This is the End: The Role of Death in the Narrative Structure of Popular Movies

A set of sixty popular movies is analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively on the role of death in the narrative structure and the portrayal of death. Results of the quantitative analysis show that death events tend to be story-terminating, which implies that death is typically depicted as meaningful in relation to the past. The qualitative thematic analysis reveals that death is also depicted as meaningful in that it can lead to growth, unification and salvation. Furthermore, most movies include explicit death portrayals, thereby inviting viewers to closely approach death and to simulate both their own mortality and the mortality of their loved ones. Finally, it was found that most movie deaths involve violent attacks, indicating that movies tend to paint an unrealistic view of how people die. These findings advance our knowledge of how movies might help people to understand the meaning of death and to cope with existential fears.

Age-Friendly Communities: Are they also "Friendly" for Death, Dying, Grief, and Bereavement?

The age-friendly movement aims to ensure that people can live healthy and meaningful lives as they age. It is committed to activity and inclusion, with policies, services, and structures that enable older adults to remain engaged in activities that they value. We suggest that there is further opportunity for communities to increase inclusion and reduce ageism by improving their "death-friendliness". A death-friendly approach could lay the groundwork for a community in which people do not fear getting old or alienate those who have. To this end, we consider the merits of the compassionate communities framework which has emerged out of palliative care and critical public health. Compassionate communities focus on end-of-life planning, bereavement support, and improved understandings about aging, dying, death, loss, and care. The age-friendly and compassionate communities initiatives are complementary in their objectives but have not yet converged in practice. We suggest that they should.

'I want to die on my own terms': Dominant interpretative repertoires of 'a good death' in old age in Dutch newspapers

RATIONALE

There is a paucity of empirical studies exploring how death and dying in old age are actually represented and debated within the Dutch society.

OBJECTIVE

This study examines the discourse used in Dutch newspapers on the good death and dignified dying. It analyses how different types of social actions and positions are construed, thereby describing how death and dying in old age are portrayed in newspaper media.

METHODS

173 newspaper articles between 2010 and 2020 were selected from five Dutch national newspapers. Data were thematically coded and scrutinised for discursive patterns in order to identify interpretative repertoires and their functions.

RESULTS

Four interpretative repertoires of good death and dying in old age were identified, all drawing on the assisted dying debate: Choice, Risk, Care, and Complexity. Each repertoire constructs a particular image of death and dying, varying from it being a personal choice; a last resort; a joint journey; to a contingent quest. The different repertoires imply distinct identities and actions. The Choice-repertoire construes older people as active subjects who autonomously determine their own death. The Risk- and Care-repertoires both construe older people primarily as passive and acted upon: either threatened by illness, decline and death; or protected and cared for by others and society. The Complexity-repertoire construes older people's situation as an object of reflection.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The strong prevalence of the Choice-repertoire in Dutch newspapers construes good death and dignified dying in old age in a salient way, unrepresentatively highlighting assisted dying as the preferred imagined practice. It is hypothesised that reimaging the Care- and Complexity-repertoires in such a way that they construe older persons in a more active subject role could help depolarise the debate on death and dying in old age.

Reasons why we read blogs and memorial pages of people who lost a child. Life motives of emotional rubberneckers

Researchers have been interested in the subject of accompanying individuals who experienced a child's terminal illness and death, sharing their grief online. Using The Reiss Motivation Profile and qualitative methods, the authors identified the life motives of emotional rubberneckers-grief blog and memorial page readers.Key reasons for the regular behavior of this kind are found: interest in the protagonist's health, compassion, will to help, and sense of bonding. Such activity provides support to the respondents. Readers' important life motives include the substantial need to care for their loved ones, to be needed, emotional stability, and a low need for power.

The “good death”: An integrative literature review

Objective:

The “good death” is a dynamic concept and has evolved over time to become a “revivalist” good death: a planned, peaceful, and dignified death, at home, surrounded by family members. As the “good death” continues to evolve, the key questions are: How do cultural perceptions of death and dying change? What are the forces that shape Western attitudes and beliefs around death and dying? And how does the “good death” discourse frame the dying experience in contemporary society? The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the underlying discourse in the literature on the “good death” in Western societies.

Method:

An integrative literature review of data from experimental and nonexperimental sources in PubMed, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and SocINDEX of 39 articles from 1992 to 2014.

Results:

Four main themes emerged from reviewing 39 articles on the “good death”: (1) the “good death” as control, (2) the wrong “good death,” (3) the threatened “good death,” and (4) the denial of dying.

Significance of Results:

Evolving in response to prominent social attitudes and values, the contemporary “good death” is a powerful, constraining discourse that limits spontaneity and encourages one way to die. Social, political, and demographic changes now threaten the stability of the “good death”; dying is framed as an increasingly negative or even unnecessary process, thus marginalizing the positive aspects of dying and rendering dying absent, invisible.