December posting meme: day 6
We'll just do the posting meme once a day (if I can stick to it). I'm pretty sure I won't catch up, but it is what is it.
sapphire2309 asked me about endings, happy and not. She also specifically requested that I not talk about the White Collar finale. There will be other places for that.
I like happy endings. As a reliable rule, I far prefer them. There are a few reasons for this. One is that I'm the kind of person I've described as a fragile fucking flower, or a stupid fluffy bunny. The point being that I prefer things that aren't too dark in general. I've stopped watching more than one series because I could tell all the characters were simply to sink into misery.
Lots of people will point that a story becomes predictable if the characters never lose anything. I agree, but I counter that equally predictable is a story in which characters are never allowed to keep any happiness. The story will ask, "Will this character find happiness?", but I already know the answer is no, because the answer will always be no. I think HBO and its ilk have a frustrating tendency towards this type.
I don't believe that tragic endings are inherently deeper than happy endings. Real life really can't be categorized like that. To simply state that tragic endings are deeper strips meaning from perseverance, triumph, joy, self-actualization, and love. Because there's no way you could tell a compelling, meaningful story about any of that, right?
Another reason that I prefer happy endings is that I primarily connect to stories through characters. I come to care about the characters, and I want to see them succeed. If you cared about someone, would you enjoy watching them fail miserably? That said, on the rare occasions where I've connected strongly to a plot rather than characters, tragic endings don't hurt me the same way. Torchwood: Children of Earth was like that. I never really had any strong feelings toward any of the Torchwood characters, but I was enthralled by the plot, so the ending worked for me in a way it didn't for many people.
Now, this doesn't mean that I'll unthinkingly accept any happy ending, any time. It does have to feel earned or justified. If there's no sensible, coherent way the character could have survived except for the handy deus ex machina, I'm going to be peeved. Also, because I primarily connect to a work through characters, I'm going to be really frustrated if characters get happy endings despite doing nothing to earn them. Now, that can work in small doses if that's the point the work is trying to make. Doctor Who has done it a few times: "sometimes the people who live aren't really the ones who deserve to." But it doesn't happen every time, and it occurs within a larger triumph. But, yeah, I don't like the watch a story endlessly let a character get away with horrible shit, just to give them a happy ending.
And, then, of course, their are some stories that need to be tragedies, and are perfect as they are. The Once and Future King is one of my favorite books, and one of the things I love about it is that it ends in tragedy, not because Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere are bad people, but because they're good people.
Then there's the other category of bittersweet endings. These have such wide variety depending how much sweet and how much bitter each one has. A bittersweet ending that favors the sweet can be one of my favorite types, depending on the factors.
So, happy endings. I prefer them. But I want them held to the same standards as an other ending.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/419495.html. Please consider commenting there.
sapphire2309 asked me about endings, happy and not. She also specifically requested that I not talk about the White Collar finale. There will be other places for that.
I like happy endings. As a reliable rule, I far prefer them. There are a few reasons for this. One is that I'm the kind of person I've described as a fragile fucking flower, or a stupid fluffy bunny. The point being that I prefer things that aren't too dark in general. I've stopped watching more than one series because I could tell all the characters were simply to sink into misery.
Lots of people will point that a story becomes predictable if the characters never lose anything. I agree, but I counter that equally predictable is a story in which characters are never allowed to keep any happiness. The story will ask, "Will this character find happiness?", but I already know the answer is no, because the answer will always be no. I think HBO and its ilk have a frustrating tendency towards this type.
I don't believe that tragic endings are inherently deeper than happy endings. Real life really can't be categorized like that. To simply state that tragic endings are deeper strips meaning from perseverance, triumph, joy, self-actualization, and love. Because there's no way you could tell a compelling, meaningful story about any of that, right?
Another reason that I prefer happy endings is that I primarily connect to stories through characters. I come to care about the characters, and I want to see them succeed. If you cared about someone, would you enjoy watching them fail miserably? That said, on the rare occasions where I've connected strongly to a plot rather than characters, tragic endings don't hurt me the same way. Torchwood: Children of Earth was like that. I never really had any strong feelings toward any of the Torchwood characters, but I was enthralled by the plot, so the ending worked for me in a way it didn't for many people.
Now, this doesn't mean that I'll unthinkingly accept any happy ending, any time. It does have to feel earned or justified. If there's no sensible, coherent way the character could have survived except for the handy deus ex machina, I'm going to be peeved. Also, because I primarily connect to a work through characters, I'm going to be really frustrated if characters get happy endings despite doing nothing to earn them. Now, that can work in small doses if that's the point the work is trying to make. Doctor Who has done it a few times: "sometimes the people who live aren't really the ones who deserve to." But it doesn't happen every time, and it occurs within a larger triumph. But, yeah, I don't like the watch a story endlessly let a character get away with horrible shit, just to give them a happy ending.
And, then, of course, their are some stories that need to be tragedies, and are perfect as they are. The Once and Future King is one of my favorite books, and one of the things I love about it is that it ends in tragedy, not because Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere are bad people, but because they're good people.
Then there's the other category of bittersweet endings. These have such wide variety depending how much sweet and how much bitter each one has. A bittersweet ending that favors the sweet can be one of my favorite types, depending on the factors.
So, happy endings. I prefer them. But I want them held to the same standards as an other ending.
This entry was originally posted at http://veleda-k.dreamwidth.org/419495.html. Please consider commenting there.