Today's coined word: Literothanatophobia

[dianeduane]

Or, "The fear of death in literature."

A British book retailer plans to set up a counseling hotline for all heartbroken fans of Harry Potter, in case he dies in the much awaited next book.

As a former psychiatric professional, I can kind of see the point.  ...But I do start wondering, sometimes... Are human beings actually less robust, more fragile, than they used to be -- or are we just being encouraged to believe we are? 

And I remember clearly the resilience and fortitude of my younger patients as compared to the so-called "adults". The kids were endlessly more pragmatic and better at handling pain than the grownups. Any bets on the percentage of over-eighteens who wind up being counseled, as opposed to the under-eighteens?...

Comments

[antikythera.livejournal.com]

'People who don't read much' doesn't mean 'people who don't consume fiction'. Do you mean that this demographic didn't watch TV or movies either?

[squirrelette.livejournal.com]

Give someone enough prompting that they require support to deal with a situation and they will begin to believe it before it has even happened.

I always cry at something in LOTR and I've read that for years, I cried at Bambi when I was little and at the end of Shanghai Triad as an adult. I'm good with crying at fiction. But traumatised, no. I can go back and watch or read those again and know I'll have an emotional response. And none of that sets you up 100% to cope with having a parent/spouse/friend die. Counselling or no, death is fact.

[the-lone-jen.livejournal.com]

I blame this trend, as I do all things, on the Advent of Leisure time. People ahve to much time to think on these things rather than just cry their river, build a bridge and get over it. And I say that as a person who wept openly when they killed Tasselhoff Burrfoot in Dragons of Summer Flame, and every damn character that died in the Young Wizard's universe. I don't think less of myself for that empathy, but I would definitely expect someone to smack me if I let it control my life.

Re counselling

[jaxomsride.livejournal.com]

I thought that that was what fanfic and "alternative universe" were for.

[liasbluestone.livejournal.com]

Ah - a parent after my own heart (but you knew that anyway)

[csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com]

I was about to say, most of those mothers haven't discovered the Harry/Draco slash on their daughters' computers yet.

Well, at least Equus will mean an uptick in centaur/Human porn..... *snerk*

[alethea-eastrid.livejournal.com]

At the risk of opening myself up to a nasty arguement, I'm going to contend that there is--or can be--a different level (or possibly type) of emotional intensity attached to characters in books as opposed to those on screen. It's simply more work, mental and emotional and even time-wise, so that one is inclined to value the product--the assocaition with the chracters and the narriative--more highly. Becuase you're doing so much more of the world-building yourself (in your head) the narriatve world you construct is also going to be more attractive--however good the production team on a TV show or movie is, there are going to be so many more places where they can jar you out of the story (my pet bugaboo is bad green-screen work, or digital manipulation that can turn a perfectly reasonable shot into something that looks like bad green-screen work--Peter Jackson I'm looking at YOU!)

So I think dhole's contention is perfectly reasonable.

[tysolna]

I am so glad that I am not the only one who's thinking this! :-D

(I also hate typos *G*)

[gramina.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I figured out why I had a disturbed reaction to this, and it actually doesn't apply in most cases. (So it was useful to realize.) ((The only person I know who was exposed to animal-slaughter and dressing was exposed to it in a context of violent domestic abuse; because of that context, there was an implicit threat -- "look what I did to *this* animal..."))

I think in a loving setting, learning that animals die so we can eat, and we should take the best care we can to make sure that's no more awful for them than it has to be, and then use every single part of the animal we can (and here's how!) is a very very good thing :)

[csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com]

JKR did the male fanbase a great disfavour the day she left the centaur fillies out of the books. ^_- And there hasn't been enough imagination to really make it worthwhile in fanfic.

Having said that, a librarian friend of mine just lent me a P.C. Cast book that features modern girl engaged to hot centaur man (who can transform into regular hot man). Not bad.

[csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com]

I remember when someone was unexpectedly offed in The West Wing. In real life, a state legislator got up to pay tribute to the character.

So, it's not just the geeks that will do crazy things if one of the fictional set goes down.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

And none of that sets you up 100% to cope with having a parent/spouse/friend die.

So true.

[tysolna]

Oh dear... I am sorry my comment disturbed you; it was not intended to do that.

I did half of my growing-up on a farm, so the connection between fluffy bunnies in the morning and rabbit for dinner was always there without me being unduly conscious or upset about it.

And I completely agree with you on your last sentence!

[sclerotic-rings.livejournal.com]

Oh, you betcha: I remember the same phenomenon with the first set of Star Trek films. With one noted exception (my high school prom date, who went completely ballistic when the Enterprise went Em-See-Squared at the end of Star Trek III, I noted that diehard fans of the show and films who were under 30 when Star Trek II came out handled things a hell of a lot better than the ones who were over that age. (Of course, I'm a fine one to talk: I still bawl my eyes out at the end of Alien, when the only interesting character in the whole film besides the cat gets blown out the airlock.)

