What's your favourite self-sacrifice death on screen?
And, if you're willing to explain, why?
And, if you're willing to explain, why?
Comments
It had to be him. Someone else could've gotten it wrong.
I'd have to think of *why*--it's slightly different for each, but I'm a sucker for badasses doing a noble sacrifice.
"I can't swim!"
"You idiot, the fall'll kill ya"
I've re-evaluated a lot of my early film choices, but I still love this one.
The relationship between Sayaka (my favorite by far) and her develops from them trying to kill each other to Kyoko self sacrificing to make sure Sayaka doesn't go alone? Will always cry over my girls 😭
Kamina from Gurren Lagan is a close second.
But knowing how it happened afterwards makes it difficult to enjoy.
Wasn't there even some kind of soft blacklist for Mastrantonio afterwards? Because she complained?
Enzo...
Screw you, Iron Bastard. I'm not crying. Nope.
But then I cried the first time I saw ET, too, so I'm soft that way.
I cried when I rewatched it with my son too.
I still have feels from that.
Plus that episode where Nate has a stroke after being with Quaker.
Scene is just gut-wrenching, man.
But the one death that made me cry, was the dog in I Am Legend. Tbf, I also know the book. The film does not tell the punchline.
My second thought is not death, but the sacrifice of Will in Sense8 to get hooked on heroin for everyone else’s safety
He dies after opposing Jenner, one of his uh, colleagues and trying to help Mrs Frisby. ... And spends his death throes taking Jenner, the ultimate bad guy out.
First one I can think of that really struck me.
Bae Soo-bin as the sacrificing dad protecting his son (as he finally realizes he's been working for the bad guys) in the historical k-drama The King's Affection.
Really good character evolution.
Huge pathos.
It's kind of a lot.
It felt overly drawn out with the slow motion and utterly pointless besides.
To be fair, I had a lot of issues with how Clara was written that season. Not the character herself ... just... I felt like after the Impossible Girl arc they never really knew what to do with her.
Her story was a bit of a mess at the end, I agree.
Hell Yes Dinobot!
(For an intense and fairly bleak film, it's also occasionally very funny.)
To me, at least.
I've seen those films like a hundred times and it still gets me every fucking time.
Yes, she doesn't actually die as a direct result, but she does it with the expectation of death, and she does get her mind wiped and is erased as a person so... counts?
Especially Chirrut walking across the beach to throw the switch, everything about that scene is masterful including Baze's heartbreaking reaction.
I lose it over Chirrut every damn time I watch that movie, and I've watched it a LOT. Honestly, I lose it over the whole crew. I love that movie with my whole heart.
The kicker was no one would ever know what he did, it would just look like an accident.
Or at least, that's how I recall it.
I don't know, it was the first time smol me had seen anything of the sort, I didn't know you were ALLOWED to do that with beloved main characters. I was young enough for it to be a seminal lesson in courage and duty. I had a weird little puppy-crush on Spock.
I get that it's this massive pop culture moment, etcetera, and I can understand it intellectually, but it toucheth me not.
What a moment to turn Vulcan, eh?
I admit when I found out Spock got handily resurrected in the next film I was a bit 'well what was the point of THAT then?'
Also, I was 11 at the time. Lord knows how seeing it for the first time would strike me now.
And I get that his over-acting is part of why it's a pop culture moment, but I just could not suspend disbelief for it.
If you've seen it, it needs no explanation. It's from 2008 and I still reflect on it.
Just a complete spiritual oneness with humanity and the untamable sympathy in nature that humans dissolve in and out of.
Miyazaki himself didn’t much like this ending tho 🙄
*spoiler available.
Both had redemption arcs and decided to let go do what they treasured most: their families, to give a shot at fighting/surviving to their friends and by extension, the world.
Same I guess for this guy for complaining and freaking out but going out in a blaze
Gabriel Agreste in Miraculous Ladybug.
Jean Grey in X-Men 2.
River Song in Doctor Who.
Haruka and Michiru in Sailor Stars.
He knew he was going to die before doing it.
So did those miner folks who kept working.
Looking it up...
Rashomon remains my favourite, of course.
“Fly, you fools!”
1) Explosion.
2) Sort of a redemption.. cynical jerk at the beginning but over time he becomes a team player and starts to actually take care of people.
Every death in Sunshine. It's a mission to save humanity, they all know they don't matter.
The final case of Ace Attorney: Trials & Tribulations. If you know who I mean, don’t try to argue- they did their best.
