Would you shriek?

[trekkiedane]

I'm watching an episode of The Inspector Lynley Mysteries while writing this; The ep begins with some tourist spotting a floating corpse in the Thames. She then shrieks…

I have often wondered why people do this in films and on tv when discovering a dead person lying somewhere. It's not as if it's a murderer brandishing a weapon -or even a zombie- jumping them, it's just a still-life of somebody dead!

Do people scream when seeing dead bodies or is it just a tv thing to mark that you're back from commercials or a wake-up call in the middle of a boring film?

Sure it must be a bit scary, frightening even, to experience the kind of corpses and crime scenes often seen on screen but I just don't get this shriek of horror - could anyone explain it, please! or is it just as I suggested, a screenwriters tool?

 

[Finn]

I have a friend who once came across one while walking her dog years ago. I think she did scream at least once between the body and her apartment where she told her roomies.

 

[trekkiedane]

I have a friend who once came across one while walking her dog years ago. I think she did scream at least once between the body and her apartment where she told her roomies.

I can almost understand that! -She was alone (but for her dog) and the evolutionary explanation for such a scream is that she knew people to possibly be somewhere nearby and wanted them to know that something was very wrong.

 

[Miss Chicken]

One of my neighbours was run over by a car (on purpose) and I ran to his aid. Through it was obvious to me that he was dying I was able to stay calm and hold his hand and confort him. His girlfriend, and her sister, were screaming the whole time.

I also stayed calm when my 4 year old son came running to me with his clothes on fire as I did when my neighbour's stove caught on fire. My neighbour's boyfriend completely panicked.

So I imagine if I saw a body I would stay calm and not scream.

 

[Holdfast]

Do people scream when seeing dead bodies...?

I usually think "oh shit, not again!"

Then I start calling some people...

(NSFW language)

 

[Elmo Dukat]

Do people scream when seeing dead bodies...?

I usually think "oh shit, not again!"

Then I start calling some people...

(NSFW language)

That's an understatement. If written with ** like sh*t and a**, I think there would be more stars than letters.