The Ending Debate: Make Mine Hopeful
Bilbo: What about helping me with my book, and making a start on the next? Have you thought of an ending?
Frodo: Yes, several, and all are dark and unpleasant.
Bilbo: Oh, that won’t do! Books ought to have good endings. How would this do: and they all settled down and lived together happily ever after?
Frodo: It will do well, if it ever came to that.
Sam: Ah! And where will they live? That’s what I often wonder.”
—J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
How do you want the stories you read or the movies you watch to end? Should they always end happy? Is it alright if the end is sad? Is there something in between?
This week, I’m taking part in a cross-blog debate about endings.
On Monday, Lisa Hall-Wilson gave the reasons she wants her endings to be 100% realistic (even if that means they’re sad), and on Tuesday, Melinda VanLone explained why she doesn’t just think happy endings are the best way—she thinks they’re the only way. Today I’m picking up the debate.
I want my endings, both the ones I read and the ones I write, to be hopeful.
People don’t need to be shown more sadness and death and criminals escaping, never to be caught, “because that’s real life.” If I wanted that, I could watch the news, sit with a struggling friend, or volunteer at a food bank or cancer hospice. I don’t need a novel to tell me that sometimes things are dark and brutal. The world tells me that enough already.
When life seems to be falling to pieces, we need someone to tell us about how they’ve come through a rough time like this and things got better, or how they learned and grew through the experience, or how, in the end, their situation turned out to be for the best. We need them to remind us that even when we have no control over what’s going on around us, we still have control over ourselves, our reactions, and our emotions. We need them to remind us not to give up.
Because that’s just as real and much more powerful. People need hope.
Hopeful endings show life the way it is, but through them, we also make a choice about how we want to look at life. And about how we want to live it.
Rain is just rain. It’s all about what we do with it that counts.
When it rains on a day you had plans, the person who wants 100% realism tells you about how their plans were ruined. They talk about how damp, cold, and depressing things were. They leave you with tears in your eyes and a knot in your gut. It sucks. That’s life.
A person who only believes in happy endings pretends that the rain didn’t matter. Who cares that it rained? It didn’t really ruin anything. In fact, I didn’t really want to go anyway.
A hopeful ending acknowledges the disappointment in the ruined plans, it mourns for them, but then it grabs an umbrella and goes out and jumps in the puddles. It tosses the umbrella aside, turns a face up to the drops, and spins like a whirling dervish. And when it finishes, it goes inside to make a mug of hot chocolate, get some dry clothes, and create fresh plans for a new day. It moves forward.
You can focus on how sad it is that it rained. You can ignore the rain. Or you can hope for the rain to clear and find a way to make the best of it if it doesn’t.
Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly, is a movie with a hopeful ending. Real Steel takes place in the future where robot boxing has replaced human boxing. Jackman’s character Charlie is an absentee father who ends up taking care of his eleven-year-old son during the worst time of Charlie’s life, when his last robot has been destroyed and he’s in enough debt that people want to kill him. The woman he loves won’t have anything to do with him because he’s immature and irresponsible, and Charlie doesn’t want anything to do with his son.
Charlie and his son pull a “sparring bot” from the junk yard and restore it just to earn a few hundred dollars in throwaway matches. At least, that’s Charlie’s plan. His son has a different idea. By the end of the movie, they’re taking on the top robot fighter in the world. Even though they don’t win, they come close.
Things aren’t unrealistically perfect at the end of the movie. Charlie doesn’t get back the custody he already signed away to his son’s aunt. They didn’t win the match. There’s no wedding or even proposal between Charlie and the woman he loves.
But you know that everything is going to be okay. Charlie’s a better man than he was when the movie began. He and his son reconcile, and he ends up with the woman he loves. You know that with all the endorsements and other support they receive, their robot will succeed the next time.
