My son just asked, "Dad, which parent do you think dies more in movies?" I thought it was an interesting question and my answer keeps switching. My mind wants to make a sweeping generalization that Moms seem to die at the beginning of a lot of Disney movies with animals. Dads just sort of seem to be not there.→[More:]
Or there's the movie that starts with a strained Father/Child relationship because of the recent Mother death that the Dad doesn't want to deal with and puts up an emotional wall or projects his pain onto the kid.
But then there's the Hero Dad who dies suddenly and inspires some sort of quest or athleticism or heroicism in the (usually) son.
Surely someone has created some sort of factual database on this question.