Seniors #3 Journal---Old Fashioned Stories
POST BEFORE TUESDAY SEPT. 28
You should have anticipated the "girl finally discovers that she loves boy" happy ending of An Old Fashioned Story. A story's title, after all, serves an important purpose, often to foreshadow plot.
Even though Elizabeth secretly harbors a hatred of Nelson throughout the story, she really can't find any faults in him; she has to invent crimes that he "might" have committed, like eating the mashed potatoes he cooked up for himself with his bare hands!
Years pass and yada, yada, yada, ... so finally realizing the error of her ways, Elizabeth falls for the dashing Nelson who is also living a secret life, presumably, more exciting than Scrabble games and trips to the state prison to counsel the inmates. Nelson does the "most un Nelson-like" thing and kisses her, and they agree to keep their secret new life and love "secret."
From your reactions to the story, I suspect that you have differing opinions on what constitutes a good story. For instance, some of you might have enjoyed the happy, somewhat-of-a-surprise ending in An Old Fashioned Story. Others may have resented it, or found it corny or too predictable.
I'd like to know where you stand, at the moment, on the matter of happy endings vs. sad ones. Choose to respond from one of these prompts:
1. Many adolescent literature these days are depressing. Follow the link to read the article Why Teachers Love Depressing Books. You may either respond to the article, or write about the books you loved when you were an adolescent, or both.
2. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story." Good storytellers never do, as the writers of the popular movie Rudy apparently did when they made a film about the bench-warming Notre Dame football player who finally gets to play in a game. Follow this link to read what Joe Montana, NFL Hall of Fame and former Notre Dame quarterback, reveals about the "real" Rudy story. Comment on Montana's words and how they affect your view of the movie, Notre Dame football, Hollywood, etc. Maybe write about whether Montana should have kept his mouth shut and let the Rudy legend live on.
3. Write about a story, book, or movie that you (for the most part) enjoyed, except for the happy ending. Explain thoroughly how this happy ending was either unexpected, unrealistic, or unfufilling for you. Or all of the above.
WARNING: Enjoy the "light" reading for now. We're heading down a pretty scary mineshaft that plunges into the depths of human existence real soon. [TRANSLATION: we going to read some pretty sad stories].
posted by JTF @ 1:10 AM
48 comments
48 Comments:
A movie with an unfulfilling happy ending was “Running with Scissors”, the cinematic adaptation of the Augusten Burroughs memoir with the same title. The movie stayed as close to the book as one would expect from a Hollywood adaptation up until the end. In the end of the movie Augusten’s adopted “mother” Agnes Finch meets him at a bus stop where he is departing for NEW York City. She gives him a tin full of a lot of money and gives him her blessing. I find that ending to be ill fitting. The entire movie is the story of Augusten’s tumultuous childhood and adolescence. His parents go through a messy divorce and his mother develops a strange dependant relationship with her therapist, Dr.Finch. She ends up allowing Dr.Finch to adopt her son. Augusten, a little boy with OCD, a fascination with TV sitcom stars, and a love of all things shiny, ends up living in a filthy, dilapidated house with a Christmas tree from last Christmas in the living room and an electroshock therapy machine under the stairs. The story is really sad and shocking, but Burroughs writes about it with honesty and wit, making it pretty humorous. The movie captured Augusten’s unique tone but the ending was completely fictitious. In the book Augusten leaves, he doesn’t have a heart to heart with Agnes. The ending of the memoir is kind of bleak, there isn’t much closure but there is a kind of hope that is satisfying. The movie adaption forced a happy heartfelt ending to make the story fit the Hollywood standard. That, to me, is like changing the ending of that period of Augusten’s life; like that event of his life wasn’t acceptable by Hollywood standards. Augusten moved to New York on his own, with no money or help from a kindhearted benefactor and no education beyond middle school. He managed to become a successful advertiser and eventually a successful writer. I felt that the ending of the movie almost cheapened his triumph, so to speak. It left the viewer believing he had a large sum of money and the support of Agnes Finch, which is far from the truth.
