Well, it's certainly not limited to killing off characters, but people have been writing about emotional release as a response to tragedy in drama for quite a long time. Generally it's thought of as a good thing, if not necessarily a pleasant one, and I'm inclined to agree with this analysis; people go into fiction looking for an emotional response, and the enduring popularity of tragic storytelling suggests that they aren't exclusively looking for emotions generally regarded as positive.

Content warnings pointing to what a work's going for might not be a ... (read more)