Let's talk about ENDINGS. ENDIIIINGS! The end of Lost, the end of the new movie, Splice, the end of The Notebook, the end of any Nicholas Sparks book, the end of an era, the end of time, "Ends" by Everlast, split ends, The End. Humans are obsessed with ends. I don't place too much value on an end. I live to read movie spoilers - I like to know the end, but I don't wait on pins and needles to find out the end. In most respects, I'd rather know than find out.
If you're going spin a yarn of any type, you better have a good ending and you better satisfy everyone with your end otherwise you will end up in the middle of a bloodbath of critics raining blows upon you. You can't satisfy everyone, though, so why not satisfy NO ONE? That's why I like an interesting, somewhat unsatisfying ending. Take the movie 'Arlington Road' that I mentioned previously. I told you I wasn't going to spoil the movie because the ending rules, but I'm going to now: the bad guys win and ride off into the sunset and the hero (a sexy Jeff Bridges) dies and is made out to be the bad guy in the media. It's an all-around frustrating ending and disappointing and not normal. But it is an idea I can support. Or the end of Lost: it left mysteries floating in the Lost universe that will absolutely never, ever be solved. Sorry, need-to-know bastards.
Like with the way most average viewers viewed Lost (sitting through 100+ hours only building to a resolution of why they're the island and what will happen in the end), most people read books to find out how it ends. What will happen and whatever happens, I better feel a sense of relief when this is over. "Did you like the way the book ended? The book ended differently than the movie. The movie just... ended. It just ends. Well the book kind of just ends too, but it's kind of an open ending, so we'll see."
Engaging in any form of "water cooler" conversation makes me want to rip my ears off.
Split Enz
ReplyDelete