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Originally posted by TOC:
Jackie, let me put it like this. Suppose that in most deathfics, the person who was killed was black. Or, say, Jewish. I think that if people noticed that they were preferentially killing the black or Jewish people, they'd probably feel uncomfortable about it and ask themselves why their "pattern of killing" was racially skewed. I believe that the next time they were about to kill a black or Jewish person, they'd pause and maybe ask themselves why it was always the same kind of people who died in their stories. What did that say about their own way of looking at blacks and non-blacks, Jews and non-Jews? Could it possibly mean that they didn't value black and Jewish people as much as they valued, say, non-Jewish white people?
I'd say that depends in large part on the ethnicity of the entire cast. If the black person is killed and the story is set in a mostly black community, I'd say that making the victim white would be silly. In this universe, if you want to get to Clark's core, Lois is one avenue to explore.

I think that one reason Lois is a "preferred target" as it were, is BECAUSE she is so important to Clark and the story. I just don't see these stories of Lois's death the way you do. You see her becomming the token woman, damsel in distress, thowaway sidekick, if I understand you correctly. I see her as so important to Clark that another's death wouldn't have the same impact on him, or result in the exploration of consequences etc. that Lois' death would. And I don't think that exploration of what happens next is necessarily bad, although I understand you don't want to read it.

Lois is a huge and significant part of the landscape, which makes her death a topic that several of us want to explore in different ways. It doesn't mean we don't value her or respect her. It just means we want to ask a "what if" question and see what happens next.

Jackie

Jackie N.
jacalynsue@zoominternet.net