We got to see the value in love and sacrifice. We got to see courage and determination, honor and duty. We got to learn about the consequences of actions both good and bad. And we got to do it in a way that made us feel like the fight was worth it.
Because learning about love and courage and honor mean nothing if you walk away feeling sad and defeated and like there’s sometimes nothing we can do. Lessons of love and courage and honor aren’t enough on their own. We need to also be inspired to act on them because we believe that we have a chance of success. That’s what a hopeful ending does.
Hopeful endings make you think just as much as a “100% realistic ending” where the bad guy wins and the good guy loses it all. They’re no less honest and no less true. What makes us assume a sad ending is the only true and real one? In a story, we have the ultimate control. We choose. Why not show how hard life can be and then show a character triumphing over it? Why not show people how they can make their lives better if they refuse to give up? How bullies only win if we let them? How they can choose to be happier and choose to make a difference?
Those are the stories I want to tell because those are the stories I want to live.
Join the four of us for a special Twitter chat about endings on Friday, June 29, at 5:00 pm EDT using the hashtag #storyend. And make sure you stop by Diane Capri’s blog tomorrow for her post “The Ending Debate: Make Mine Multiple.”
What’s one ending (book or movie) that you’ve always wished you could change? What would you have changed about it?
Interested in more ways to improve your writing? Grammar for Fiction Writers
All three books are available in print and ebook forms.
Photo Credit: Renate Kalloch (obtained via www.sxc.hu)
Jun 27, 2012 @ 08:29:41
I prefer a happy ending but I’ll settle for a hopeful one – those are the only 2 endings that are in any book I buy. And yes, I read the last chapter first.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 08:43:09
I’m grinning right now. I don’t read the last chapter first, but I do read what roughly equates to Act 1 and then the end before I commit to reading the whole book.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:29:10
So I’m not the only one that might sneak a peak at the end?! Yay! My friends think I’m crazy.
I say it saves me a lot of stress 😀
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:54:02
You are crazy Melinda 😉 but that is why we love you!
Melinda’s friend who this she is crazy for reading the last chapter first- Marcie
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:56:14
thinks… dangit I need a proofreader
Jun 27, 2012 @ 23:46:52
LOL…I do sometimes, too, Louise.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 08:55:44
Umm – wanting a realistic ending doesn’t mean I only want sad endings. That’s not fair.
Real Steel realistically ended on a hopeful note – but it was realistic because we saw Hugh Jackman’s character change and grow throughout the movie so the end fit the story and the character. I’m good with a happy ending or a hopeful ending if that’s where the story naturally leads. Just don’t tack on a hopeful or happy ending artificially.
I heard people complain that in the movie Titanic the boat sank. Well, of course it sank – how else did you expect it to end. You watch Pearl Harbor – yeah, the Japanese still attacked. I watched the new Abraham Lincoln movie – it still ended with Lincoln being shot. All of those movies had hopeful endings that fit.
I think about movies like Shutter Island, Mystic River, Dear John, – how else could those movies have ended and still been true to the story and characters? Yet, I loved Shawshank Redemption equally and it had a happy ending – and that ending was appropriate. I just want the writer to tell the truth. If the story and characters are naturally headed to a sad ending it should be allowed to be sad.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:16:09
My problem with Titanic has nothing to do with the boat sinking (since you can’t change history). It had everything to do with Jack dying. It was unnecessary. The writers could have allowed Rose and Jack to have many happy years together the way Marlena and Jacob did in Water for Elephants. (Don’t even get me started on how contrived it was that Rose jumped back onto the boat once she’d been placed on the lifeboat. If she hadn’t done that, it would have been Jack who got out of the water on the floating piece of wood and increased his chances of survival.) I also had no problem with the Japanese attack in Pearl Harbor.
