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emember the famous Tolstoy’s quote “all happy families are the same”? The similar could also apply to the most of the movies with the happy endings. I don’t know whether it’s just me being weird, but in my opinion, Hollywood happy endings ruin some movies. You watch a film and all you remember afterwards is just the cliché at the end– main characters are happily in love, bad guys in prison, everything ideal…just as it’s meant to be. Isn’t it boring?! Many would disagree with me saying that there are enough negative things happening in our lives and films with happy endings make us forget about daily problems, deepen our believe in love and good triumphs over evil.
So what is better – to be a spectator of a narrative history we love it closes where the bad are punished and that ultimately the conflict is resolved or... to watch a film which make you think about things or bring to you the most unexpected? What would stay in your memory and what the difference between a good film and an excellent film?
Of course, a happy ending story is almost always enjoyable to watch and can be great, but sometimes Hollywood gives us a supposed happy ending that is actually not natural at all and depressing as hell once you give it a little thought. I hate “Star Wars: A New Hope” with its stupidly happy ending when everyone has got medals and they're smiling and the score is all sweeping and R2 is rebuilt…Phew.
I personally would go for a story with a tragic ending in which justice has not been given, the plot is unresolved, as a thorn, and this encourages the viewer to make some kind of initiative to think that a story may have the end where it belongs. I think we will always remember such movies as Black Christmas, Casablanca, Brave heart, Vertigo, Easy Rider, Twelve Monkeys, Armagedon, 7 pounds and Perl Harbour.
Of course, it isn’t a happy or sad ending that makes a good movie and things like the acting and effects are the most important. But sometimes we are better off with a tragic ending. Most of the times our life isn’t “and they lived happily ever after” and sometimes a story of loss can be the most remarkable ever, the most REAL!
Comments
Otherwise im totally agree with you. I already told you this before in our conversation about casablanka and stuff.But now reading your post i remember another person who was having same ideas.It was my beloved Yukio Missima (RIP). In his amazing book Confessions of a Mask he says that he always enjoyed remaking endings of samurai stories in his head. So instead of cutting head of dragon , brave hero ended up torn apart by savage beast and his blood would cover perfect white skin of, and his beautiful bride was next in line....of course Missima was known fo his masochistic homosexual orientation ...but it does not change the point im trying to make...or does it?
However to my taste, a good movie is the one which puts three dots instead of one full stop. Good movie should tickle our curiosity somehow.