# 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:** 5
**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 27, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/81 "2019-11-27T08:17:21Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > but what they got were higher taxes to replenish the treasury after an overly decadent royal wedding. And what about Beauty and the Beast? The quaint French village seemed perfectly happy without some sort of hereditary authoritarian ruler lording over them. Suddenly some jackass marries a local girl who has nothing but contempt for them and their lives, murders the local hero and starts telling them what to do? Yeah, that’s going to end well. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/82 "2019-11-27T15:07:12Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > And what about Beauty and the Beast? The quaint French village seemed perfectly happy without some sort of hereditary authoritarian ruler lording over them. Suddenly some jackass marries a local girl who has nothing but contempt for them and their lives, murders the local hero and starts telling them what to do? Yeah, that’s going to end well. _chin scratch_ Hmm… Actually, that sounds like the first act to what could be a really great action/revenge flick, with the villagers coming together in the end to defeat the evil foe and his class-traitor servants a la _Seven Samurai_ and _Three Amigos_. It could be a summer blockbuster! ---
**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 27, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/83 "2019-11-27T15:09:39Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Basically any Disney movie that features a princess or entrenched aristocracy that remains in power at the end. It’s great that the heroine found true love, but she’s still the daughter of a tyrant and the wife of a future tyrant. More subtly, the problem of class differences. How do you think the aristocratic ladies of the court will treat Cinderella, who spent her life as a scullery maid and knows nothing about court etiquette? She would be thrown into a life of court intrigue without the slightest experience. Even if the prince supports her, it will be a constant battle and he may tire of her lack of education and her social awkwardness. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/84 "2019-11-27T15:27:49Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Even if the prince supports her, it will be a constant battle and he may tire of her lack of education and her social awkwardness. You assume the prince wants her for anything more than her looks. I mean, he spent one evening with her. We’re talking a Charles Foster Kane and his second wife situation, here. It may be that he just wants her to look pretty and be devoted to him. As to how she is received by the nobility, I suppose that depends on the nuances of power dynamics in that particular kingdom. If she married an absolute monarch (a real Joffrey), it may be that even the aristocracy live in constant fear of the ruling family of monarchs. So, while they may secretly harbor resentments toward Her Majesty, they’d do well to keep them to themselves and invite her to all the important events, lest their heads end up on a spike. No snubs. I mean, did you hear what happened to the Prince’s noble uncle, the Duke of Pumpkinry, after he lost a pumpkin that was supposed to go into a pie for the Prince’s Cinderella Ball? Let’s just say the Queen of Hearts wasn’t the one to coin the phrase “Off with his head!” ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/85 "2019-11-27T15:43:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > More subtly, the problem of class differences. How do you think the aristocratic ladies of the court will treat Cinderella, who spent her life as a scullery maid and knows nothing about court etiquette? She would be thrown into a life of court intrigue without the slightest experience. Even if the prince supports her, it will be a constant battle and he may tire of her lack of education and her social awkwardness. She came from a high class family in the first place. She was just treated badly by her stepmother and sisters. She must have been educated in courtly behaviour before her father’s second marriage. She impressed the other guests at the ball. No reason why they should not accept her after the wedding. ---
**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 27, 2019, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/86 "2019-11-27T15:52:05Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > And what about Beauty and the Beast? The quaint French village seemed perfectly happy without some sort of hereditary authoritarian ruler lording over them. Suddenly some jackass marries a local girl who has nothing but contempt for them and their lives, murders the local hero and starts telling them what to do? Yeah, that’s going to end well. Slight nitpick: Gaston did it to himself: he was winding up for a kill-shot with his knife and over-balanced and fell into the **Chasm of Eternal Peril**. But, yeah, I can see a trio of big-breasted, blonde ladies who are gonna be really pissed with Belle. What bugs me is how after Belle says “I Love You” to the Beast, she immediately becomes a non-entity–she has no more lines and is barely seen for the rest of the film. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/87 "2019-11-27T18:38:19Z")
The Disney version of _Beauty and the Beast_ appears to be set in mid-to-late 18th Century France. Which means that they are likely to end up being guillotined in the French Revolution. The Disney version of _Cinderella_ appears to be set in late 19th Century Austria-Hungary. Were Cinderella’s biological parents _Hochadel_ (high nobility) or _Niederer Adel_ (lower nobility)? If they were _Hochadel_, I doubt the stepmother would be able to treat Cinderella so badly. But if they were _Niederer Adel_, then her marriage to the prince would be morganatic, and she would be treated rather badly at the imperial/royal court. (See [a real-life example](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie,_Duchess_of_Hohenberg).) ---
**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 27, 2019, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/88 "2019-11-27T21:27:55Z")
_Ever After_, the movie version with Drew Barrymore that attempted to rationalize the Cinderella story, had her father be very low nobility- barely a squire. To the point where her stepmother, a baroness, is appalled at how far down in the world she’s come. Still, she was the daughter of a landowner with servants, however _petit_ his credentials. ---