My argument against your examples is largely that those stories didn’t have to go the way they did to be realistic and authentic. The author made a choice about what story they wanted to tell. Each story, each set of characters, has tens, maybe hundreds of possibilities for how the story could go, so I don’t think that any sad ending had to be the only one that would work. The author could also have chosen to create a believable ending that gave hope and had just as good a story.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:31:43
Maybe it’s the difference between a pantser who has the characters dictate the story) and a planner (who decides before they write how the characters will act, think, and feel)because as a pantser, it’s really hard to let your characters take you to dark places because that’s the story that suddenly needs to be told. There’s room for hope in a realistic story, and everyone chooses how they’ll react to any situation – but then that should also make room for those who choose bitterness, anger, and other things.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:43:50
Perhaps. I know before I begin a story who my characters are and what’s going to happen. My creative juices have been poured into that outline where I’ve thought through different possibilities and looked at potential rabbit trails. For a planner, the outlining is an exciting time as you craft people and weave together the strands of your story. But I’m always in control. I choose between the many possibilities the story that will be true to my characters and also give the message in the end that I want given. That doesn’t mean I can’t make room for characters who choose bitterness or anger, but I do it in a way where the reader still walks away feeling satisfied and filled with hope.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:52:15
There’s no place for broken, grieving, angry, down-trodden people in those stories. But since life (as a rule) tends to exclude them I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised to see such a large portion of the story world feel the same way. Titanic was Rose’s story – not Jacks. It was her journey that needed to be told. Mystic River was Jimmy’s story – it was his journey the writer’s concerned themselves with. IMHO
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:02:17
We will have to agree to disagree. I believe there is a place for broken, grieving, angry, down-trodden people in those stories. But they don’t have to stay that way (in stories or in life). Broken things heal over time if we let them. Grief eases. Anger is a choice. And down-trodden people can win the battle for a better life. But they’re going to be people who fight for something better and who keep on fighting because the fight is important and the fight, in itself, gives hope. I think the same is true in life.
I wonder if some of our difference in opinion on how stories should end doesn’t also come because we just see life very differently.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:27:04
You might be shocked to hear this, but I actually love Shawshank Redemption. I’ve watched it many times. 🙂
How can I not love a movie that ends with lines like “I hope.”
😀
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:32:27
I didn’t complain when the boat sank in Titanic. I complained that they killed Jack. They didn’t have to. But again, I knew that going in so my expectations matched up with the story ending and I wasn’t nearly as upset as I was at Up!, which I felt lied to me lol.
Mind you, I’ll never watch Titanic again. I couldn’t even listen to that damn song on the radio. You know, the one with Celine Dion and bits of the movie dubbed over it? ugh.
“I’ll never let go Jack” my ass.
I’m not bitter. Really. 😉
As for the other movies you mention, Lisa, I’ve never seen them. Those are the ones my friends tell me “don’t watch that, it’s not a “you” movie”. And I believe them and move on heh. So I can’t tell you how I think they should have ended. Most likely I’d agree with you that the ending chosen was the only one possible. It’s just simply not one I’d choose to read/watch, that’s all. I’m not their target audience, and I’m ok with that :-D. I’ll let you watch them and tell me if it’s worth me being depressed 😀
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:36:43
You know why I was OK with Jack dying in Titanic? Because statistically the chances of 3rd class passengers surviving were very small. Like 80% of those who survived were 1st class. That aside, Jack’s death inspired Rose to live more fully, to suck every drop of joy from her life – and she did that. She reached the end of her life and had no regrets. She was looking forward to what happened next – to possibly being reunited with Jack. I’m not convinced their relationship would have survived off the Titanic anyway. TBH
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:49:14
At this point, I avoid all books and movies connected with the name “Nicholas Sparks.” I still haven’t found one that left me feeling good at the end. I usually come away feeling melancholy, and I’ll feel sad for days or weeks every time I think about it. What’s the point in that? I don’t want to spend my time on something that’s just going to make me feel bad.