A movie in which I was extremely disappointed with was a comedy/ love story called “50 First Dates”. This move stars one of my favorite actors, Adam Sandler, and one of my least favorite actors, Drew Barrymore. The setting is in the tropical paradise of Hawaii. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is marine-life veterinarian. Henry is a total player and lives the life in paradise until one day where he falls into a totally expected, not even cool, surprise. He meets a girl named Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) at a nearby diner. Lucy is a local art teacher and Henry is strangely attracted to her, (for reasons unknown to me because I don’t find Drew Barrymore attractive in any ways whatsoever). After the diner they hang out all day and end the night in a not very romantic, sexual and totally expected manner; you know what I mean. The next day they wake up together in Lucy’s bed and she doesn’t recognize Henry. Henry finds out the hard way that Lucy suffers from short term memory loss and cannot remember anything that happens when she wakes up in the morning after a tragic car crash a year before. So basically Henry repeats this process of fake re-meeting Lucy every day and doing the exact same activities during the day as he did when they first met. Hence the title of the movie, 50 FIRST Dates. In Lucy’s world every day they repeat is an actual first date in her mind. In the end of the movie Henry comes up with this brilliant idea to have Lucy watch a tape and fill her in with what her life actually is like in the past few months. For some reason Lucy isn’t even traumatized in the least by this and everything works out. The two lovers end up getting married on the Island and continue their life living on a boat where Henry can continue his work off the coast of Hawaii. In their new life Lucy wakes up every day in their boat, and watches the tape explaining how her life has panned out. She wakes up to her husband she remembers nothing of, and kids she doesn’t remember ever having. Maybe I’m wrong but in my opinion it is completely ludicrous to think that this would work out in real life. Any person who woke up and watched a tape telling them what their life is, without them having any relocation of it, would die instantly of a panic attack. Even if the tape didn’t do it the mystery husband and mystery kids would sure do the trick. Therefore I believe this film is a total wash and unrealistic. I hated it after the first time I watched it and will never put myself through such torture again. Sure the title is catchy and ironic, but I thought the story line was just dreadful. I would recommend anyone who hasn’t seen the motion picture to definitely not proceed to; don’t even put yourself through watching the trailer. It will simply ruin your day with the sadness you feel for the great actor of Adam Sandler.
I recently watched a movie that took the traditional romantic comedy and flipped it upside down. This movie was 500 Days of Summer. I should have known what was coming. The movie starts with a narrator saying, “Just so you know this up front, this is not a love story.” This story is about a girl named Summer and a boy named Tom. Their story is not too extravagant. They meet at their office and Tom falls head over heels in love with her. What is different about the story is that Summer told Tom in the beginning that she wasn’t looking for anything serious. Tom takes this as a challenge. They spend more and more time together and eventually decide to engage in a relationship. After several months and several trips to Ikea, Tom is more in love than ever. He would tell all of his co-workers, “I love her smile. I love her hair. I love her knees. I love how she licks her lips before she talks. I love her heart-shaped birthmark on her neck. I love it when she sleeps.” However, Summer isn’t. She ends the relationship. This sends Tom into a spiraling depression. That once optimistic look on life turned sour. “I hate her crooked teeth. I hate her 1960s haircut. I hate her knobby knees. I hate her cockroach-shaped splotch on her neck. I hate the way she smacks her lips before she talks. I hate the way she sounds when she laughs.” This completely depressed me. The reason I wanted to watch movies was to escape the heartbreak of the everyday world. This made me actually miss the cheesyness of a happy ending. However, this movie showed the irony in love and life. Just because you fall in love with a girl, that doesn’t mean that she’s the right one for you. After his ordeal, Tom decides to quit the job he had with Summer at the greeting card industry and follow his dreams in becoming an architect. At his interview, he notices a beautiful girl sitting across from him. “Hi, my name’s Tom.” “Nice to meet you, my name is Autumn.”
