Happy Endings

I mentioned happy endings in my previous post, so I thought, why not start there?
I asked, who doesn't love a happy ending? And I think I'm going to stand by that, but only to a certain extent.

For the most part, the entertainment industry is about escapism. You go to a movie or TV show to watch someone else's life, not your own. Of course you want it to be a bit realistic, you need to be able to relate to the characters. But if their lives were identical, why would you watch it? People like to watch stuff a think, yes that could happen to me! I could meet the perfect guy, I could have the greatest friends in the world, I could have the wildest stag weekend, I could win the lottery, I could have the perfect hair. You relate to the characters, understand them and their motives, and then enjoy their triumphs.

For example, Sex and the City (the TV series, NOT the movies), most girls who watched it say that they are like one of the characters. Sex mad, career obsessed, fashionista or old fashioned. Who wouldn't want to have Carrie's closest? (maybe not the actually clothes she has, but the idea of it, amazing!). Or doesn't want to have a high flying career? Or want to get married and have children? Or feel comfortable having sex because they want to (rather than it only being a man thing to do... if that makes sense?) Generally speaking, most women will fall into one of those categories.

On the other hand, it is annoying how some things are so predictable because you know who's going to get up with who and that they will live happily ever after. When normally they shouldn't. Like in RomCom's, the couple are happy at the start, have some sort of problem, break up, mop, make up and are all happy even though they haven't resolved whatever the issue was in the first place. So you know, even though the film has ended, that really, they won't be happy for very long. Generally this only happens in poorly written, poorly acted crapfests.

It isn't really satisfying when there isn't some sort of definitive resolution (like a big kiss scene or death). Just look at The Break Up with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn. You invest like two hours of your time into watching it, and they don't even get back together! They just bump into each other then walk away. Don't get me wrong, I did find it refreshing. People break up for a reason. Sometimes it's a petty reason, but it doesn't mean that they should get back together.

Point is, you want the people on screen to have what you don't have so you have something to aspire to. At least that's the plan. Just don't go and paint your self blue because you think that will make you happier. It will just make you look mental.