I don’t know if Jack and Rose wouldn’t have worked off the boat. I think they could have given the chance and based on the adventures she clearly took later. Plus, I strongly disagree that it was Jack’s death that taught her those lessons. It was his life that taught her those lessons, and had he lived, she would have also had the chance to teach him some lessons. They could have grown together and still faced the end of life without regrets.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 23:45:25
I agree that Nicolas Sparks brings plenty of tears, but I would argue that “The Notebook” is the only truly “romantic” movie I’ve ever seen (I haven’t read the book). There is a guy who loves a woman so much he willingly dies rather than live without her (and not in a melodramatic Romeo & Juliet manner either).
Jun 29, 2012 @ 09:00:49
Sharon, that’s precisely how my husband feels about “The Notebook” movie. He said it ended happily ever after because they were together in the end and always and neither one had to live without the other.
The Ending Debate: Make Mine Happy! | Melinda VanLone
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:01:34
[…] Mine Realistic Tuesday – Melinda VanLone – The Ending Debate: Make Mine Happy Wednesday – Marcy Kennedy – The Ending Debate: Make Mine Hopeful Thursday – Diane Capri – The Ending Debate: Make Mine Open Friday – Twitter Debate 5pmEST […]
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:39:39
I like the idea of hopeful endings. They’re a good way to bridge the gap between realistic and happy, and they’re usually more like real life. After all, there’s almost always hope!
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:53:01
I would agree 🙂 Life, in a lot of ways, is what we make of it.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:51:24
You just described EXACTLY how I like my endings. I don’t like them all tied up with a happily ever after wedding, but I don’t like them sad either. I haven’t seen the robots movies, but I know it’s the kind of ending where we can come up with our own after the story conclusions. We can decide that he would probably get partial custody eventually and stay with the woman. Because that’s what hopeful endings do. They let us know that everything will be ok, but we can come up with exactly how on our own. I love being able to do that.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 09:54:40
In a way, I feel like those types of endings let me enjoy the book/movie longer because I’ll linger over the characters in my mind after the book is finished and come up with all the wonderful things I think they experienced after “the end.”
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:05:23
Oh, Man!! You guys are killin’ me!:-D If this keeps up, I’m gonna win for sure!!! So I’ll just say a few controversial things here right off the bat to get the juices flowing, hmmmmm?
First, Titanic was one of the worst movies I’ve ever watched. Not because the boat sank. Or because Jack died. (Honestly, long before he died, I was ready to kill them all!) But because the story sucked!!!! Bad story = I don’t care how it ends and I want my money back!!!! (Okay, so that’s a little preview…)
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:07:07
I’m really looking forward to your post tomorrow! There was definitely more wrong with Titanic than Jack dying, but at least the movie wouldn’t have made me just plain angry if he had lived.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:23:33
Ha, Diane! I agree about Titanic. Add to that a woman falling asleep on my shoulder while watching it (on a plane) and a gross run in with Leonardo, it pretty much made my would-throw-tomatoes-if-I-could list. Excited to read your post.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 16:38:08
Goodness! That sounds like what I said as I left Snow White LOL. By the time I left that movie I was rooting for the evil Queen. Can’t wait to see why you thought the story sucked.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 23:48:18
Diane-
I completely agree about “Titanic.” I never saw the fascination so many young women had for it when it first came out. It was just another movie where sex is substituted for love and everyone thinks it’s so romantic. Blech!
Jun 29, 2012 @ 08:40:59
That’s actually one of the problems I had with the movie. Rose and Jack didn’t have enough time to truly fall in love, and it felt like the movie producers wanted us to assume they had simply because they had sex in a car.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:10:07
You make a great case here, Marcy. As you may have read elsewhere, I prefer realistic ending. But I also believe that most situations inspire hope, depending on the characters and audience. Titanic sunk and Jack died, but Rose went on. We ached for her, felt their love more so and were more touched by the ring she saved and tossed into the ocean. (Not that I loved the movie, just pointing out the role perspective plays…)
Realistic endings inspire me more than happy endings for the sake of happy endings and happy endings that seem perfect. I personally love knowing that a story could really happen, and that the creator put great effort into ensuring so.
