Suicide is the solution, actually (Affaire 2k26)
Some of the big main things for responsibly reporting on suicide are as follows: don't give detail on methods, emphasise that it's preventable and support is available, don't include quotes from last words or suicide notes, don't speculate on the "reason" ("Suicide is extremely complex and most of the time there is no single event or factor that leads someone to take their own life"). And crucially:
- Never suggest that someone died instantly or that their death was quick, easy, painless, inevitable or a solution to their problems. Steer clear of language that sensationalises or glorifies suicide.
- Avoid dramatic, emotive or sensational pictures or video footage. Excessive imagery can glamourise a death and lead vulnerable individuals to over-identify with the deceased.
The new Rudolf production fails on all of these counts, and the new rewritten book has made it worse. Even in the Vienna version, they had methods, dramatic imagery, no references that it could have ever been prevented, etc. The whole way the musical is set up is to show that the society Rudolf and Mary live in is set up to cage them and close all other ways for them to continue their lives no matter how hard they fight, and the best, most fulfilling option (the climax of the story) for them is to die. The solution to problems in your love life, problems with our parents, problems in your professional life, is absolutely not to talk it out (I mean, Rudolf and Mary could not have, and the musical really hammers this home) but rather to take your own life.
They explicitly link suicide to love as well. They added Mizzi telling Rudolf that she loves him and wants him alive and he needs help, but this is never followed up on and their relationship in general is portrayed as inferior and less serious to that of Rudolf and Mary. Rudolf has made up his mind and it doesn't really matter what Mizzi thinks. The suicide itself is framed as a cute date/quasi-sex scene, they're happier than ever and laughing and kissing throughout and then we just go to the bang bang.
They added stuff to make it worse: Rudolf saying goodbye to Mizzi, Szeps and Stephanie and putting his affairs in order (historically accurate, emotional); Rudolf's friends, Larisch, Stephanie, FJ and Elisabeth (!) reacting to the death and being utterly distraught, implicitly "seeing the error of their ways" in the case of the three latter ones, who have been framed as the cause for Rudolf's pain and trauma throughout the show. We don't see any of the negative consequences (for example, Rudolf's dreams and goals never becoming reality and the world going further to shit after he died), only that everyone who pushed the main characters towards things that made them unhappy now regret what they did and the suicide has successfully "punished" them.
It lowkey made me sick to sit there in the sold-out theatre and see everyone hooting and clapping after the finale. I mean, the actors were good (except one guy who could've been replaced with a speaker cos he was so wooden) and deserved their applause, but I was sitting there like "is this truly what people like and want to see" 😭 losing faith in humanity man
