Who Dies?

Excerpts from Variety -

‘Anyone Can Die?’ TV’s Recent Death Toll Says Otherwise

Women of color, men of color, LGBTQ characters and white female characters have been killed off left and right. None of that’s new for TV, but the sheer volume of these deaths — a number of which were shocking for the wrong reasons — has been notable. When considered as a whole, it’s difficult for the suspicion that these characters are expendable not to harden into belief.

A lot of shows pride themselves on the idea that “anyone can die,” but is that actually true?

It doesn’t feel true when a large number of LGBTQ characters die in a matter of weeks.

It doesn’t feel true when a network TV drama, “Sleepy Hollow,” kills off its African-American female lead in order to provide motivation for the show’s white, male lead — whose lifespan, its worth noting, now stretches more than 200 years and counting. (There are reports that actress Nicole Beharie wanted to leave the show, which is understandable, given how poorly the show’s narrative and character development has been handled since early in season two.)

It doesn’t feel true when, in recent months and years, I can think of dozens of gay, female and non-white character deaths that were used to prod growth or vengeance in white, straight or male characters — but I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve seen that dynamic play out in reverse.

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Who does die? This year, dozens of lesbians and bisexual women have died on various shows, among them “The Vampire Diaries,” “The Walking Dead,” “Empire,” “The Shannara Chronicles,” “The Magicians” and “The 100” (which also recently killed a character played by a black male series regular). In the last two weeks, notable women died on “Hap and Leonard,” “Vikings,” “Arrow” and “Sleepy Hollow.”

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But the real problem is this: who’s telling the stories. Just as certain kinds of characters appear to be protected, TV’s creative leadership tiers are dominated by certain kinds of people. Who wants to take a bet on whether these two issues are linked?

http://variety.com/2016/tv/opinion/tv-deaths-walking-dead-the-100-arrow-1201751968/