Abstract
Hollywood movies often struggle to present depressing ideas realistically. This rhetorical analysis, using narrative criticism, analyzes the presentation of suicide in five Hollywood films: Thelma and Louise, Seven Pounds, Milk, What Dreams May Come, and Dead Poet's Society. This analysis suggests a test to tell how Hollywood will present the suicide by simply knowing when the suicide is committed or by whom. If the suicide is presented at the end of the film or committed by the protagonist, Hollywood will be forced to portray it as positive and unrealistic. The only exception to this rule is if another protagonist remains.
Journal Title
Iowa Journal of Communication
Volume
42
Issue
2
First Page
175
Last Page
188
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Zoelzer, Mitchell
(2010)
"Making it Happily Ever After: Rectifying the Inherent Contradiction between Suicide and Hollywood Endings,"
Iowa Journal of Communication: Vol. 42:
No.
2, Article 6.
Available at:
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/ijc/vol42/iss2/6
Copyright
©2010 Iowa Communication Association
