# Happy endings that aren't. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 24, 2019, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913 "2019-11-24T16:30:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/21 "2019-11-24T19:45:50Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > \*\*Karl Lindner, played by John Fiedler. You might know him as the mousy Mr. Peterson in _The Bob Newhart Show_ and the voice of Disney’s Winnie the Pooh. Fielder also played the role in a revival. His persona is exactly the type of person that is easy to stand up to. He did play Jack the Ripper once (Redjac!) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/22 "2019-11-24T20:02:30Z")
The ending of the Lord Of The Rings story is bittersweet. Yes, Sauron and Saruman were destroyed, forestalling a horrific reign of evil. But Middle Earth continues it’s slide into entropy, with the last of the old magic being more or less broken up for liquidation and passed out as party favors. The Elves are gone, the Wizards are gone. Aragorn ascending the throne is really more sort of a last hurrah of Numenor than a revival. The equivalent would be a saga about elderly former action heroes coming out of retirement just long enough to defeat one last villain before being shuffled off to an end-of-life hospice. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/23 "2019-11-24T20:20:24Z")
There’s a small genre of movies that I call anti-romantic comedies, although I recognize that this is far from the perfect name for them. In these films, you expect that the couple at the center of the movie will get together and stay together, since they seem to be right for each other. But at the end they decide that it would be best to not stay together (but not because one or both of them dies or because one or both of them turn out to be jerks or liars). It’s not clear whether it’s a happy ending or not. Some examples are _Play It Again, Sam_, _Casablanca_, _Muriel’s Wedding_, _My Best Friend’s Wedding_, _Annie Hall_, _(500) Days of Summer_, _Chasing Amy_, _La La Land_, and _Shakespeare in Love_. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/24 "2019-11-24T21:00:41Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > There’s a small genre of movies that I call anti-romantic comedies, although I recognize that this is far from the perfect name for them. In these films, you expect that the couple at the center of the movie will get together and stay together, since they seem to be right for each other. But at the end they decide that it would be best to not stay together (but not because one or both of them dies or because one or both of them turn out to be jerks or liars). It’s not clear whether it’s a happy ending or not. Some examples are _Play It Again, Sam_, _Casablanca_, _Muriel’s Wedding_, _My Best Friend’s Wedding_, _Annie Hall_, _(500) Days of Summer_, _Chasing Amy_, _La La Land_, and _Shakespeare in Love_. _The Core_ ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/25 "2019-11-24T21:06:28Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > He did play Jack the Ripper once (Redjac!) Peterson’s a twerp! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/26 "2019-11-24T21:16:54Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > I don’t feel it’s that simple. Ben fell in love with Elaine when he realized he felt comfortable around her, something that didn’t happen to him with women, and after all the mess, that sort of easy going friendship they had going on is missing. I think that was what Mike Nichols tried to tell. [Do these people look happy?](https://davehoodblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/davehood-2-graduate.jpg?w=980&h=400&crop=1) If that’s the story Nichols was trying to tell, why did he end it on that note? ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/27 "2019-11-24T21:21:30Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Do these people look happy?](https://davehoodblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/davehood-2-graduate.jpg?w=980&h=400&crop=1) > > If that’s the story Nichols was trying to tell, why did he end it on that note? No. No, they don’t. I don’t know where I implied in any way they were, though. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/28 "2019-11-24T21:37:55Z")
I hated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and I think the ending really sunk it for me. My memory is pretty bad, but I thought the whole movie was leading to him choosing the friend, realizing that the girl he wanted was not worth it. I think it actually ends with him choosing the girl he pined after, not learning anything from his experience. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/29 "2019-11-24T21:39:03Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > The Burt Reynolds black comedy _The End_ is about a guy with a terminal disease who decides to commit suicide. Various hilarious hijinks ensue as he unsuccessfully attempts to kill himself. At the end of the film, he starts swimming out into the ocean, intending to drown. But at the last minute, he changes his mind and shouts “I want to live!” and swims back to shore. Yay, happy ending. > > Uh, did the writers forget their premise? He still has a fatal disease and he’s still going to die the slow painful death he was trying to avoid by suicide. I agree – this always bothered me about that movie. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/30 "2019-11-24T21:45:38Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > No. No, they don’t. > > I don’t know where I implied in any way they were, though. Then your response to me above appears to be a non sequitur. I was speaking about the ending. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/31 "2019-11-24T21:51:29Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Then your response to me above appears to be a non sequitur. I was speaking about the ending. So was I? ---
