Friday, May 27, 2011

Write Your Own Ending

I am noticing a trend.  Many of the movies I have seen lately seem to end very abruptly.  I mean, like they don't even bother to finish the story.  Really.  Like completely leaving the audience out on a limb with no firm direction on which way things will end. Perhaps this is considered the "artsy" thing to do. Is it the perception of Independent film producers that mainstream movies placate viewers with the "entire" story because of society's inability to think broadly.   We,(collective we) must need everything tied up in a neat, tidy, little package; we apparently lack the imagination to finish the story on our own.

Wait just a minute.  I paid for the ticket.  I entered the theater with the expectation of seeing a movie.  A whole movie; one with a beginning, a middle, and the ever important denouement.  That is just the fancy literary term for "the final resolution of the intricacies of a plot."

Well, lately, instead of walking away with that warm, satisfying feeling of happy resolve, or even sad resolve, I have been getting NO resolve.  And I'm not sure how I feel about it.  Does this mean that I have fallen into step with the masses that need everything done for them?  Have I given up the agency of thinking for myself by insisting that a movie have a conclusion?

Maybe this gives us a glimpse of our impatience with life.  Isn't it human nature to want to know how the story ends? especially our own story?  And yet we don't.  We can't.  How many of us have really gotten the guarantee of a happily ever after?  Gosh, I wish I could.  And yet, everyday when I get out of bed, I become the director of my own motion picture.  I get to make wardrobe decisions, set decisions, cinematography decisions, even casting decisions.  Ultimately, all the decisions remain with me.  The buck stops here.  I can make excuses, or try and place blame, or feel sorry for myself.

Nah.  That is the coward's way out.  I believe I do prefer to think for myself, to imagine how life could be and then take the steps to see it through.  Will it mean that there will be times of unsettled limbo? Wondering what comes next, or who will win?  Of course.  But it also means that I get to decide who will ride into the sunset with me.


Life's like a movie, write your own ending
Keep believing, keep pretending
We've done just what we set out to do.
Thanks to the lovers, the dreamers, and you. ;-)

3 comments:

Nancy said...

This is a very interesting way to look at life, we are always writing our own story. It begins with how we react to challenges placed before us, do we see lemons or do we make sweet lemonade? When we were traveling around, moving from one duty station to another, I always liked the saying, "bloom where you are planted". It pretty well says it all.....

Laura said...

And if we don't like how the ending of our story is turning out, we can rewrite it. Over and over and over again, until we get it just right.

Outside the Pumpkin Shell said...

Perhaps it's the reason you don't like movies missing the "Third Act"? Your own life has an unforeseen ending, so do you need to anticipate another, and another?

What I've heard from modern movie makers that do this, is that "the ending is what you make of it". Isn't that true to life?