Also, I think this

I also agree with the "tension" in the climax being too much.

may have been the reason for Wash's death. As someone (I think it was Jen) said, one death is almost expected; two is a shock and everyone's fair (or foul) game at that point.

Right. Because this was so effective in bringing Tara back for S7 of Buffy.

But Tara's death, while random and pointless at least served a purpose in the story. Her death hurt, but I didn't feel betrayed.

Okay, I think I need to step back and take some deep breaths here because I'm getting way too worked up over a fictional character.

(ETA context)

Heh. I was about to post the link to the campaign to change the element of the movie. THIS LINK IS 100% SPOIL-Y. Okay? You have been warned. [link]

God DAMN, I hate whiny fans who want the actual show/movie/story changed because they don't like what happened. Grow up. Make your own damn movie.

I agree that Wash's death was totally random and pointless and contributed nothing at all to the story.

I can see your point of view. OTOH, they were all in many very dangerous combat situations, so it would seem unrealistic to me to only have one crew person die.

I dunno. People don't always die all heroicly....

It was just way too much in way too short a span.

I agree. I told myself that this would be fixed in editing. We'll see.

God DAMN, I hate whiny fans who want the actual show/movie/story changed because they don't like what happened. Grow up. Make your own damn movie.

From the link:

Joss, I think you're a creative genius. But even geniuses make bad choices sometimes,

Idiot.

OTOH, Han did shoot first.

I mean, a person is allowed to not like whatever they want to not like. But what is it that makes someone think they have the right to demand that the creator of a given work change that work to suit their whiny ass? How does that thought process work?

I realize that, tommyrot. Like I said, I don't have a problem with random if it serves this story in some fashion. This just feels like some random passerby on the street decided to punch me in the kidneys for the hell of it.

Also, someone sitting next to me suggested that maybe Wash died because Alan Tudyk's career was taking off and he didn't want to make more Firefly movies. Or maybe it was that Joss wanted more for River to do in future movies.

Or maybe the ultimate point was that death is random and sad and unexpected sometimes.

I thought Wash's death was random and pointless, but all death is. Death is unfair and unjustifiable and full of horror and meaninglessness. Book's death was easier on the stomach (for me) because he got to say something before he went, and we got to see Mal's reaction to it--how it steeled his resolve and set him on a course of belief he might not have found otherwise. In that way it felt more purposeful, but its very purposiveness almost cheapened it; it was there for a reason and it served a purpose. It was a plot point. Wash's death was a sucker punch to the gut, out of nowhere, surreal in its suddenness and finality. Tara was right--it's always sudden.

The death of someone we love so viscerally cannot ever be a plot point. Its function cannot be the thing that gives it meaning.

Good art makes you reel, makes you sob, makes you sick to your stomach, makes you ache. I think Wash's death did exactly what it was supposed to do.

Edit: Er, or What Scrappy Said.