Plotting does seem like a way to make happy endings work, whereas pantsing makes way for whatever ending fits the WIP—which will never be mundane if our characters and stories aren’t. All endings can make us think, Marcy—great point. I just seem to me more often aggravated by ultra-happy ones. 😉
I saw a film the other day with a happy ending (though not happiest-possible-ending) that worked SO well, because it was realistic. (I think you, Melinda and Lisa would love it: YOUR SISTER’S SISTER.) In other words, I think both can be accomplished, if that’s the goal. Sounds like you do that, Marcy. Man, now I really can’t wait to read you guys’ books. 🙂
Loving this debate!
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:21:41
Well said, August. That’s exactly it. And yes, the ending of our novel was a much debated thing for a long time. 😛
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:22:55
And despite my earlier comments, I wasn’t a huge fan of Titanic either. That story had bigger problems than Jack IMO.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:30:34
Haha. Much debated is right. When Lisa and I started working together, we didn’t realize this underlying difference existed. We both like to dig into gritty, dark things in our writing, and so we thought we had the same perspective. As we got deeper into the book, we couldn’t figure out right away why we’d stall out at certain points. Turns out those were impasses in our points of view. The ending was especially tough. I did the first run through of it, and Lisa felt I’d tied things up too much. When her new version came back, I felt like she’d given the reader no satisfaction and had created an ending that would make me not want to read my own book. I imagine from the outside it would have been like watching an intense tug-of-war.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 10:18:12
Great debate, ladies. I’m sure it’s not a “solvable” issue, but fleshing out the various facets of it is very enlightening. Marcy’s post is the first I’ve caught, so with all due respect to the others’ I’d have to say this approach resonates for me (at this point my perspective is more of a reader than author because I’m just wading in): present people as ugly, pitiful and hopeless as they really are, but never let the light go out that there is a source of change that can affect them. Even if it isn’t seen on the pages – it’s still possible.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 11:42:22
I’m sticking with my story of an ending needs to be what the ending needs to be for the story, but YES! Make mine hopeful or happy. If I can’t have my HEA, then I at the very least need HOPE. I so totally agree with you that life deals us enough reality and gloom. I watch movies and read to ESCAPE that gloom. If a book is just going to bum me out more, I’ll put it down never to return.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 12:39:05
You KNOW what I’m going to say. I like a happy ending. BUT I will definitely accept a hopeful and realistic ending too. As long as the story is completed – leave me hanging and I won’t buy another one by that author, ever.
When I say ‘happy’ – I don’t mean happy clappy where they walk into the sunset staring into each other’s eyes because real life isn’t like that. I like the protags to be resilient enough to have the commitment with each other to work through anything that life throws them in the future. So I probably should vote for hopeful. Too late.
I loathed Titanic too – a total waste of three+ hours. By the end I felt like drowning the whole bloody lot of them, including misery faced Kate Winslet. And Leonardo Di Caprio has never done it for me, he’s too fresh faced and a pretty boy. Give me a real man with hair on his chest – can’t stand men who wax or use more face products than I do either. Just say’in.
Great post and great debate.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 13:13:41
I think it depends on the book and the appropriateness of the ending to the characters that were developed.
I do agree with you, Marci, that I do not need more sadness and hard truths in my life, so for escape I tend to read genre fiction that assures me of a just resolve, whether it is a bad guy caught or two people falling in love.