**Author:** ![Hatchie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hatchie/32/3983_2.png) [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/32 "2019-11-24T21:59:22Z")
Dorothy goes home (like which there is no place). Happy. Then Miss Gulch shows up, and this time Toto ain’t getting away. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/33 "2019-11-24T22:04:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I hated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and I think the ending really sunk it for me. My memory is pretty bad, but I thought the whole movie was leading to him choosing the friend, realizing that the girl he wanted was not worth it. I think it actually ends with him choosing the girl he pined after, not learning anything from his experience. Scott was kind of a shitty person though, even Ramona told him he was just an evil ex boyfriend waiting to happen. He shouldn’t end up with the friend or the highschool girl because he was shitty to both of them and they are better off without him. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/34 "2019-11-24T23:37:40Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > Dorothy goes home (like which there is no place). Happy. Then Miss Gulch shows up, and this time Toto ain’t getting away. And she ends up in a mental institution getting electroshock treatment. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/35 "2019-11-24T23:45:40Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I hated Scott Pilgrim vs. The World and I think the ending really sunk it for me. My memory is pretty bad, but I thought the whole movie was leading to him choosing the friend, realizing that the girl he wanted was not worth it. I think it actually ends with him choosing the girl he pined after, not learning anything from his experience. I disagree. I’ve seen the alternate ending where it ends with Scott getting together with Knives but I think it’s weaker than the one where he gets together with Ramona. The Knives ending essentially reduces Ramona to a supporting role in Scott’s story; she’s now just there to move him along far enough so he can get together with Knives. And Knives doesn’t fill the void that this reduction of Ramona’s role creates; Knives has been too passive in the story to stand as Scott’s equal in the development of the story. This makes the movie pretty much all about Scott and everyone becomes defined by their relationship with him. But the Ramona ending makes the movie a story about Scott _and_ Ramona. It becomes a story about two people getting together rather than one person finding a girlfriend. Ramona’s role is no longer just to develop Scott. She becomes a main character and the changes she goes through are as important to the story as the changes Scott goes through. I feel that both Scott and Ramona had learned from what they had experienced in the movie and had become better people. So it was fitting that neither of them went back into the roles they had inhabited at the start of the movie. They had both moved on. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/36 "2019-11-25T00:03:00Z")
> [@Hatchie](#): > > Dorothy goes home (like which there is no place). Happy. Then Miss Gulch shows up, and this time Toto ain’t getting away. Gulch is dead - she’s riding a bike in a tornado, after all… ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/37 "2019-11-25T00:50:09Z")
Since it’s Thanksgiving I’ll bring up the orignal **Dawn of the Dead**. The mall is overrun by zombies in the end and Fran & Peter are the only survivors. Peter is about to commit suicide, but at the last moment changes his mind and joins Fran on the roof where they both escape in the helicopter. Except civilization has collapsed by this point, they have nowhere to go, Fran is heavily pregnant, and the helicopter is almost out of fuel. Sure, there’s a faint hope that they luck out off screen, but it’s really not that much of an improvement over the original ending. Romero’s originally plan was for Peter to shoot himself in the head and Fran to give up at last moment and shove her head into the helicopter blades. I know the Living Dead films are ambiguous over whether they’re direct sequels (because of being made so far apart), but when I first saw **Land of the Dead** I kept looking for a crashed WGON helicopter. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/38 "2019-11-25T01:18:36Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Do these people look happy?](https://davehoodblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/02/davehood-2-graduate.jpg?w=980&h=400&crop=1) > > If that’s the story Nichols was trying to tell, why did he end it on that note? Isn’t that the same ending as ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ with Charles Grodin? Idiot Cybill Shepherd married idiot Charles Grodin to spite her daddy…now what? ---
**Author:** ![lingyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d2c977/32.png) [@lingyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lingyi)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/39 "2019-11-25T04:47:47Z")
_School Days with a Pig_ is a prime example of why I love Asian movies. Especially those that would never be touched by Hollywood. The story (based on a novel inspired by a real-life event) is that a 3rd grade teacher in Japan decides to teach his class where their meat comes from. He brings a pig for the class to raise with the understanding that at the end of the year, they’ll send it off for processing. Everyone in the school naturally falls in love the the pig and the teacher allows his class to debate the faith of their pet. BTW, the acting by all the children is exceptional! Yep, this isn’t _Babe_, the kids decide to send the pig off! I can’t find the article right now, but the real event ended the same way. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/40 "2019-11-25T14:59:59Z")
What about Casablanca? Rick doesn’t get the girl, and is heading into the unknown in a world blazing with war. Somehow, I don’t think that’s a happy ending. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913.md?page=3)