"That's Reality" - On Hollywood Endings
Most people seem to sniff derisively at the idea of a "Hollywood Ending," but let's face it---most of the sniffers must be lying. Because the only reason Hollywood Endings get shoved down the throats of movie and fiction writers is because people want them. Or I guess at the very least have been trained to expect them, and Meeting Expectations = Satisfaction, right?
But isn't that boring? Wouldn't the happy endings be even more satisfying if we didn't know to automatically expect them 95% of the time? And wouldn't we learn to appreciate different kinds of endings if more of them made it to the marketplace? Or are tied-in-a-bow happy Hollywood Endings simply what people want and there's no changing it, so if you endeavor to write in certain genres, you've simply got no choice other than to give the majority of people what they want?
My perspective on this seems to have changed in the two decades since I first saw The Player. Back then, when I saw the scene I've linked to the photo below, I was 100% with Bonnie in her insistence that the writer was a sellout. But now I don't know, I think he makes a valid point when he says, "Everybody hated it. We re-shot it, now everybody loves it. That's reality."
But isn't that boring? Wouldn't the happy endings be even more satisfying if we didn't know to automatically expect them 95% of the time? And wouldn't we learn to appreciate different kinds of endings if more of them made it to the marketplace? Or are tied-in-a-bow happy Hollywood Endings simply what people want and there's no changing it, so if you endeavor to write in certain genres, you've simply got no choice other than to give the majority of people what they want?
My perspective on this seems to have changed in the two decades since I first saw The Player. Back then, when I saw the scene I've linked to the photo below, I was 100% with Bonnie in her insistence that the writer was a sellout. But now I don't know, I think he makes a valid point when he says, "Everybody hated it. We re-shot it, now everybody loves it. That's reality."
The setup: Throughout The Player, a screenwriter (the gum chewer) has insisted that his movie will have no movie stars in it (yes, that's Julia Roberts at the height of her popularity) and that the evidence to clear the main character, who's been falsely accused and faces the death sentence, will only be discovered after she's been executed..."because that's reality."
 |
| Click image to see how the gum chewer's vision played out. |
How do you feel about Hollywood Endings?
Like 'em? Bored with 'em? What?
P.S. I've already packed three items in my time capsule from the future. How about you?
Comments
People who live ordinary lives want to be diverted from that and paying $10- for two hours of entertainment they don't want to be reminded of their own boring, humdrum lives.
The stories without happy endings may be critically acclaimed, but most don't make money.
Yes, we do need happy endings for the ESCAPE... it's not ALWAYS about the money. Like Anne said, most people lead very boring or ordinary lives, so they look for that happy ending because they many never get theirs.
On the flip side MISERY doe LOVE company. A realistic ending of a broken life or relationship is something humans deal with on a daily basis. There is almost comfort in knowing that we are not going through these hardships alone.
And for both of these reasons I like diversity in my reading, and movie going AS well as in my writing. Two books, and a novella in progress .... all three VERY DIFFERENT in their endings and POV...
While they're the ones who built the film industry, they've spent the past 10 years, or so, tearing it down just the same.
That said, though, you have a good point about them giving people what they want...or what they've been trained to want.
Personally, I like the unexpected ending. I hate being able to guess (correctly) how something is going to end.
Mostly I go for the happy ending though. Stories are escapism for me, so I get frustrated when the good guys lose outside of real life. :)
I agree with Suze, the ending should take us where we want to gol
Love,
Janie
Anyway...Hollywood endings. Honestly, it's the perfect ingredient for laying siege to what may have been a wonderful novel, until a producer clamped onto it, his fangs bared ;)
Great to hear from ya!
El
Films and stories are escape for me. I like to enjoy them without knowing the ending, but that doesn't usually happen - I know it halfway through but loving it anyway. And cliches are the worst.
But overall, I'm a huge fan of the happy ending :)