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Posts published in “The world of science fiction”

Why main characters die – or: the rediscovery of self-sacrifice

Spoiler-Alert!

This article will be about the deaths of some of the main characters. Some heavy spoilers about Marvel's Iron Man, Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, VIII: The Last Jedi and IX: The Rise of Skywalker, as well as Logan - The Wolverine, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Lord of the Rings and the musical Hamilton are therefore unfortunately unavoidable!

When I think back to my last visits to the cinema, many exciting, thrilling and elaborate productions come to mind. No problem, no threat (e.g. the extinction of half of all life?!) is so great that the screen heroes and heroines would not and must not face it. One element, a certain motif, appears very often at the moment - at least in my opinion: important characters die. However, they are not simply killed by a villain, no, they sacrifice themselves to defeat evil and save the day. To save (human) lives.

Star Trek: How the encounter at Farpoint changed the fate of humankind

Spoiler-Alert!

This article contains heavy spoilers for the first episode of the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Encounter at Farpoint", and light spoilers for the continuation of the series.

The universe, infinite expanses - Star Trek has always meant one thing to me above all: longing for a future that is better than what we are currently experiencing on earth. Gene Roddenberry, the creator of the still-evolving franchise, managed to capture the longing for peace in images. Being the humanist that he was, he created a universe in which people have left the problems of the present behind, in which no child has to starve or flee from war anymore. Earth becomes a utopia.