Happy endings

There’s a sci-fi movie I’ve been meaning to see for a while and this weekend I finally ended up watching it. I’ll avoid naming it outright because I don’t want to risk spoiling it for anyone who hasn’t seen it. But, suffice it to say, I had really enjoyed it.

During one pivotal scene, tears began to form in my eyes because a character I had grown deeply attached to looked like it might meet its demise. I gasped at the screen: “no.” In my mind I was already mourning. It seemed inevitable. In a ‘serious’ work, someone has to die.

I couldn’t even fathom a completely happy ending because I’ve grown so accustomed to things taking a darker turn, especially in movies.

That’s the traditional formula. You get the audience to care about a character—or several of them—but in the end you must sacrifice someone for the story to have emotional weight. That’s how compelling storytelling hits you in the ‘feels,’ or so it goes.

This was unexpected.

A genuine happy ending. No one we’ve grown to care about …