I’ve found as many gratuitous cliches in literary fiction pushing ugliness as I have the sweet ones in bad genre fiction. But I have also been satisfied with sad endings when they are organic and have a beauty to them. Look at Gone with the Wind or Tale of Two Cities. The unhappy endings have poignancy and meaning.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 15:15:00
The debate is definitely on. Wow! I might be labeled wishy washy. I like a happily ever after CG movie. I don’t really want to feel bummed after watching, for all intents and purposes, a cartoon. I would say I most enjoy a hopeful ending, but I may not define it as others to. Even a glimmer of hope it okay. As Lisa said, as long as the ending fits and doesn’t seem contrived, I’m good with that. My blog is Steph’s Eclectic Interests and it seems “eclectic” also describes my taste in movies, TV, and books. If a book or movie is dark and depressing from page one through the end . . . that I don’t like. So I guess I’m a member of Team Realistically Hopeful.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 17:00:46
Love this Marcy. I am definitely a hopeful ending gal myself. Something real but where they’ve learned a lesson. Triumphed. That’s real life 🙂
Jun 27, 2012 @ 19:22:39
I totally agree–give me hopeful. Real life is full of sadness, heartache, death, and the bad guys walking away triumphant. If I wanted those emotions, I could read biographies or watch documentaries. But as you said, Marcy, in fiction the author gets to choose which story to tell. Hope is realistic, because without it there’s not much point in living.
Jun 27, 2012 @ 20:08:39
I watched the movie “Grey” and wanted to punch the writer and Liam Neeson IN THE FACE. The ending seriously pissed me off. I like hopeful endings, too…or really cool endings that are a big twist like “Vanilla Skies.”
Jun 27, 2012 @ 20:21:12
I’m open to all kinds of endings as long as they are a satisfying culmination of core conflict. If the criminals have been shown to be sympathetic characters then they can win. If the good guys have been struggling to reign in the bad guys and manage it in the last act, then that’s a good ending. The worst sort of ending is one where the story has no core conflict and therefore no way to resolve the conflict.
The arguments above about Jack dying could be reversed by saying it would have been a contrived hollywood ending that both lived. After all, the majority of people on the Titanic didn’t live. Alternatively, they manipulated peoples emotions by having him die – equally Hollywood, but what are stories supposed to do? Manipulate people’s emotions 🙂
Cheers!
Jun 28, 2012 @ 15:00:30
Yep. I get you and agree. Is that a first?
Jun 28, 2012 @ 00:04:22
First I have to defend the whole plotting vs panster thing. Just because someone prefers to plot doesn’t mean that what we plot is set in stone. It’s a guideline. A place to start. Ideas that may or may not make the final editing. Just because I plan to see the butterfly garden and Whitefish Point when I go up north doesn’t mean there aren’t a dozen unplanned destinations I visit, too. Plotting doesn’t kill creativity…it just gives us a starting point.
Now…great article, Marcy. What kind of endings do I prefer?
Happy is good. Hopeful is fine. Sad…I can live with that, too. But no hope…forget it. I don’t care that it was true, The Perfect Storm is a perfect example of a movie that makes you wish you’d spent that two hours doing ANYTHING else. Even scrubbing a toilet at a gas station would have been more uplifting. And the novel On The Beach? That is far and away the most depressing book I’ve EVER read.
I have no use for movies or stories like that. They tend to stay with you for too long. I realize it’s because they’ve made a huge impact, but I’d rather watch or read a romantic comedy and forget about it in a couple of hours than to still be feeling down a few days later because there was absolutely no hope at the end.
I agree with you 100%. If I wanted nothing but realism, I’d watch the news, or the video of my dad near the end of his fight with cancer.
Hopeful endings are the best of all. On the flip side of On The Beach is Alas, Babylon. Both deal with nuclear war, but the endings are completely opposite in both. Pearl Harbor is a good example of a hopeful ending, as opposed to everybody dies.
I have seriously annoyed some people over Enza. Believe me, I wasn’t very happy writing some of it. In fact, when it came down to deciding who the victims were, I put all the names in a hat and drew them. I wanted realism, and me choosing who lived and died wouldn’t have been in line with that. But it did end with hope, and that was the most important thing. It took some work to find that hope, but it was there. And that’s the kind of story I like.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 01:26:46
Oh yes, Kristen brought up a great movie. Vanilla Sky! Loved the twist in that one.