One on the movies, which I enjoy, despite its “that would never happen in real life” ending is the remake of the classic Christmas movie Miracle on 34th Street. This new version stars Mara Wilson as Susan, the serious six-year-old daughter of a single mother named Dory who is has drawn a comparison between the failure of her marriage to the “unhappiness” Susan will eventually feel if she starts to believe in Santa. While Dory is at work however, Susan’s babysitter Brian (who has a little crush on Dory) suggests they go to the mall to see old Chris Cringle, the remarkably realistic Santa Dory found on the street and a doubtful Susan agrees to go as some type of experiment. After talking to Cringle Susan comes home almost convinced that there is indeed a Santa Claus. The movie was good up to that point, then the plot goes downhill. Brain decides after his success with Susan to pluck up his courage and ask Dory on a date, asking Chris to babysit Susan so Dory can’t use her as an excuse to decline. The date starts off good as does Cringle’s night with Susan. While tucking Susan in bed Cringle once again asks her if there is anything he can get her for Christmas to which she replies if he is “the real Santa Claus” he will be able to get “a dad, a house, and a little brother” for Christmas. The first part of this wish immediately falls flat as Dory declines Brain’s surprise marriage proposal leaving him heartbroken. On his way home from consoling Brain, Chris Cringle gets harassed by the drunkard he replaced in the Thanksgiving parade and is provoked in hitting with his cane. Since Cringle has no attorney Brian agrees to defend him and gets Chris acquitted, leading Dory to suddenly rethink her refusal to marry him. Cringle buys the newlyweds a house Dory and Susan had always admired but never had the money to purchase and the little family spends the holiday there where Susan tells her mother and stepfather that Cringle gave her two of the three things she’d wanted: a house and a dad. When Dory asks her what the third thing was she responds, “a little brother”, and runs upstairs leaving Dory feeling her stomach which has magically grown.
I agree with this article on so many different levels. I had actually been recently conversing with someone about everything I read, everything I watch always has some depressing side to it. I think those fairy tale, “happily ever after’s” are too unrealistic. I’m not saying they should go away though because no six year old should have to read a story about a girl who kills herself because she is so unhappy. Disney was made for a reason. Once you get to a certain age though, you get to choose what you read and I like to read more realistic things. These are things that are out there, that happen every day and most people can relate to them better. Most adolescents can’t relate to a young step child who has a fairy god mother and who becomes a princess overnight. Real life is not like that. The article hypothesizes that maybe these books make kids who grew up too fast feel less alone. I think this is a big factor in why adolescents choose to read these books. Kids go through some troubling times, and they want to feel like they’re not alone. So, they look to movies, books, etc., to feel connected to someone else. A good example of a movie with a bittersweet, but truthful ending was Remember Me. At the very end, Tyler (played by Robert Pattinson) goes up to his father’s 92nd floor building to wait for him. The movie is set in 2001, in September, in New York City. All you see are the planes flying around, and then you know what has happen. It was a shocker, there was no happily ever after, all is better now ending. But, that was one of the best movies I have seen in a while. It didn’t sugar coat anything, things like this happen. People read what they want, but when they can relate to something, they begin to like it more. They start to connect things and feel less alone.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the movie Rudy but everyone knows that it isn’t realistic. I hate how Hollywood thinks that they have to butter up a story just so people will watch the movie. Most people don’t really think about how the story really went though, they just think ‘wow this is really inspirational story’ or something along those lines. I think it’s a good thing that Joe Montana set a few things straight about the true story of Rudy. Of course it’s not realistic that the crowd was chanting Rudy’s name. That kind of stuff only happens in the movies. Also, even though it does show the support of fellow teammates, I don’t believe that any Notre Dame Football player would throw in their jersey just so that Rudy could suit up. I like how Joe tells us that all the seniors got in then last game and Rudy did get a sack but didn’t get carried off the field in triumph. Again, that only happens in the movies. However, I do like the happy endings of movies even though they are predictable but I also like to know the truth behind the story. A story that is just made up and exaggerated is just a story but a story that is inspiring and truthful is a legend.
I found myself enjoying “dark” stories around age 14. It started off as a romance between me and vampire stories (yea, I know). I found a book like Twilight too giddy for me. Although the stories were written nicely, I didn’t really want to read about a sparkling vampire; I wanted some gore, some blood. I would sit in a library with my nose in multiple books for hours trying to find the perfect dark story to read. I was told about the novel A Child Called It which I was warned about, but I read it anyways. It opened my mind to how the world is; that everything can be falling apart, but salvation will soon come. I also found many dark vampire stories that I liked reading simply for the mystery of it all. I found stories about demons much more interesting then the “normal” teenage girl books such as Chicken Soup for The Teenage Soul, Judy Bloom, and novels written by Nicholas Sparks.
After multiple dark vampire stories, I got into a stage of dark poetry; thus leading to my obsession of Edgar Allen Poe (a name which my new cat was recently dubbed with). I searched everywhere to find as many books as I could with Poe’s poetry and stories in them. Knowing my new found obsession, my boyfriend told me about the Grimm Brother’s Tales after a discussion of how most Disney movies are taken from the Grimm Brother’s Tales and mixed with sugar, rainbows, and handsome princes. He gave me a full book of all their tales (which I’m still reading now) which were filled with wolves and ghosts that gave me nightmares if I read them before bed; I loved it.
