Happy Endings

[Scheherazade]

While reading a BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7976192.stm), I could not help wondering if we were really obsessed with happy endings.

Do you think it is a big Hollywood hype or do we have the urge to see everyone happily settled and all problems solved in the most pleasant way?

[The Walker]

I'm not sure...
when I was younger I loved happy endings but now I just want then to be the most real as they can. I started to like reality rather than obvious 'happy endings' even if they are sad.

[papayahed]

I've often said that i would for once like to see a movie where everything doesn't turn out ok. for once the asteroid should hit the earth. Most times when there isn't a happy ending it just leaves room for the sequel which is kinda stinky as well.

[AimusSage]

I do not lie happy endings, they make me sad

[Pensive]

Probably that makes me a sadist, but I have a strong aversion for happy endings!

[RobinHood3000]

It seems like a lot of the times, it's American cinema that's fixated on happy endings. Asian dramatic cinema often seems positively allergic to happy endings.

[prendrelemick]

Its the unresolved ending that annoys me. (Although its probably the most realistic.)

A happy ending is the most satisfying. - And they all lived happily ever after. Very nice.

[Sapphire]

ts the unresolved ending that annoys me. (Although its probably the most realistic.)
Definitely.

In the comments of the article a person quotes the saying "If the ending isn't happy, it hasn't ended yet". I like that idea, it has an upbeat feeling to it: "everything will be all right in the end". I like to escape into that kind of world.
It gets annoying though, when the happy ending is forced into the story. It has got to fit. I personally think it can be as provoking as a sad ending. Imagine for example a story about an aspiring serial killer, which you follow through his/her eyes. In the end, s/he gets caught right before the act - getting shot, never to work out any of his/her plans again. Now I would call that a happy ending: no victims and the bad guy is out of the picture. But if I was watching it and it was done right, you might have been hoping to see him/her succeed as you know it's "just a movie" and you are so caught up in the character. That feeling, that you know it's a happy ending but you feel like the hero/in has been killed ... that is provoking to me: how easy you can go along with the "bad guy/girl".

I guess it all depends on the story. I like the fact that I've read books and seen movies with an "unhappy" ending, but I wouldn't like them all to be unhappy - or all happy. It's the diversity that makes it work :)

[Niamh]

As much as i like the thoughts of happy endings, life doesnt work that way.

[crystalmoonshin]

I'm not really a fan of happy endings, I just want justice to be served the way it's supposed to be. But the idea of everyone being happy in the end like in Disney movies isn't my cup of tea. In literature, anime or movies, I love sad tragic endings.

[RobinHood3000]

I sort of like happy endings, but when a film manages to do an ambiguous or bittersweet ending - In Bruges sticks out in my mind in particular - I judge it far better.

[AtomicCafe1]

I do not lie happy endings, they make me sad

:)

I agree!!

[optimisticnad]

I sort of like happy endings, but when a film manages to do an ambiguous or bittersweet ending - In Bruges sticks out in my mind in particular - I judge it far better.

I really liked that film too!

I'm a sucker for happy endings - but I rarely remember them. It's the bittersweet endings we remember.

[SleepyWitch]

I like unresolved or ambiguous endings. Of course, deep down we all want to live happily ever after. But let's face it, life means changes and development. To live happily ever after in reality would mean that there is no development whatsoever. That would be like living death.

[LadyWentworth]

Well, that depends. I don't pull for a happy ending just for the sake of a happy ending. I seriously want some books/films to end unhappily if I don't care for one, or any, of the characters that may be involved in the final outcome of the story. When it is a happy ending that I dislike, then I am very disappointed.

But I will say that I do like happy endings, generally. After all, they are just stories. If real life isn't going to end up happily ever after, at least I can be taken away from it for awhile and enjoy a fictional one (granted I like all the characters that are involved, of course! :D).

[Silas Thorne]

I don't like sickly sweet endings.

I love the end of Cyrano de Bergerac, precisely because the ending is not happy. But he shows his spirit, he fights his old enemies to the end, the story is resolved.

And a lot of the time I'm supporting the bad guys! ;)

[Mathor]

I remember the very first time I saw Breakfast At Tiffany's. The movie is sweet, but what happens to the characters near the end tugs on the viewers heart-strings. You want the main character to change, to get better, you want Holly Golightly to finally appreciate who she is. But you don't. Her neighbor is in love with her, and she cannot come away from her own self-indulgence to see that. The movie ends with the hero of the story calling it quits and calling her a coward. He walks away into the rainy darkness. Holly follows him. It's things like that that leave you thinking. Movies and books alike that you find stick with you later on. A "Happy ending" allows you to get involved in the drama for a small amount of time and then put it out of your mind forever. When something goes unresolved, the drama continues in your heart. It's sad, and sometimes it's hard to take, but I think we as humans benefit from a little bit of the harsh reality of life.

[Virgil]

While reading a BBC article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7976192.stm), I could not help wondering if we were really obsessed with happy endings.