**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 28, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/89 "2019-11-28T00:06:22Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > …All of their lives are going to disintegrate almost immediately, because none of them are equipped to deal with the new lives they find themselves thrust into. Marty McFly would suffer from the same problem in **Back to the Future** ; yeah his family is in a lot better shape (financial & otherwise), but pretty much all of his memories (of his entire life) are now “wrong”. Eventually his family is going to notice and Marty might end up having to see a psychiatrist at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/90 "2019-11-28T01:10:51Z")
> [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser](#): > > So was I? I believe **Colibri** ’s point is as follows: The premise of this thread is that the ending is portrayed as happy, but actually isn’t. If they are sad at the end, then the ending wasn’t portrayed as happy. Hence **Colibri** was correct to say that it didn’t fit. Apologies if you’d already figured it out, or if I got it wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/91 "2019-11-28T01:26:09Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Hardly the happy ending they showed at the end of the movie… Star Wars plays pretty fast and loose with physics. I think the Ewoks were just fine. ---
**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 28, 2019, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/92 "2019-11-28T01:36:42Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I believe **Colibri** ’s point is as follows: The premise of this thread is that the ending is portrayed as happy, but actually isn’t. If they are sad at the end, then the ending wasn’t portrayed as happy. Hence **Colibri** was correct to say that it didn’t fit. > > Apologies if you’d already figured it out, or if I got it wrong. And I agreed with him. What I disagreed with was the cause of their sadness. ---
**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 28, 2019, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/93 "2019-11-28T02:39:32Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Marty McFly would suffer from the same problem in **Back to the Future** ; yeah his family is in a lot better shape (financial & otherwise), but pretty much all of his memories (of his entire life) are now “wrong”. Eventually his family is going to notice and Marty might end up having to see a psychiatrist at the very least. And Biff has access to George McFly’s brake lines… ---
**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 28, 2019, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/94 "2019-11-28T18:04:42Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > It was probably only me this naive but… > > When I first watched the original **Mad Max** film I was stupid enough to think Max, after a lot of provocation, _ **won** _ by hunting down and executing all the bad guys. Yay for Max! > > Even I caught on by the second viewing: > > His best (and only) friend, Goose, is burnt to a crisp. Probably in agony. Certain to soon die. Murdered. > > His beloved wife and kid and even his mother in law, his whole family basically, all dead. Murdered. > > He is no longer a policeman where previously he was a devoted and respected (by his colleagues) policeman. > > Previously, as a policeman, he upheld the law with absolute impartiality and would stop any vigilante activity. Even by his best mate Goose. By the end he has become the vigilante himself. > > As a policeman he was serving and protecting society. By the end of the film (as is made clear in the sequels) he has failed and that civilised society is over. > > By the end he has lost absolutely everything (including his own values and standards) and while he has murdered some bad guys, the sequels make clear there’s an unlimited supply of other bad guys still out there. > > TCMF-2L To be fair, this is taking place in the context of the collapse of civilization. A tipping point is reached when there basically is no more law to uphold. Max, and presumably every other survivor of the collapse, reached his “ah, screw this!” point. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/95 "2019-11-28T19:11:59Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > To be fair, this is taking place in the context of the collapse of civilization. A tipping point is reached when there basically is no more law to uphold. Max, and presumably every other survivor of the collapse, reached his “ah, screw this!” point. Ah, well that’s _much_ happier. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/96 "2019-11-28T20:19:58Z")
Arnt there several other kid enclaves in Village of the Damned?? Or were the Brits the last? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2019, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/97 "2019-11-28T23:00:56Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Star Wars plays pretty fast and loose with physics. I think the Ewoks were just fine. Seconded. But I’m surprised no one has mentioned the upbeat/optimistic mood of the handful of survivors aboard _Millenium Falcon_ at the end of _Last Jedi_. I mean, those people had to be on some kind of drug to be that happy after their plan to destroy Star Killer Base backfired so horribly. It was like Pearl Harbor from POV of the Japanese (not the surprise attack aspect, but the overwhelming tactical victory aspect), but followed up almost immediately (like, within days, not months) by not only Midway, but Leyte Gulf and the Philippine Sea as well. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/98 "2019-11-29T22:20:07Z")
> [@Dale\_Sams](#): > > Arnt there several other kid enclaves in Village of the Damned?? Or were the Brits the last? Dunno but in the book (The Chrysalids by John Wyndham) there were others, but most of them were in very “primitive” societies (the book was written in the '50s I think) and in most cases the villagers either killed the pregnant mothers straight off or killed the children. There was one other case in Russia where the children grew up part way, then the Russian military got an inkling of what was happening and nuked the village. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/99 "2019-11-29T22:29:37Z")
> [@Eclipse\_Chaser](#): > > … the book (The Chrysalids by John Wyndham) … [The Midwich Cuckoos](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Midwich_Cuckoos) ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2019, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913/100 "2019-11-29T22:44:09Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Star Wars plays pretty fast and loose with physics. I think the Ewoks were just fine. No!!! I demand a happy ending! The Ewoks _must_ **die**! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-endings-that-arent/843913.md?page=6)