I think dark stories or stories without happy endings opens up a child’s mind to the possibilities of the world. Not everything is happy faces and peace signs; there are frowns and there are wars. I think it’s important to read these types of stories because if a child is told all their life that everything is peachy and perfect, they’ll have no idea how to deal with a hard problem when they come across it. Now I’m not saying parents should force their children to go read stories about psychopaths or a story like The Lovely Bones to make them paranoid about their neighbor, but a book with a teenage problem in it never hurts. Being an adolescent, you feel all your responsibilities and problems hitting you at one time and a story about someone feeling the same way helps us feel a little less alone in this world filled with demons dressed like handsome princes.
From reading the Joe Montana article I believe he should have kept is mouth shut. What is wrong with letting someone’s fame live on even if the truth is somewhat stretched? This movie allows kids to know that they can achieve anything as long as they put their minds to it. Montana's words in a way diminish the impact the movie had on people. The Montana article just makes him look like a big narcissist who cannot let anybody share the spotlight of his glorious college days. Though the article ruins the movie for some people, it still has the same amount of significance for me. From watching the movie I still have the belief that one can accomplish anything as long as they are willing to work hard for it. Although Montana said all seniors played in the final home game, Rudy still had to earn the right in practice to suit up with the team to get that opportunity. Rudy was a very hard worker and no one can take away the fact that it was a main moral in the story. The real truth does not lie with someone who had a point of view with what was going on during that time. The movie Rudy is an all time classic that is entertaining, inspiring, motivating, and contains an underlying truth in hard work with success. This movie will always continue to be watched by all generation and the words of one particular man will never change that.
From reading the Joe Montana article I believe he should have kept is mouth shut. What is wrong with letting someone’s fame live on even if the truth is somewhat stretched? This movie allows kids to know that they can achieve anything as long as they put their minds to it. Montana's words in a way diminish the impact the movie had on people. The Montana article just makes him look like a big narcissist who cannot let anybody share the spotlight of his glorious college days. Though the article ruins the movie for some people, it still has the same amount of significance for me. From watching the movie I still have the belief that one can accomplish anything as long as they are willing to work hard for it. Although Montana said all seniors played in the final home game, Rudy still had to earn the right in practice to suit up with the team to get that opportunity. Rudy was a very hard worker and no one can take away the fact that it was a main moral in the story. The real truth does not lie with someone who had a point of view with what was going on during that time. The movie Rudy is an all time classic that is entertaining, inspiring, motivating, and contains an underlying truth in hard work with success. This movie will always continue to be watched by all generation and the words of one particular man will never change that.
A movie that had a happy and predictable ending was The Blind Side. It was a wonderful movie based off of a true story, however throughout watching it I almost knew the ending ahead of time. Michael Oher goes of to the University of Mississpi for football, and ends up becoming an NFL player. I am not criticizing the ending of this movie, however it was one of those conclusions to a movie that you knew was coming. It made the otherwise inspiring story a little less interesting. There were some scenes that did put you on the end of your seat, but other than that I saw one predictable event after another. While the traditional happy ending can leave you feeling inspired, it can also leave you feeling a little empty. The Blind Side was based off of a true story, however the story of Michael Oher is an extremely rare one. After watching this movie, you have to wonder how many kids like Michael Oher end up living on the streets. This makes the ending appear unrealistic, and left me with a depressed feeling. It got me thinking about how many neglected children there are with irresponsible parents. There are so many people living in poverty, especially with the economy today. The movie really opened up my eyes to this aspect. The traditional happy ending had a not so traditional effect on me, as it really made me think about people suffering all over the world. However, it had an inspiring effect on me and I am so glad I saw it. I am aware of a lot more now.
