Puny Mortal Podcast

Fictional Deaths

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Intro

In this episode, we discuss some of the fictional deaths that have stayed with us and how they shaped our understanding of death, grief and mortality.

Summary

We found ourselves sharing personal experiences of impactful fictional deaths, such as Aslan's death in 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe', the death of Kane in Alien, and that of Kerry Bishop in the soap opera 'Neighbours', and more. BEWARE - some of these deaths are quite graphic and might not be for more sensitive ears - this episode is marked 'explicit content' for this reason. Also, a heads-up that KV is a terrible spoiler-machine. She blabs out spoilers left, right and centre. So this episode comes with a huge SPOILER ALERT (see chapters below for specific spoilers).

And as always we end the episode by 'getting mortal' and sharing some of our own funeral wishes with you, specifically our choices of funeral ceremony venue AND our music choices.

Links and points of clarification

  • We left Wolverhampton in 1988 and moved to Trentham in Stoke-on-Trent, three days before KV was due to start secondary school. Big feels.
  • The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was written by C.S. Lewis (1950). It's 206 pages and recommended for 6-12 year olds.
  • We were forced to watch this BBC adaptation of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in 1988 before we left Wolverhampton.
  • Here's Aslan's death scene in the film Narnia. I just re-watched it. Maaaaaan, it's a lot. Tilda Swinton as the White Witch is everything though.
  • Gremlins (1984, directed by Joe Dante). This means KV was actually just SEVEN when she watched this at Helen's video party.
  • The character KV is talking about is Kate Beringer, Billy's girlfriend, played by Phoebe Cates.
  • Watch the Gremlins chimney death story for yourself. I tried to fact-check that Kate's dad was drunk before his death, but couldn't find this info.
  • We loved Neighbours so much in the late 1980s & 90s. The character Kerry Bishop was indeed pregnant when she was killed. And there is a bit of gore (fake blood where she has been shot by mistake). You can watch the episode here. The death scene is actually just 1 minute in length. Starts at 07:46-08:53. KEZZA!!!
  • Alien (1979, Ridley Scott) and Kane's death. Love the casual smoking at the spaceship dining table pre-chestburster scene. If you haven't seen this before, be warned! There is convulsing and explosive blood and twitchy death throes. John Hurt is a total ledge.
  • The final Harry Potter book is Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (2007). So KV's son was actually only six. Crikey.
  • KV is referring to Chapter 36: The Flaw in the Plan
  • We'd also like to take this opportunity to say that TRANS LIVES MATTER VERY MUCH.
  • LV chose Time as a Symptom by Joanna Newsom
  • KV chose Play Dead by Bjork
  • KV also chose a cover of Bjork's Joga by Georgi Kay.
  • This is how you pronounce Bjork like a pro.
  • We both came across the Joga cover while watching Top of the Lake. Have you seen it? It's VERY challenging but VERY good.
  • You can order your own GET MORTAL funeral planning zine kit from our webshop.


    • Chapters

    01:00-02:05 Episode intro

    02:06-03:26 SPOILER ALERT WARNING

    03:27-10:20 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

    10:21-15:30 Gremlins

    15:31-19:08 Kerry Bishop in Neighbours

    19:09-20:55 Alien

    20:56-21:28 Introducing our own kids to death via fiction

    21:29-28:05 Harry Potter

    28:06-29:21 Tell us about the fictional deaths that stayed with you

    29:22-30:22 An invitation to creative people to think about how they depict death and grief in their work

    30:38-38:19 Get Mortal Funeral Planning Zine - our choices for funeral venues and our music choices

    ...more
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