by Todd Pheifer

Created on: April 11, 2008

The hero (or secondary hero) of the film sees that the situation is dire. Unless, something drastic is done, and done quickly, all will be lost and the quest will be a failure. The heroes will fall and evil will reign to the end of time. Therefore, in an act of courage and determination, the character launches himself at the enemy and sacrifices his life so that the rest of the "good guys" can get away or complete their heroic tasks. So goes many fantasy films as the writers create situations of self sacrifice. This is a way to pull the audience in, and tug at their collective "heart strings" as they view the cinematic action. This can result in a story that is either incredibly inspiring, or annoyingly "cheesy". Here are a few thoughts on the use of self sacrifice in fantasy films.

THIS IS A BIG DEAL

For one thing, this has to be a big deal. Oftentimes the writers of a film put the major self sacrifice at the climax of the film, after the audience has had some time to connect with the character. There may be elements of self sacrifice throughout the film or an overarching theme. However, the really effective moments of self sacrifice are those that occur when all seems lost and someone must save the heroes from certain peril. A good example is the actions of Boromir at end of the first Fellowship of the Rings film when he races to save the Hobbits against the attack of a hoard of evil characters.

I HAVE TO CARE

The challenge of portraying self sacrifice is that the audience has to care about what they are seeing on the screen. In other words, there has to be some sort of emotional connection with the character, so that when they make their sacrifice the watcher is actually touched. If the audience struggles to see the sacrifice or has difficultly missing the character, then the gravity of their choices may be somewhat lost.

Overall, self sacrifice in film can represent the key moment of the plot, particularly when the audience has made a strong connection with the character that is making the sacrifice. However, this can also backfire if the storyteller or the filmmaker is unable to effectively show why it was necessary for the character to sacrifice their life. If a character dies and the audience says a collective "oh well", then the symbolic impact is probably lost.

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