I decided to do the first choice and respond to the article Why Teachers Love Depressing Books. I’ve actually always thought of why we would always have to read depressing literal books, not fantasy books that are easy to read. The teachers’ reasons to choose certain books are ridiculous. Just because certain books win certain awards doesn’t mean that a fifth grader will know and understand anything that happened in the book without a teachers help in class. Let children, who only have that real imagination to see and think about anything (like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, unlike adults who only see the literal side: a rainbow in scientific explanations), use it while they read the books. Let their minds wander. Why try and expose a young kid with a wild imagination to the understanding of literal, sad, depressing books about the toughness and harshness of life itself. I was the typical child who loved the wild adventurous books. I hated when school reading came along. I agree with this article, and would think the same thing that Feinberg did. When I was little, I loved the Harry Potter series, the adventures, the unknown of what happens next. I don’t think that teachers and schools should try and limit a child’s imagination and will to read. I think children should be able to free their mind and show the teachers how creative they can actually be, so the formula will work to make a lifelong reader.
I recently watched the classic eighties movie, “The Breakfast Club” for the first time. I really enjoyed this movie but the end turned out to be very unfulfilling. It did have a happy ending but it did not seem like it should have ended where it did. This movie is about five high school teenagers from different cliques forced to spend all day together at a Saturday detention. In detention the teens are suppose to stay quiet and work on an essay but that is not what ends up happening. The rebel of the group convinces them to break the rules and talk to each other. Throughout the day they open up to one another and learn each other’s deepest secrets. By the end of the day they all become friends but they worry that once detention is over if they will still remain friends. Then when detention lets out they say goodbye to each other and then the movie ends. I thought that the movie should have gone further into their lives and told if they all did stay friends or if they changed at all. Also the movie takes place over just one day so they could have easily added another day or two showing what happens next instead of just making the viewer decide. I guess the point of the unfulfilling ending was so the viewer could decide how the “Breakfast Club” turned out but I personally would have liked more of an explanation. Overall I did enjoy this movie but I wished it would have had a better ending that answered my questions.
I recently watched the classic eighties movie, “The Breakfast Club” for the first time. I really enjoyed this movie but the end turned out to be very unfulfilling. It did have a happy ending but it did not seem like it should have ended where it did. This movie is about five high school teenagers from different cliques forced to spend all day together at a Saturday detention. In detention the teens are suppose to stay quiet and work on an essay but that is not what ends up happening. The rebel of the group convinces them to break the rules and talk to each other. Throughout the day they open up to one another and learn each other’s deepest secrets. By the end of the day they all become friends but they worry that once detention is over if they will still remain friends. Then when detention lets out they say goodbye to each other and then the movie ends. I thought that the movie should have gone further into their lives and told if they all did stay friends or if they changed at all. Also the movie takes place over just one day so they could have easily added another day or two showing what happens next instead of just making the viewer decide. I guess the point of the unfulfilling ending was so the viewer could decide how the “Breakfast Club” turned out but I personally would have liked more of an explanation. Overall I did enjoy this movie but I wished it would have had a better ending that answered my questions.
The story of Rudy has always been an all time favorite of mine. The story of the underdog rising and making his dream come true is always a fan favorite. I had always believed what happened in the movie Rudy, did actually happen. Reading this article disappointed me because I always wanted to believe that Rudy’s dream came true and the football team traded in their jerseys so that Rudy could play. I still love the movie but finding the real information out about what happened and what didn’t happen makes the movie this less credible in my opinion. I know a lot of things in Hollywood are fake and I expect details to be exaggerated, but hearing the facts about the movie Rudy ruined the movie for me. I don’t think Montana should of kept his mouth shut, I think it’s good to be truthful and honest even when it comes to letting people down. Even though this article was posted people still believe in the legend of Rudy and his legend will live on. Rudy had a great happy ending and everyone always wants to believe in a happy ending. When watching the movie it will be still be a great influence on people because Rudy still did work hard to get to where he did. Hollywood will always exaggerate but there still is a great situation or person which the story is about.
I believe every true story that is made into a movie has some kind of exaggeration in it. The movie Rudy was about a boy who all he wanted to do was go to Norte Dame. The family and Rudy both dreamed of one day being part of the football team for Norte Dame. Rudy was always too small for football and never played in a game. The last game of the season, after sitting on the bench all season, Rudy got to play and everyone chanted his name in the movie and it was the happy ending everyone loves to watch. Even though, in reality, that wasn’t exactly how everything went about, I think the movie still is great because it still shows how Rudy’s dream came true. He worked his butt off to get to the position he was at, and even though the ending to the movie wasn’t the exact ending, the movie still shows how hard working Rudy was through his entire life to get where he was and play in his last game as a Norte Dame student. I believe that Montana speaking the truth about the real story of Rudy doesn’t change many people perspective of the movie only because he tells that the crowded didn’t chant Rudy at the end, and the only reason he played was because he was a senior. Even with that said, Rudy still accomplished his lifetime goal of going to Norte Dame and playing in a game.
