When Characters Are Too Safe

(Remix)



So, you're watching The Incredibles.
You get to the part of the climax where the giant robot knocks Violet
out and is about to crush her. Is it tense? Are you afraid Violet might
die? Well, a little, but deep down you know that something will happen
at the last second to save her. Why? Because she's safe. She's a major
character -- and a child at that -- in a movie in which nobody has yet
died on-screen.

For The Incredibles,
that's no big deal. We don't need the added tension of "som...