[tortoises.livejournal.com]

I can't wait to see Harry die. Heh.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Overall, wealth and leisure have increased, while human nature remains the same, and this kind of navel contemplation, this silly use of time and concern, is the natural result of the wiggle room created.

[meijhen.livejournal.com]

I honestly don't understand this. There is some bizarre dynamic out there now, that must have to do with the current generation of parents wanting to shield their children from...well, everything.

I read "Bridge to Terabithia" in elementary school as required reading. There was no counseling for us! (Oh, and I've heard no word on if that particular story is going to be altered by Disney for the movie...)

What about "Ol' Yeller?" "Where the Red Fern Grows?" "The Red Pony?"

All of these are stories that deal with death in one way or another. Granted, they didn't have the crazed fan base, or the extended series existence, that Harry Potter does. But the emotional investment is still there. We read, we cried, we processed it, we went on.

[(Anonymous)]

Hmmm, YW universe.

Did DD miss a publicity stunt by not setting up a counselling line for Wizard's Dilemma? Well, no, probably not.

This reminds me of when I was 7-8 and would read a Robin Hood book continuously, starting again at the beginning as soon as I finished it. Robin dies in the book - of old age. I can imagine JKR killing off Harry through old age, at the end of a chapter or two describing his long and happy life.

-- Peter Murray

[wondergecko.livejournal.com]

Thankfully I was never exposed to that as a kid. As far back as I can remember, even when it was just the beloved family cat, it was not "Midnight ran away." it was "We found Midnight dead outside this morning, sweetheart."

I had to learn about this form of deception from popular culture, which I think is a good thing.

[wondergecko.livejournal.com]

I chime in to say "the latter" with pretty much everyone else.

Granted this year has already been deliciously sucktastical in terms of dealing-with-death trauma already, but it does leave me in an excellent position to keenly appreciate the difference in the way I get choked up on contemplating my favorite (Xenosaga) character's death versus getting choked up, locking my jaw, and wanting to crawl into bed and never come out over a close family member dying.

(The perceived callousness is an attempt to keep myself from coming off as throwing a pity-me party down here; just making a point, not asking for sympathy. ;) Oyez.)

Silmarillion

[dmsherwood53.livejournal.com]

Yes but that's because the Silmarillion (IMHO)is crap

[madfilkentist]

Is this hotline anything more than an invention of a Bulgarian writer? Notice that the "British book retailer [who] plans to set up a counseling hotline" isn't even named, nor any specifics about the hotline given!

[ailbhe]

My parents didn't tell this kind of lie either but I knew people who were subjected to it personally, so it was a bit more immediate than popular culture. It gave me a lasting distaste for phrases like "passed away".

[wondergecko.livejournal.com]

Now, while I generally agree with you, I am led to ask (perhaps because having written tens of philosophy papers in the last year has left me with an instinct for playing the devil's advocate), do you really think--based on your experience--that this kind of deception has a truly deleterious effect on children, or that it's just unpleasant on the same grounds that any kind of lie or prevarication is? Because while I'm fairly certain it's unpleasant for a kid to grow up and realize that they'd been misled on this kind of thing (albeit "passed away"/"passed" is so widespread a euphemism I'd question whether or not it's truly misleading--even if kids who are, say, six don't get it NOW it will probably click eventually), I'm not sure it's cruel to the degree you mention in your first comment.

I'm all for telling the truth to kids, but this has to take into account their relative mental maturity (i.e., would "died" even make sense without explanation?) and possibly emotional sensitivities. While saying "your dog ran away" is an outright lie, saying s/he "passed away" doesn't seem particularly odious to me. The second phrasing still gives the same kind of closure died would, and so far as I can tell, other than the moral weight assigned to truth-telling/lying, that's the only difference between the two--both imply the dog is gone, but one makes it clear the dog is not coming back.

Gah. *slaps herself* Too much philosopher-brain.

[wondergecko.livejournal.com]

I agree; is there corroborating evidence for such a hotline?

And, to counteract a perceived trend (not from madfilkentist, but from the above comments) of Internetizens Deny the Excesses of the Modern World, we may just be seeing a very vocal but disturbed fraction here, rather than what is typical for most well-adjusted citizens of your country of choice.

"Thousands of Potter fans soldier on through beloved protagonist's death; 'meh,' say readers of Deathly Hallows" does not make a very good headline. Nor would--more generally--most things implying that the majority of people are fairly well-adjusted when it comes to death. I mean, I'm sure such things DO make the news, but it's in passing and with not nearly as much "screen time" as people deranging over stuff many of us just deal with every day.