’ moment can sour a story.
Re your situation, I’d say three things. First, much of it depends upon this particular plot point — the killing of the parents — and several narrative factors: where it occurs in the story, how it’s played out within the scene itself, the actual words you use to describe the event, the nature of the child’s reaction, the motivation of the Bad Guys, how they are portrayed, etc. There are probably a thousand-and-one ways to convey a character’s death on the script page. You will want to ponder thoroughly your various options, then when you’re done with the script, test it with readers to see how they respond.
Second, I’m inclined to support your thesis simply based upon one dynamic you mention in your question: “He is then forced [by the death] into a fantasy realm, so he is unable to deal with this straight away — it’s basically what the entire film is all about.” The parent’s death has to convince me, as a reader, that the event is so traumatic, it forces the Protagonist to project himself out of This World (Reality) and into That World (Fantasy). If I don’t buy that, then I can’t embrace the central conceit of your story. Therefore even on the face of it, I think you’re quite justified in visualizing the parent’s death precisely to sell the fact that the child enters into the fantasy world.
The final point is this: One of the most basic functions of a story is to provide a safe place for readers / listeners / viewers to enter and experience things they would not normally come across in their daily lives. For example, the movie Ransom, which has as its central conceit one of the worst nightmares a parent can have — their child being kidnapped — would seemingly be a story that would drive away parents. I mean who in their right mind would pay money to want to entertain that horrible possibility? In fact, it was a huge hit in part because it allowed parents to live through that an gut-wrenching potentiality without actually having to experience it in reality.
Roald Dahl recognized this. His stories, most of them aimed at children, are laced with ‘dark’ and scary themes. When he first came into prominence, he was criticized by many for exposing children to such frightful characters and circumstances. But as he explained, that was precisely the point: Children need to be able to feel those scary feelings within the safety of a story environment in order to develop the psychological tools to handle their transition into adulthood. Moreover children are actually quite fascinated by the darker, more mature subject matter, so why not provide them a context (i.e., story) in which to more fully take on and process their feelings?
So, Neil, while I haven’t seen the specifics of your story, I would say that you can follow your artistic instincts on this score and include the parent’s death on-screen as it were.
By the way, I recently had a conversation with my youngest son about an aspect of this issue: Why are so many notable child protagonists in books and movies orphans? Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, Annie in Annie, Harry Potter in Harry Potter. I’m sure readers could name a dozen more.
I have some thoughts on the matter, but I’d be curious to see what GITS readers have to say re that question as well as my advice to Neil.
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