Never Look Down in a Duel

We've been to enough movies to know that the likelihood of dying quickly is inversely correlated with how much the movie stars are paid. In Westerns,  nobodies will be shot quickly and never seen again, while the higher-billed actors will have a drawn-out dramatic demise. When rivals confront each other in a Western shootout, we sometimes aren't sure who's actually been shot, and neither do the characters, until they themselves become aware of their injuries. You may have never noticed this consciously, but you know it happens. 

But what if the characters become aware of this cinematic convention? If you don't look down and notice the bullet wound, have you really been shot? If a fatal gunshot only becomes reality when it is observed, then refusing to observe the wound keeps the character in a state of quantum uncertainty. Or at least it should. (via Geeks Are Sexy)