MOTHER 3’s ending isn’t sacrificial in the traditional sense. But God….
The choices are individual and valid.
Don't be a dick.
[CN: Video at link contains graphic images of gunshot wounds and self-harm]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQ3lQLshle8
Have you seen the deleted scene with Matt Smith? Doesn't add much at all except Matt Smith as young Fiennes.
(and since he was part of Pride, he sacrifices himself).
bc it’s a fuck you
… and then point out it was a completely unnecessary death 🥶
https://www.theguardian.com/books/picture/2023/sep/02/tom-gauld-on-what-really-happened-after-the-titanic-sank-cartoon
The Widow of the Web and Ynyr sacrificing themselves for the location of the castle
&
The Cyclops returning to the castle at the final battle.
* in film,TV, books.
Though I'm sure he thought there was a SLIGHT chance he was going to triumph.
Classic ex: Leon w the grenade in The Professional. Everything one of those sacrifices should do.
Worst ex: Dewey in Scream 5. Pointless.
Charlie in LOST. “Not Penny’s Boat,” indeed…
Is that the one where she jumps into a vortex from a height and Giles straight-up kills Glory?
He was killing Glory by killing Ben. He didn't give a shit about Ben.
(“Hey, I died twice” was even a lyric from the musical episode, too. I blame it being Friday, brain is already off the hook for the weekend.)
When Capa sets off the nukes and reaches out to touch the surface of the reignited sun. Then the scene switches from space to a snowy landscape on Earth, where his sister and her kids see the sun get brighter and you know humanity is saved. Amazes me every time.
Does "I'm Spartacus" count?
Gets me every time.
So with one piece, there are many options. And we do not see their death.
But Bonclay in the Impel Down arc. He has the power to perfectly shape shift and is almost out of prison. But he tricks the warden so his friend can escape. knowing that he wont return to a cell.
“Take care of my daughter. That’s your job now.”
Seeing it in the theatre as a 35 year old adult, I literally cried.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPgQUDHn940
As in, he was fatally wounded, but he stayed behind to set off the explosives while the others escaped, rather than trying to get treatment.
It stuck with me when I first saw it.
And the film, to its credit, gives him his moment.
https://youtu.be/v-xtUASrIBU?si=hQ5OVaeQnO6HkZWK
I love Mass Effect, all of it, that moment, and also the conversation with Garrus right before the last fight, about storming heaven one last time, I'll see you in the bar...
I loved my weird alien space-cat buddy ✊️😔
The story is his redemption. He finds true, positive purpose in his last few days, and he knows he's on his way out, but he stays focused. Gets the job done, lasting *exactly* long enough to save the girl.
He doesn't even try to save himself.
I'd seen it before. It just made more sense on that viewing, maybe. I don't know. The last ten minutes totally broke me.
*
Dammit, now I'm comparing it to Spike at the end of Cowboy Bebop. That makes me cry, too.
In this essay...
That's the comparison, isn't it?
Face your past. Use those skills. Know you're not coming back and yet do it anyway.
Plus, it was a message to the viewer too.
Exquisite ending.
Not exactly self sacrifice but Into the Wild is one I find really hard to watch because whatever age I watch it at it strikes me like the first time. Devastating ending
Proper chopped onions moment.
Essentially 3 ½ self sacrifices in a row using the technical plot point that the earth core machine they are using can fall apart piece by piece. And the ½ is from the last two survivors who essentially sacrificed themselves for all of humanity but then got lucky at the end
Quantum Leap
He never went home
Ergo, he died leaping, like something out of The Jaunt
IYKYK
And the funeral! Perfection.
Oh uh sorry spoilers for Hamlet I guess.
Shakespeare must have written The Village during his Shyamalan period.
(I'm very proud of this.)
I love Glenn Close of course but in Zeffirelli’s version does she play Gertrude a little… Idunno… vapid? Am I missing something subtle?
I guess “not super attentive” isn’t the worst way to play Gertrude? She’s a queen, she’s kind of in a bubble, her desire to have things be peaceful and happy maybe overrides reality a bit?
People saying Ripley, and that's fair: she's seen what the alien can do... but she's gonna die anyway, right?
Dillon does it for his brothers (and Ripley) – it's his life for theirs. And like a badass, he curses that little xenomorph bitch even while it guts him
https://youtu.be/2Wh-TUoYSNw?si=goQNCz2R0C53F-go