Do you know those scenes, mostly in Disney movies, where everyone thinks a character died, but then, after we're all done sobbing and mourning, it's revealed that they're alive after all (!), and everything's happy. Or, alternatively, they die but then are brought back to life via magic, time travel, or something of the like.

I am very irritated by this trope because it's messed up my experience of death in books and movies. Instead of crying like I'm supposed to, I get suspicious that the death isn't real, and I have to wait until the end of the book or movie to see if the character comes back. This usually diminishes any grief I feel. If the character falls off a cliff or dies offscreen or offpage in any other way, I'm almost certain they're not dead, and it's gotten to the point where I have to see a character die very obviously before I'll believe it.

I used to flip to the backs of books to see if the character is alive at the end after I think they're dead, just so I wouldn't waste time being sad over someone that's alive. It feels like a cop-out, something that could be emotional and heartrending but then turns into a "they all lived happily ever after" ending because the writer was afraid to make things too dark. Once or twice it's fine, but after that it's just irritating. 

In Disney movies, I don't even worry when people die because I know they'll be back. When characters actually do die (Ray, Bing Bong, etc.), I'm shocked and the movie becomes so much more powerful. I know a lot of people love happy endings, but I personally think writers need to not be afraid to make even main characters die, or to make endings unhappy. If the characters I listed above hadn't died, it wouldn't have had the same effect. 

It doesn't annoy me as much if it's someone who wasn't in the story as much or they're death had little impact, but when it's a huge deal I feel cheated, and annoyed. I'd rather have a devastating ending than be devastated and then realize I didn't have to be.

When this trope is used, with characters either not being really dead or being brought back to life somehow, it cheapens death and really lessens the threat. Things don't seem that bad if characters can always be brought back to life or miraculously survive. I feel like some authors are worried about devastating readers too much, or really get attached to their characters to the point where they don't want to kill them, but I think they need to take the risk to really establish the antagonistic force as a threat. I usually enjoy a story better and it has more of an impact on me if the character dies, and I think sad endings can be amazing.

How does everyone else feel about this?