Death By Pragmatism: Difference between revisions

One of the wonderful things about [[Horror]] [[Film|Films]] is that the [[Jerkass]] ''[[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality|will]]'' [[Asshole Victim|die]] a gory and satisfying death, usually by machete or eating crow. However, it's not always the obvious things like [[Death by Sex|sex]], [[Death by Mocking|mockery]], or [[Death by Materialism|materialism]] that can do characters in, but... pragmatism?

First, it serves as an easy way to bring up and dismiss 'obvious' solutions, often via what amounts to a strawman -- it often wouldn't be a very long movie if the pragmatic character calls the authorities, has everyone sit together someplace safe until they arrive, and resolves everything in the first half-hour, would it? So the pragmatic character has to be dealt with, often accompanied by [[The War On Straw|excessive vilification]] to try and [[Straw Vulcan|tar their sensible ideas along with them]]. [[It Only Works Once]] is applied in spades here, too -- often the pragmatic character will be shown attempting to do some obvious thing that could ruin the movie (call the cops, [[Closed Circle|leave the area]], [[Never Split the Party|keep everyone from splitting up]], whatever); they'll fail and die gruesomely, and nobody will ever mention the pragmatic solution again.