August 17th, 2010 | by Susan Lyons |
Last week I watched two movies: Up in the Air and Lars and the Real Girl. At the end, one left me smiling and the other left me sad and annoyed.
You probably know Up in the Air (yes, the one with George Clooney). It’s about a man who fires people for a living. He travels all over and is perfectly happy in airports, on planes, and in hotel rooms. From the outside, we’d say he lives a lonely life, but he doesn’t see or feel that there’s anything missing. This man clearly has some serious issues, though we never really learn what they are. Then he meets a woman and, as any good heroine should do, she shakes up his life. He goes through a character arc, which is the part I always love most in a story. He grows into a more fully developed person who’s not only capable of loving, but wants to love and be loved.
Lars is a similar story. He has some serious emotional issues, though he, too, seems pretty oblivious. Except, maybe he’s not because he doesn’t just bump into a woman – in fact he ignores the charming girl who’s attracted to him – he actively seeks a relationship with (wait for it) a full-size female doll he orders. He believes she’s a real woman, and he, too, goes through a character arc. He becomes a more fully developed person who’s capable of relating to, and loving, a real woman.
The whole doll thing in Lars was hard for me to relate to, but the ending of the movie satisfied me. Lars grew enough that he no longer needed the doll and he wanted to be with the real girl, who had very patiently waited for him to arrive at this stage. I foresee a truly happy ending for those two, and that gives me a nice warm glow. Both Lars and his real girl went through a rough time, they dealt with it courageously, and they earned their just reward.
Not so with poor old George Clooney. This movie, too, has an element of unreality because, hello, can you imagine anyone rejecting George? Well, the woman in the movie does. And okay, not all love is requited, even if you do happen to be gorgeous, smart, and sexy. What really bothers me, though, is that the movie ends with him back living the way he used to, but now the airports no longer feel like home. They feel empty and lonely. And that’s it. Period. Leaving me going, “Oh come on, the man learned his lesson and he grew. He’s a better person. Give him his just reward!”
Now, I’d like to believe that soon he bumps into another woman, and this one’s the right one for him. I’d have even settled for a hint of that in the movie. But no, the screenwriter, director, and producer chose to leave us with an at best ambiguous, and at worst dismal, ending. They are obviously not romantics! No romance writer would have left things that way.
Does anyone else have comments on these movies? Or other movies or books with endings that left you unsatisfied or unhappy?
I haven’t seen Up In The Air, but that would’ve been an unsatisfactory ending. The movie I saw in the theatres that really irked me was The Breakup with Jennifer Aniston. I hate the ending. I know, it has that title for a reason, but I still hate it. My husband, who isn’t a hopeless romantic like I am, also hated it and felt unsatisfied by it. Even if they were happier apart, the ending felt sad to me. I kept waiting for something positive to happen, and it never did.
by Carolynn Estes · August 17th, 2010 at 11:30 amCarolynn, thanks for dropping by. I haven’t seen that one and it doesn’t sound as if I’d enjoy it. It would be interesting to do a poll at the door of the movie theatre as people leave and ask how many people enjoyed the movie and were glad they’d gone. We spend a fair bit of money to go to a movie now – or even rent one – and it seems that so often they’re disappointing. And yet, we know how many fabulous writers are out there, and how much money is spent on making movies. Each movie, like each book, has a target audience. Who are they targeting? I guess mostly not people like us who want a happy ending. Seems a little strange to me… Do people really want to leave a movie feeling unhappy? Gosh, you can get that in your real life. Why pay money for it? LOL.
It also strikes me as really strange that with books, romance is by far the biggest selling genre of commercial fiction – and of course romances have a happy ending. But when it comes to movies, only a tiny percentage are romances, or even have happy endings. The explanation you most often hear is that women buy books and men go to movies. But women would go to more movies if there were ones that appealed to us!
by Susan Lyons · August 17th, 2010 at 12:34 pmNow you know why I don’t go to movies until I KNOW how it’s going to end! I hate that feeling of dissatisfaction when a movie ends badly for the characters. I demand a HEA–which is why I’ll take a good romance over a bad movie any day! My personal feeling is that there is more than enough misery in real life–when I want to be entertained, it means I want to walk away feeling good.
by Kate Douglas · August 18th, 2010 at 11:36 amI agree, Kate. It’s one thing to choose to watch or read something informative that’s depressing – e.g., to learn more about some tragic situation and maybe find out if you can help. But if you’re looking for an evening’s entertainment, why would you pick a movie or book that’s going to depress you? I don’t like sticking my head in the sand – which is why I so often write character with significant personal issues – but I definitely want the uplift of having those characters work through their issues and find happy endings.
by Susan Lyons · August 18th, 2010 at 2:19 pmI saw a made for television movie the other day – I can’t remember the name – but it caused such a riotous response in me because it ended so lamely. I was waiting & waiting & then NOTHING.
by Mary Preston · August 21st, 2010 at 5:08 amThat’s terrible, Mary. A story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. Don’t they teach us that in elementary school? It sill holds true – except perhaps for literary fiction, but even then I think the basic rule holds, it just may be interpreted a little differently. What a disappointment – and then you feel as if you’ve wasted a couple of hours of your life. I also figure, in a good story, the audience (reader or viewer) should get invested in the main character(s) so they care what happens to them, and that’s what the ending is supposed to give: that satisfying resolution. Or challenging or troubling one, I suppose, if that’s the kind of story it is. But there should be an ending!
by Susan Lyons · August 21st, 2010 at 1:39 pm