The unfortunate sci-fi trope of the dead child back-story

In films about space and the unknown, dead children are an unfortunate and tasteless way to advance the plot

Eoin Macken.
(Image credit: Jonathan Hession/Syfy)

Sci-fi is a genre built on pushing the limits of the imagination, but for all its originality, there is still an abundance of groan-worthy tropes. Aliens are invading … again. The computer is probably evil. And those ever-present pew-pew-pew sound effects? They should not exist.

Among sci-fi's most confounding motifs is what I'll call "the dead child back-story." Almost every astronaut seems to have one, from the protagonists of critically-acclaimed films like Arrival and Gravity, to the widely-panned Netflix release Cloverfield Paradox. The new Syfy series Nightflyers, which premieres Sunday at 10 p.m., is no different. It uses an unthinkable terrestrial occurence — the death of a child — as inroads into more astral phenomena.

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.