Death - as an unavoidable event of human existence - is attributed a new visibility in today's society, in relation to everyday life, art, and culture. This suggests potential impacts on socialization. The social handling of death is examined through the lens of cultural and media sociological paradigms, focusing on how the adult generation in modern societies introduces children to this event and how children become familiar with the topic throughout their socialization process. The analysis centers on the communication medium of film, which serves in its social function as a quasi-socialization instance. Children's films illustrate both continuity and change in cultural-historical interpretations and connect these with the currently visible discourse trends surrounding a social theme that is both naturalized and rationalized, despite being an inherently irrational event.