Female Characters And Sequels: Suffering For The Story?

**PLEASE NOTE THERE ARE FILM SPOILERS IN THIS PIECE FOR PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING AND OTHER FILMS**

Recently, I rewatched Pacific Rim: Uprising again. for the most part, I find it a fun, entertaining film. However, there was a story point that, for me at least is becoming an issue in films, especially sequels; the killing of character from the first one, specifically for the wrong reasons.

Many, many years ago, I watched Friday The 13th Part 2. The opening of the film has Alice, the survivor of the first one, still haunted by what she went through being killed in a pre-credit scene. While it's an effective scene by itself, it adds nothing  really to the film. In truth it's more of an epilogue to the first film than really adding anything to Part 2, except perhaps a bit of an opening shock, as her death is never brought up in the rest of the film.

Pacific Rim: Uprising brings back Mako Mori, one of the heroic characters of the first film and yet, it's clear from her opening scene what her role in the film is going to be and sure enough, shortly after her character is killed. Her death is there, really for only one reason as far as I can see and that it to motivate the main character. Unlike Alice, her death does at least add to the story.

Despite that however, it does feel like they have wasted an interesting character. Mako overcame her own issues in the first to become a hero and to turn her into nothing more than motivation for another character is very disappointing.

But it's not the first film to do this. 2016's Independence Day sequel, Resurgence brought back as many of the original characters as they could. However, while some characters got important parts in the film, returning ex-President Whitmore gets a worthy death sacrificing himself for example, the one character that, in truth they didn't need to bring back at all, Jasmine Heller, whose son has a prominent role in the film, gets a couple of scenes and is then killed and again it does seem more for the motivation of a male character than for no other reason.

There are other examples too, London Has Fallen and Kingsman: The Golden Circle both bring back female characters from the first film and then kills them off, if only to cause suffering for the male hero.

To be fair, it happens to male characters too. In the Kick-Ass sequel, his father returns to be killed, but again it's a plot motivation to the hero, rather than anything meaningful in itself. However, for the most part it does seem it happens to the female characters more and not just in sequels either for that matter.

So, the question to be asked has to be, why bring them back if you can't do anything interesting to do in the sequel. Look at Psycho II (yes I know it's from 1983 but bear with me!). It brings Lila (Marion's sister) back from the original film and while she is killed during the film, her death works there in part as her character have been giving an important role in the film, leading to the heart of that films story. Lila dies, but it fits the story.

I do wish writers can use their characters, especially their female ones in sequels better. Consider Die Hard 2. It brings back Holly, John McClane's wife. Now, while she does get a small sub-plot of her own during that film's events, that does get a pay-off like she got in the first film, but while her life in in peril during the climax of the film, the writer's never feel the need to kill her off, to add more motivation to John McClane.

It shouldn't take much for the writers to decide how to use returning female characters, or so you would think. In the case of action thrillers or horror films. if they survive the events of the first one, surely the writers could come up with something better for them to do, rather than simply returning to die to motivate the hero. Frankly they deserve better than that.

 Returning to Friday The 13th for a moment, it's perhaps notable that the only character to return more than once (other than Jason) and not die, is Tommy Jarvis. He survived three films.

Why can't more female characters get through two?