Do you think it is a big Hollywood hype or do we have the urge to see everyone happily settled and all problems solved in the most pleasant way?

Actually until late 19th century, english novels (Jane Austen for instance) almost exclusively had happy or perhaps happy with some qualifications (Great Expectations). I would say that Thomas Hardy pushed the unhappy novel ending. Novels elsewhere (US and Europe) had a mix of happy and unhappy endings. I'm thinking of Moby Dick and The Scarlet Letter in the US and Madam Bovary and even Stendhal in France. It was almost a requirement in British lit to end on a positive note.

Today I think we have split into two camps. The literary camp seems to insist on an unhappy ending while the more popular novel insists on a happy ending. Why? I have no idea how these things come about.

Why not end with a resolution and niether happy or unhappy? ;)

[grotto]

I prefer perplexing endings, maybe happy but not in the sense that it was planned, as if those portrayed were transformed. I also like irony.

Boy meet girl, boy saves girl and then goes off in peaceful bliss makes me want to vomit. I also detest old long winded sentimental endings where a torch was held for a lifetime. I remember leaving the movie Titanic and being repulsed.

I guess feel good books and movies are ok for the sheep, it keeps the heard controlled and docile but, I prefer to think, imagine and have all of my previous ideas shattered. I like the individual struggle and the reminder that it doesn’t always work out. Life is in the doing, not in the end gain and disappointment is always a part of it.

[Delta40]

I think we like some sense of justice and fairness to occur, especially when faced with obstacles. We like success - everyone strives for it, even terrorists.

[JuniperWoolf]

It doesn't matter to me whether in the end of a story the characters are better or worse off, as long as it's written well.

[LadyLuck]

I'll be the first to admit that I love a happy ending. I am likely a hopeless romantic, and you would think life would have beaten that out of me by this point, but I love the happily ever after ending. That said, I don't necessarily need a boy and girl fall in love and live happily ever after ending. I just like it when the characters grow and are more at the end of a story than they were at the beginning, but in a good way. I'm not overly fond of watching a character degenerate into madness and despair, then voila it is the end of the story. I guess it is better to say I enjoy a resolute ending if not the Disney fairy tale ending.

[hampusforev]

Sounds like a ridiculous cliché, but there's just no such thing as completely happy endings in life (not even during a massage). Of course there are no such thing as completely depressing ones either. So personally I prefer the bittersweetness of Chekhov or any other great author, there might be happiness but it's always hobnobbing next to tragedy.

[Helga]

I am not big on happy endings, I rarely watch comedies and romances because I find they usually have the happy ending written in the opening scene. like someone before me said I usually prefer the bad guy, I think a lot more effort is put in writing the bad guy. My brother has sometimes said that there must be something really evil inside me because I often root for the bad guy, one friend said it is rather something really good in me but I don't know.

I loved the ending of Cyrano de Bergerac and the Legend of 1900, my favorite movie. I also like the ending of the new Captain America movie, I loved how he didn't get the girl.

Another thing, I hate romantic sub-plots in sci-fi and fantasy (at least 90% of them).

[skib]

Funny this thread should pop up right now- I just moments ago had the urge to discuss this very topic. I only briefly perused the BBC article and didn't relate to any of the big names being dropped, but recently I've had this urge to watch violent, disconcerting, chaotic movies. True story, I just watched The Dark Knight and felt very good at the end where nobody wins. Last night I was in an even more dark mood and tried to watch The Adjustment Bureau, recalling that it was mostly on track with my feelings- wanting something so badly but not being able to have it. Then I remembered "This movie ends happily. Never mind with that."
I can not stand movies with a happy ending. It's like an insane sugar rush- while it lasts, it makes you the happiest person you could be. After it's done all you want to do is crawl under a rock and be miserable.

[LadyLuck]

I can not stand movies with a happy ending. It's like an insane sugar rush- while it lasts, it makes you the happiest person you could be. After it's done all you want to do is crawl under a rock and be miserable.

Where's your sense of romance Skib ;)? I really love the happy ending, even if they are so much rubbish. I can't honestly say they make me feel miserable, and I find them refreshing even if I'm not experiencing it in real life.

[skib]

Yes, yes of course romantic/happy stories don't make everyone feel miserable! They're called 'happy stories' for a reason. I suppose it is somewhat of a personal bitterness, like things are just being rubbed in my face. I don't generally like being reminded of certain things I've lost, so I try to limit my subjection to them. Don't get me wrong- I occasionally choke up at a good happy romance. But like I said, when they're over I hate my life twice over. One of the perks of having a very influence-receptive mind with dark tendencies.

[LadyLuck]

I know the feeling, but I don't let them get me too down. Then again, I'm the type that has no regrets in love no matter how messy the outcome has become. It sucks and it hurts like the devil, but I wouldn't trade a single moment to spare myself. I guess they do make me a bit melancholy when I look at that in comparison to what I thought was my own happy ending.