SPOILER WARNING: THIS ARTICLE CONTAINS SPOILERS ABOUT THE ENDINGS OF MOVIES YOU MAY NOT HAVE SEEN YET. BE FOREWARNED.

The ending of the movie Seven Pounds didn't surprise me but it did weird me out. I wasn't weirded out by a character in a movie committing suicide: been there, seen that. But it struck me that I had recently watched a bunch of movies with the same sort of ending.

So, I began to think back and within seconds, I came up with three more movies where the characters committed suicide at the end: I Am Legend, 30 Days of Night, and Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.

I Am Legend also ended with the main character, Robert Neville, committing suicide. And another strange thing is that Will Smith played both of the suicidal main characters in that film and Seven Pounds. In the movie 30 Days of Night, the main character, Sheriff Eben Oleson, commits suicide after turning into a vampire. At the end of the movie Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the Silver Surfer blows himself up.

There are lots of movies that contain suicides, but what's different about these movies is that the main characters commit suicide in order to benefit and/or protect other people.

In Seven Pounds, Ben Thomas commits suicide in order to donate his organs to the people who need them. In I Am Legend, Robert Neville commits suicide in order to protect a woman and a child and the antidote they carry. In 30 Days of Night, Sheriff Oleson commits suicide so that he won't kill or infect anyone else. In Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the Silver Surfer blows himself up in order to destroy Galactus and save the earth.

The idea of someone sacrificing themselves in order to protect others is common in combat: a soldier falls on a live grenade to save the rest of his buddies. Or it's common for a police officer or a firefighter to sacrifice their life in order to protect someone.

So, why do we have this rash of suicidal characters in our movies? Is it because we're at war and we need heroes? Is it because of our bad economic times and we need to look up to characters who make sacrifices for others?

Article Author: The Crow

I live in Madison, Wisconsin. Once in a while, I leave the coal mine and see a movie, eat dinner out, and mix with other crows. The rest of the time, I'm on my computer.

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