When I was an adolescent, I personally loved reading book, ad still do, about medical mysteries, health. I read these types of books because I am interested in becoming a doctor and they they simply fascinated me. But medicinal books are not the only genre I favor. I enjoy reading about adventure, horror, and suspense, as well as fantasy. Sometimes i can get the best of both worlds, for example I love "The Lord of the Rings" Trilogy. Phenomenal fantasy/adventure series and my three favorite books ("The Hobbit" is a close fourth). J.R.R. Tolkein is by far my favorite author. Steven Kings "Rose Red", my favorite horror/thriller novel which takes place in the classic setting for a horror story, a haunted mansion. I'm glad that my tastes in books aren't limited to one flavor, so many books are so good.
Throughout my years of school, especially at a young age, I do not recall ever having been force-fed depressing “problem novels.” Maybe I was required to read them, but I never thought of them as horribly depressing or hurting my imagination in any way. I remember reading plenty of magical stories in school and in my free time, as well as realistic stories. I think that a good balance is important. Though certain books I had to read were centered on poverty, death, abuse, etc, I didn’t feel personally depressed after reading them. I cried through some, but in the end I felt enlightened by them if anything. Many of the sad stories even became some of my favorites, such as A Tree Grows in Brooklyn or The Five People You Meet in Heaven. Both of these books brought me to tears, as well as stretched my imagination at the same time. I had not personally experienced what either of the characters had gone through, so to me the stories were interesting even though they were sad. Even the Harry Potter books, which are some of my favorites, include death and sadness, but at the same time take us into a fantasy world of magic. I do not think that teachers just like certain books because they are depressing, but because they are simply good literature and they take horrible situations and let us live along with the characters in the story and learn the same lessons they learn. I think it should always be the reader’s choice however. If a teacher is going to ask a student to write, they should vary in the type of writing that should be done, including some realistic and some that allows the students to reach into their imagination.
I really enjoyed the New Batman movie, The Dark Night. I'm not usually a huge fan of superhero movies, but this one grabbed my attention. I thought it was a well acted movie with Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Cain, Morgan Freeman, and Heath ledger. The Dark Night was a much anticipated movie throughout the country with its star studded cast. Big news from the movie shocked the country before the movie even came out, the surprising suicide of Heath Ledger was all over the headlines. First hearing of the news that the depressing mood of the Character Heath played ( the Joker) was a major contributing factor in the reason Heath took his own life. So as I watched the movie for the first time much of my focus was on Heath. I felt as if Heath's acting performance was remarkable and for some reason I just couldn't help but root for him. Even though I knew that all my rooting would go in vain I just couldn't stop hoping for the best for Heath. The ending to the movie was neither unexpected nor unrealistic, but it was a bit unfulfilling. I had a sense that when Heath lost in the end of the movie it was also the loss in his real life. It wasn't like I didn't enjoy the good happy ending, I just wish that Heath had won in some way or form. I left the movie theater a bit upset that day. Don't get me wrong the movie was great, I just really wanted the bad guy to win.
The movie “How to lose a guy in ten days” is one of my favorite movies of all time. It’s a romantic comedy and for the most part a clever story. It starts out that Andie (played by Kate Hudson) is a writer looking for her next big story. She decides to do a piece called How to Lose a Guy in ten days which will basically be a “what-not-to-do” article for dating. Andie goes to an event with some friends and they point out a handsome guy to be the guinea-pig of her article. The handsome guy turns out to be Ben (played by Matthew McConaughey), an executive, and his friends bet him he can’t make a girl fall in love with him in two days. He accepts the bet and coincidently goes after Andie. So they are both trying to gain something for themselves. The two start going out on dates. Ben acts as a perfect gentleman at first and Andie tries her hardest to push him away. Ben refuses to stop seeing her so he doesn’t lose his bet. After a while both of them realize they actually do enjoy each other. Close to the end of the story, Ben finds out he was just a project and Andie finds out she was a bet. Andie wrote in her story that it was a huge mistake. Ben see’s this and tries to find Andie but she is already on her way to DC for a job interview. Ben weaves through traffic on a motorcycle to find her and stops her cab on the middle of a bridge. They kiss and make up, typical love story ending. I didn’t mind the ending too much except for the fact that it was pretty farfetched and I’ve seen it many times. The guy always does some outlandish act to stop the girl from leaving. That’s a recurring theme in movies, they all end the same way. You never see the girl leave without reconciling. The movies are nothing like real life and it gives its audience a false sense of what love is. I understand that these type of endings make people feel good but you never see stories that actually comply with reality.
