Life Imitates...

[womzilla]

Reuters, 28 May 2003:

[Tail end of an article about how the bombing strike that began the Iraq war was directed at, apparently, a random spot on the ground rather than at an underground bunker complex containing Saddam Hussein and/or his sons:]

The fate of Saddam and his sons Uday and Qusay is still unclear.

Rumsfeld said earlier this month, "If you don't have evidence he's dead, you've probably got to assume he's alive."

Fred Hembeck, timelessly:

[The Red Tornado] has also (seemingly) died a couple of times, saving the world and/or everyone on it, but like that damn bunny, he just keeps on going and going and going--which leads us to a phenomenon uniquely characteristic of super-hero comic books. Ready? Repeat after me:

He ain't dead 'til you see a body.

Comments

comics and soap operas

[(Anonymous)]

The phenomenon of characters coming back from the dead is also common in soap operas. Unfortunately, since soaps don't (usually) have superpowers or supernatural elements to work with, they have to rely on explanations that become more and more contrived the more times it happens on a particular show.

Even seeing the body is no guarantee on a soap: One Life to Live recently brought back a character who died almost 25 years ago, after they had shown his body *and* his ghost on the show. This phenomenon was parodied in the movie Soapdish, when Kevin Kline's character is resurrected after having been decapitated. A silly example but like all good parody, only a bit sillier than what actually happens on soaps.