B-a-a-a-d cinema

I didn't watch Kids this time. Or any other time, for that matter. I've seen it before, years ago, and it's still hard to get the bad taste out of my mouth (metaphorically, of course). Which means, I suppose, it's the ideal film for this module.
The day after the class watched Kids I was in the Light House again, screening (and watching) Chinatown for another of my modules. Plenty of bad behaviour in that too. Murder, adultery, corruption, and more that I can't reveal without spoiling the plot.
The following week we were watching Don't Look Now. More death and depression. Several years ago I realised that all the films on the module (apart from those mentioned, the others are Pandora's Box and Barton Fink) involve death. And, in fact, so does just about every text I teach on every module, except for some of the children's books, and the cartoons. And even the cartoons involve a fair amount of violence.
But this isn't what we mean as 'bad cinema'. In fact, this is mainstream entertainment. Generally, we're not disturbed by murder in films. Although it's relatively rare in reality, murder is an essential ingredient of drama. The requirement for heightened emotional responses leads to extremes of violent behaviour, and also of sexual desire. Love and death, the great staples of drama. Except it's not the kind of death that most of us will experience, which is drawn out, and drepressing, and dull, but violent death.
I'll write some other time on the kind of 'bad cinema' that Kids represents. For now, let's stay in the dramatic highlands with an encyclopedia entry on 'Operatic Death', and a short video example.
http://www.deathreference.com/Nu-Pu/Operatic-Death.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQlmXU1zqfc

The picture is of Death's best starring role, in Ingmar Bergman's The Seventh Seal. Death is on the sinister side.