When the movie Remember Me came out, I was being incredibly excited to go see it. Robert Pattenson was one of the stars and of course I think he’s beautiful. The story line also seemed very intriguing and somewhat sad but I figured like all movies it would have a happy ending. I never did get to see the movie in theaters but I did rent it recently after it had finally come out on DVD. It was absolutely nothing like I had expected. The movie started out with a young girl’s mother being murdered at a train station by thieves. It then fast-forwarded to much later in the girl’s life when she meets a boy in college. He has a terrible relationship with his father that he is always struggling with, but an incredibly good one with his younger sister. Growing up the boy also experienced a loss of a loved one (his older brother) just like the girl he’s slowly falling in love with. This common factor in their lives brings them very close and they both let go and become inseparable. Like every young couple they have some fights and almost break up but of course they talk things out and everything is going fine. The boy’s dad is even beginning to come around and spend more time with his daughter and have a better relationship with his son when the completely unexpected tragic ending happens. The boy goes to his father’s office to talk with him and tell him how happy he is that they’re becoming closer, but the father had decided to drive his daughter to school that day so he’s running late. The son decides to sit down to wait for his father and at this point the picture zooms out and at the bottom of the screen the date and time flash across “September 11, 2001 8:44”. Two minutes later you see a plane crash into the building and it ends with the boy’s funeral. I never expected this movie to have anything to do with 9/11 and I was just very disappointed that he died right when all problems were beginning to be resolved. I’m not typically one to love happy mushy endings but this entire movie was just majorly depressing and right when it starts to look up, things get even worse and then it just ends. The acting and storyline were good because I know things like this really do happen to people I would have just liked to see the ending be a little happier.
3) For me, movies are a way to express how you are feeling. There are many categories like comedy, chick-flick, romance, action, and many more. These stories all have different endings but most end with a happy ending. With no surprise, “PS I Love You” had a happy ending too. This movie started off with a dominant scene of a couple fighting with each other which of course ended happily with them making up. A quick summery about this movie is a young girl and an Irish man fall in love and get married. Even though it was at first hard for them, they still always loved each other. The Irish man, Jerry, died from a brain tumor and left the young poor girl, Holly, alone. It shows her going their all the stages of the grief processes which mainly she shuts herself away from the world. Then one day she received a letter on her 30th birthday from Jerry, her dead husband. This starts her on a wild goose chase finding all the letters he wrote to her before he died. He had her go all the way to Ireland and even had things delivered to her on specific dates. Which at the end she finds out it was her mom helping Jerry get everything together before he passed away. During this whole time, Holly befriended her mom’s employee, Daniel. Everyone predicted that her and Daniel would get together at the end and become a couple. Daniel tried very hard to get Holly out and to take her to dinner and Holly would try but missed Jerry to much. At the very end it shows Daniel and Holly standing at a baseball stadium and they kiss, which was predictable. But after the kiss is what was so unpredictable. They looked at each other and laughed. Holly said, “It’s like kissing my brother.” This whole movie worked up to this moment in the story of them finally getting together as a couple which ultimately never happened. This ending was so unexpected.
One of my all time favorite movies is “Man on Fire”. It is action packed and full of suspense, sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Denzel Washington plays John Creasy, an ex-CIA agent, hired to be the bodyguard of ten year old Pita Balletto (Dakota Fanning) in Mexico during an awful time of serial kidnappings. After spending so much time together Pita begins to break through Creasy’s tough exterior and he begins opening up to her. As soon as their friendship is at its peak Pita is kidnapped and Creasy is shot in the process. Her grief stricken parents call in the police but Creasy recovers and decides to take matters into his own hands. He is heartbroken and goes on a rampage, getting information and then killing anyone who had anything to do with Pita’s disappearance. Eventually towards the end he makes contact with the boss of the whole plan and the boss arranges a deal with him, “her life for your life”. In the last scene of the movie they are at a stand off to make the deal. Pita’s mother and Creasy are in their car and about a mile away, across a field are the kidnappers and Pita. Creasy and Pita begin making their way towards each other and when they meet halfway she jumps into his arms sobbing, as they say their goodbyes she goes towards her mom and Creasy goes the other way toward the bad men to hold up his end of the deal. As Pita is carried away in tears wrapped in her mother’s arms she and Creasy send one last look of goodbye at each other and he is shoved into the kidnapper’s car. As Creasy is sitting in the car completely unaware of his fate he peacefully and unexpectedly dies from his wounds. I completely despised this ending. I am a huge fan of cheesy happy endings and this ending was unfulfilling. Although Creasy did die much more nicely than those men could have let him, and Pita was safe, I wanted the typical “and they lived happily ever after” ending. After all the things Creasy did to get Pita back safe I wanted them to atleast be together again and somehow become a family. Sadly enough the ending was not my picture perfect kind of ending.
