I used to be part of this group of people, but I've found that over the years I've become more and more comfortable with bittersweet and even sad endings to the point where I don't mind how it ends as long as it makes sense for the story. But for the life of me I couldn't understand why this change had taken place until just recently.
I remember the first movie I ever watched as a kid that had a sad ending. I'm not sure if anyone still remembers this, but Ladder 49 came out when I was eleven years old, and at that time I was still pretty sensitive.
*Spoiler Alert*
In case you haven't already guessed, the ending is not very pleasant. If memory serves, it follows the life of a firefighter/group of firefighters. It started in a burning building, moved to a flashback which took up the majority of the film and then went back to the burning building where the firefighter died. I KNOW right!? He died! I couldn't believe it. This was absolutely unacceptable to me at the time.
*End Spoiler*
How could the good guys lose? That never happens right?
Over the next few years I saw that it did indeed happen. A lot more than I cared to know. There are times when life is really hard, and you don't get everything wrapped up at the end with a "Happily Ever After". So what was it that made me so mad about the outcome of that movie?
For me, I think it was my huge sense of justice. I can't stand to see people suffer for things they didn't do, and I hate to see people do awful things and get away with it. The good guys need to win, and the bad guys need to lose. At a young age, with the movies and books we read, it's really easy to tell who's the good guy and who's the bad guy. The writers make it clear from page one who you're supposed to root for.
But when you get older, you discover that in real life, there's no one who is perfectly good. Everybody is messed up in one way or another. Who's to say that villain didn't start out as a hero? Who's to say that hero won't be corrupted and turn to the dark side? In the real world, you have conflicted heroes, and sometimes you have sympathetic villains. That's part of what makes us human. We're not perfect.
I think once I started to grasp that, I was able to appreciate those sad and bittersweet endings more. At the end of the day, if you're absolutely completely honest with yourself, you know that no one really deserves to have a perfect story-book ending to their life. It wouldn't be just to just sweep everything the protagonist did under the carpet simply because he was the protagonist! Sometimes the only fitting ending is a sad one, because there are serious consequences for the times we mess up. But other people who are just as knowledgeable as I about the twisted nature of man still don't like sad endings. Why is that? Am I simply more morbid in my thinking? Am I just sick?
Let's assume for a moment that I'm not. I think the reason you watch/read stories will affect whether or not you can appreciate sad endings. There are two main factors that go into why someone looks for a story. I think most everyone will have both factors in place, but one may be more important to them than the other.
The first group of people read
For the Escape
If you read to get away from the troubles of the world, and escape to some land far away, then you won't like sad endings. You probably see reading as a chance to get away from the harsh realities of the real world, so obviously in your safe far-off land the good guys always win. That makes total sense. No one wants to imagine they're in a place that's sadder than the one they're in now. That just doesn't make any sense.
However, if you read
For the Experience
You may think in a totally different way.
Randy Ingermanson describes something called a "Powerful Emotional Experience". In his book "Writing Fiction For Dummies", and/or on his blog (probably both) he says that it's something that every novel needs to have, and I happen to agree with him wholeheartedly. This is because I am one of those people who reads primarily for the experience of it all.
When I read a book, I'm looking to experience some intense emotions. Fear, anger, love, joy, everything and anything. Personally, I want to be left breathless at the end of a book. Sometimes sad and bittersweet endings are much more powerful than happy endings. I know for me at least, they stick in my mind a lot better. They linger in the back of my head, and I'm left wishing it could have ended differently, and knowing that it couldn't have at the same time.
Having said that, I'm certain that no one reads a book or watches a movie for only one of these two reasons. There are probably countless other reasons as well, and they are all in a specific balance that's unique to each person. For some, they care more about the escape, some care more about the experience, and I think this is why there are lots of people out there who don't like sad endings.
I was talking with a few of my friends a while back about books that depict sad situations, and one aspect that we talked about was that when you have someone who's actually gone through "horrible situation x", they will very likely be offended if you just say "And they all got over it and lived happily ever after!" What are you saying? That if you try hard enough everything will just turn out peachy and perfect? That's not how life works, and sometimes ignoring that can be really annoying, and even insulting.
On the flip side, some people want hope when they read stories like that. They want to see the hero overcome all of that junk so that they can say "Ya! I CAN do this!" and press on. They need that encouragement to get through whatever they're going through.
The fact that I read mainly for the experience will definitely affect how I write, but that doesn't mean that my books are all going to be downers. It simply means that my intention in writing is to give you the most intense experience possible. I'm going to do my best to make you feel exactly how my characters feel, and I hope I'll be able to take your breath away. If making the ending sad is going to accomplish that, then I will definitely consider that option. But of course, nothing is set in stone at this point. Who knows what the end result of my first series will be!
What do you think determines whether or not you appreciate sad endings? Is it what I mentioned here, or something else?
Well, I know that when I read/watch a story I'm in it for the escape. Real life has enough sad stories in it and I don't have to go far to hear about them. I really think if someone wants to experience that level of sadness they just need to read a few biographies and watch the news! Why spend time on a work of fiction that creates a sad ending for no reason? I just don't get it.
ReplyDeleteI also don't read a book to experience intense emotions - I prefer to do that in real life :-) I read a book to learn. I want to learn about other cultures & people; about God - who He is and how I can relate to Him; about my digital camera and how to use it more efficiently; about history - how life used to be and how we came to be the culture we are today. Yup, I'm a confirmed non-fiction reader!
I do like what you said about tidying up a "horrible situation" in a book in a false way and how that could offend a person who is really dealing with that situation. However, I think it's important to offer hope for a fellow human being who is struggling... not a false and fake "Hollywood" hope but a deeper and truer resolution to the situation that will bring the reader to a sense of satisfaction & fulfillment (not sadness & depression) even if the circumstances haven't changed. If an author can accomplish that, then it's a book worth reading, in my very humble opinion.
I think the sadness has to have a reason. Like if a character dies then that person has to die for a reason, like to save a different person or help lead someon to christ. If a person randomely dies for no point or reason than it's a dumb ending.
ReplyDeleteI watched this one movie where lots of stuff happens (I can't remember most of it) but in the end there's a flood and the girl manages to get in a boat and she paddles to the main guy's house, but as he's trying to pull her through the window she falls into the water so he jumps in after her and they both drown. That's the end of the story! It was completely pointless for them to die but they needed an ending so they just killed them! That is not a good sad ending, that's a stuped one.
It is SAD that blogs don't ever end.
ReplyDeleteEven the 'saddest' of endings produces a 'happy' response in readers. If you're looking for a dramatic ending to a story, it's probably because you need to feel empathy. When we feel like a character has strived for success only to succumb to achieve failure, it mimics some aspect of our life. We want to feel like we are not the only one who has had good intentions, worked hard, or strived for the best only to be met by failure.
ReplyDeleteSo, a 'sad' ending is merely a 'happy' ending in disguise.