If it’s a comedy, I can usually buy into the idea of experiences after death. For example, I liked * Heaven Can Wait* and Defending Your Life.
With “serious” movies, though, I usually can’t get around the inconsistency of a dead person interacting in a world of (living?) people. For example, *Ghost * and The Sixth Sense, although I did enjoy Always even though it was a bit sappy. (Yeah, theses movies are from a few years ago, but I haven’t seen many “after-death” movies, and I haven’t seen “zombie” horror flicks. And, I’m not planning on seeing The Invisible.)
So, what do you think about dead-not-dead characters in movies? Is it just another plot device that you either buy into or you don’t?
BTW, I’m wondering whether art and literature perpetuate a belief in the supernatural but I’m guessing that’s not an appropriate topic for Cafe Society. Am I right?
It’s no different from postulating aliens and space battles – it’s a concept used to hang a story on. It can be done well or badly.
Truly Madly Deeply did it well, as did such things as A Christmas Carol (in many versions), Topper, The Canterville Ghost, Dona Flor and her Two Husbands, etc. Hell, World Fantasy Con this year is using ghost stories as the theme of its programming.
Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) would have been kinda pointless without it. I don’t see it as any different from any other kind of fanciful fiction, such as that referencing unicorns or vampires.
Hamlet was pretty stupid (“to be or not to be” – ooh, aren’t we a little full of ourselves?), but I liked that movie Just Like Heaven with Mark Ruffalo and Napoleon Dynamite. I thought Ruff was funny, and I’m a bit of a sucker for sappy rom-coms.