If you read my answer on Melinda’s blog then you know by now that I lean towards hopeful. That’s how I tend to write. Having had more than enough crap in my life there were periods when I outright avoided the top blockbuster movies because of the content. I was and still am the same way with books. If I know the end will be miserable, I don’t pick it up.
I can deal with any ending but a total realistic miserable one. Like others said, I watch movies and read books to escape all that, thank you.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 01:31:12
I’ll toss in my $0.02. I mentioned on Melinda’s blog that I love a HEA, sugary sweet and blissful. Pure escapism, and if that’s what I’m after, then I will love a book, re-read when I’m too lazy to tackle something new, and let it slip me off to cotton candy dreams. But that is not the whole of what I read. Overall, I’d have to say my preference is for the hopeful ending, but it has to be realistic. If the story’s natural ending is sad, then so be it. Lynn Flewelling’s Tamir triad was one of the darker fantasy series I’ve read, but it carried a flame of hope through it.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 12:10:59
I have to go back when I have more time to read ALL the comments. 🙂
I am for hopeful, too. Not because I don’t want an ending to be sad or happy, but partly because I like things to be a bit open ended.
Do the girl and guy live happily ever after? Maybe. They have a chance at least. The reader can decide. I like the idea of being able to still think about the story after it ends.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 14:55:01
I am a cup is half full girl, so I vote for a hopeful, if not happy ending. It is the purpose of reading/watching a great story to escape from our reality. We want to feel good at the end of our 12 hour journey. We root for our MC throughout many pages and we want to see him/her succeed. Even if it is in some small way. Those are books we read over and over again. 🙂
Jun 28, 2012 @ 15:04:48
Yes! Absolutely. Life today is hard. It’s tough and it’s not pretty so I want to watch/read something that lifts my spirit and entertains me. Yes, it can make me cry, but I want to laugh too. And I certainly want to feel that the story is completed.
Hated the film ‘Grey’ too. Don’t have time to waste on this stuff – and I adore Liam Neeson, bless him.
Jun 28, 2012 @ 17:31:55
I’m in your camp, Marcy. Hopeful endings inspire me. I wasn’t very interested in the Real Steel movie until your description. Now I want to rent it.
Thank you for the wonderful debate. It has been a pleasure to read all your arguments and everyone’s responses.
Maybe in a month or two we can see another debate about a new topic? 🙂
Jun 28, 2012 @ 20:30:11
I’m with you, Marcy. If I want trauma, I’ll read the news. We can’t (nor would it be wise to) hide from the pain that’s part of real life, but what’s wrong with sparing ourselves fictional pain (that can feel pretty real!)
I guess I most appreciate a happy ending, and while I’d like it to be realistic, it’s fiction after all. No deus-ex-machina, but a bit of realism-stretching is okay. Actually, as a writer I’d be considering what I had to do in the story to allow the happy ending to be realistic in context of the plot/characters.
But I think more powerful than the happy ending is the hopeful one. Don’t we all want hope? And hope is transferable. If it worked out for our fictional friends, maybe it’ll work out for us.
Thanks to the four debaters for getting us all thinking and talking.
Jun 29, 2012 @ 12:21:27
I’m still catching up from being away, but wanted to toss my +1 in for Hopeful! Happy is OK too as long as it’s not too pat-everything-tied-up. Those annoy me. The book where I really wanted to kick the author was The Time Traveler’s Wife. It didn’t make me angry that the guy died – heck, it was already pushing my belief that he lived as long as he did, given the way his condition worked. But why couldn’t the author have left off the last chapter, where it shows the heroine still pining away for him FORTY FREAKIN’ YEARS LATER? Talk about no hope at all – Yuck! Ironically, my book has been compared to this one more than a few times, but always with the caveat, “without the sucky ending.” 😀