Mourning turns into a deadly proposition when cinematic avengers choose not to find comfort employing traditional grief strategies. Traditional grief strategies include: seeking professional help from counselors; joining a bereavement support group; pounding a pillow; or screaming in a pillow; taking a long walk or run; writing in a Journal or twisting a towel. These fictional characters are stuck in between the stages of grief when they choose to employ violence as their main grief strategy. They are never depicted as employing any type of traditional grief strategy. For these male and female characters, resiliency can only be achieved through violent methods since they have not followed any traditional grief strategy. They arbitrarily take violent action against whomever they deem to be guilty. As a result, the acts of these cinematic avengers carve out a form of private justice that is not really justice at all. Truly, these violent acts are unlawful but are justified and considered necessary by the avenger. The avenger feels entitled to commit violence and this could be a form of madness or it could be conditioning by our society. We live an American society that supported the subway gunman Bernhard Goetz and refused for
years to convict “death with dignity activist,” Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Somehow, there are exceptions when it is alright, even desirable, to commit unlawful violence. The Brave One, In the Bedroom, Mystic River and Edge of Darkness are analyzed since American movies tend to focus on the unjust victimization that each protagonist experiences. This unjust victimization consists of some mental or physical harm that the protagonist lives through, without legal redress. These fictional plots, which are, all too real manipulate the audience and readers. Directors employ techniques to focus on the outrageous grief that these avengers suffer showing viewers why they are entitled to carry out violence. Further, the plots play upon viewers’ emotions conjuring up the examples of those “larger than life,” almost iconic American figures: Goetz and Kevorkian. Interestingly, after being acquitted six times, Kevorkian was not convicted until he deliberately defended himself in court. He fired his lawyer because he wanted to become a martyr for his cause. Therefore, as a consequence, and because of American culture, the readers and viewers identify with these cinematic avengers and support their reasons for exacting violence. The application of Kubler-Ross’ Grief Theory provides a theoretical foundation through which the cinematic avengers can be viewed. In short, some of the complicated reasons why, this ambiguous process, that involves manipulating the audience occurs, can actually be studied.
