I still think we're talking past each other slightly. I will attempt to better explain the (admittedly subtle) distinctions I'm thinking of:
If a child dies in a film, that would seem to cover the kind of ground you're talking about...without showing the actual death, or its aftermath, or the reaction of their loved ones, or literal decomposition over time, or lingering on all of those things. And even if you do all that, it can happen more or less, be explicit or implied, grotesque or reverent. And all of this can be done while giving horror and grief and tragedy their due.
It is not the subject matter I'm bristling at, it's the difference between merely depicting something, and gluing the audience's eyes open, Clockwork-Orange style, and then pulsing the Strobe Light of Doom at them. It's the difference between "hey, try this food, you might like it" and being turned into emotional foie gras.
I have loved many films that depict sad or upsetting things, for exactly the reasons you describe: it is all part of life, and it must therefore necessarily be depicted by art (even if we may reasonably choose to expose ourselves to some things more or less on the margin). But I would also argue that the more upsetting the subject matter, the more important it is that it be handled deftly. It's a high-wire act, and I don't envy the attempt, but part of the risk of the high-wire act is taking the brunt of the fall when the balance is off.
If a child dies in a film, that would seem to cover the kind of ground you're talking about...without showing the actual death, or its aftermath, or the reaction of their loved ones, or literal decomposition over time, or lingering on all of those things. And even if you do all that, it can happen more or less, be explicit or implied, grotesque or reverent. And all of this can be done while giving horror and grief and tragedy their due.
It is not the subject matter I'm bristling at, it's the difference between merely depicting something, and gluing the audience's eyes open, Clockwork-Orange style, and then pulsing the Strobe Light of Doom at them. It's the difference between "hey, try this food, you might like it" and being turned into emotional foie gras.
I have loved many films that depict sad or upsetting things, for exactly the reasons you describe: it is all part of life, and it must therefore necessarily be depicted by art (even if we may reasonably choose to expose ourselves to some things more or less on the margin). But I would also argue that the more upsetting the subject matter, the more important it is that it be handled deftly. It's a high-wire act, and I don't envy the attempt, but part of the risk of the high-wire act is taking the brunt of the fall when the balance is off.