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In entertainment media, audience reaction to human death tends to be less extreme than reactions to animal death. Whether a character is a person or a creature, viewers shouldn’t feel neutral or apathetic to death on their screen. However, this seems to be a growing trend.

Moviegoers, especially younger ones, frequently say things like, “I only care if an animal dies,” usually followed by something like, “It doesn’t bother me when people die.” Sometimes viewers even go as far as to say they don’t care at all about the human characters in entertainment, just as long as the animals stay alive.

There is a difference in portrayal that forms a divide between animal and human perception, which is exacerbated by desensitization. When animals are portrayed in media, they often represent innocence, especially when animals are presented realistically. There is a belief that animals aren’t intelligent enough to make decisions in the same way their human co-stars can.

“Desensitization has resulted in complete and utter detachment from human characters. As a result, it is more difficult for filmmakers to get an audience to care about a human character.”

Because of this lack of intelligence animals are believed to have, viewers often refrain from believing creatures are bad, even when they harm others. After all, they are just animals and can do no true wrong. Humans can and often will do wrong.

Oftentimes, animals in films are dogs and cats, which humans have historically formed a close relationship with. Because animals spark feelings of fondness and have no perceived flaws, watching the death of an animal will naturally upset most audiences.

But it is wholly unnatural for viewers to feel apathy regarding the death of a fellow human in media. Just because they are not always innocently portrayed doesn’t mean all human characters should be discarded from audiences’ sense of empathy.

Desensitization in media is to blame for this apathy. The modern viewer has grown accustomed to losing characters they aren’t attached to, particularly in violent and gory ways. But that often isn’t true for animals. Sometimes the animal makes it out alive.

If a viewer predicts an animal is about to die, they may be against hoping it lives. But some audience members may feel that hoping against a human’s survival seems pointless. By distancing themselves from the characters and their ultimate demise, audiences protect the state of their own emotional well-being.

Intelligent animals, including humans, exhibit symptoms of grief when they see a death in their species. Chimpanzees have been documented carrying their deceased babies. Elephants linger near bodies, even if they didn’t know the deceased. Even magpies have been seen practicing rituals akin to putting flowers on a gravestone.

Of course, humans would be upset if they witnessed a death in the real world, too. But feeling unfazed by cinematic death should not be the way humans process media.

Desensitization has resulted in complete and utter detachment from human characters. As a result, it is more difficult for filmmakers to get an audience to care about a human character. Their arc and the significance of their death are more likely to be toned down because audience members do not get attached and do not care about their passing.

Human death should not be taken out of cinema to prevent desensitization. Part of what defines our experience on Earth is our eventual death, and the media we consume should capture accurate snapshots of our world.

But when filmmakers need to clutch at an audience’s heartstrings or convey a powerful message through the death of a character, they might feel blocked from doing so because the audience is too distant. The average level of empathy needs to return to a place where it is comparable to the empathy viewers have for animals.

To do so, audiences need to consume less gore-centric media. The industry isn’t going to change anytime soon; there will likely always be a market for gore films. But those interested in reconnecting with the human spirit of film should consume less of it. Doing so may reinstate some value in the stories of characters who did not have the fortune of being cast as an animal.

Reach Leah Stephenson at letters@collegian.com or on Twitter @CSUCollegian.