For the last book of Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows, I feel like it wasn’t the best ending to the series. In the last chapter, they show you what their lives are like when they are much older and have kids on their way to Hogwarts. Hermoine and Ron ended up together which is what you always saw coming and Harry married Ginny. After reading all the books, you grow to love the characters and you want them to have a happy ending, but J. K. Rowling should have ended it with a less hokey and cheesy happy ending. I feel like she should have ended it with Harry defeating Voldemort and the rest being left up in the air. With the last chapter, it is just excess material that really isn’t needed. It adds too much to have the extra chapter to the future and I think it ruined it. If she had left it at that, it adds a bit of mystery and makes the audience believe that they did have the happy ending we wanted for the characters without the extra chapter.
A movie that had a typically predictable happy ending was “When in Rome”. The ending was predictable, and almost made you feel like you didn’t even have to waste your time to know what was going to happen. The movie is about a woman who works for an art museum in New York City, and her pathetic love life. One day she gets a surprise visit from her sister, whom she has always kind of been jealous of, and is informed that she is getting married. When she finds out her little sister is marrying a man she has just met in Italy she goes into “mother mode”. She reluctantly starts helping her plan her wedding. While at her sister’s wedding she falls for the best man, who is also her brother-in-law’s college roommate. When she goes to find him later that night she sees him with another girl, assuming he is like all the other guys she knows she runs. She goes back to New York but keeps running into him everywhere, and he keeps saving her from everything that would and could go wrong. In the end the two end up together and get married. I believe this ending is unsatisfying because you see it coming after ten minutes of watching the movie. You know they are going to end up together no matter what. It’s unrealistic and just doesn’t happen, there for making the ending to this movie unsatisfying and boring.
The movie that comes to my mind with an unrealistic ending is “Pearl Harbor.” It is a love story during the war that surrounds two best friends, Rafe (Ben Affleck) and Danny (Josh Hartnett). They are both First Lieutenants in the United States Army Air Corps. Rafe falls in love with Navy Nurse Evelyn (Kate Beckinsale) who he met during his physical exam. He then volunteers for the Royal Air Force’s Eagle Squadrons. When fighting against the Germans, Rafe is shot down and presumed dead. Meanwhile Evelyn and Danny are both sent to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Danny is the one to break the news to Evelyn that Rafe is dead. Evelyn is heart broken. After some time has passed, Rafe and Evelyn end up going on a date and sleeping together. The next day Rafe shows up to find them together. Danny and Rafe get into a huge bar fight over it. They do not have time to make up because the Japanese attack. Danny and Rafe are able to get up in a plane and shoot down some Jap planes. Because of this, they are asked to be part of the Doolittle Raid. Before they leave, Evelyn tells Rafe that she is staying with Danny and having his baby. She does not tell Danny so he can concentrate on the mission. This mission goes wrong, and Rafe has to do a crash landing. The land is infested with Japanese. Danny lands his plane to help save Rafe. Danny gets shot. Rafe says, “Danny, you can't die. You can't die. You know why? 'Cause you're gonna be a father. You're gonna be a daddy. I wasn't supposed to tell you. You're gonna be a father.” Then Rafe says, “No, you are.” Danny then died. Rafe lives to tell Evelyn the news. The movie ends with Evenlyn, her son named Danny, and Rafe together as a family.
One of my favorite all time movies is Goodwill Hunting, every line in this movie said and every movement done is extremely clever and perfected. Will Hunting comes off as this unaffectionate guy, who is unbelievably talented academically but when it comes to people, especially women, he seems to have trouble. Until one day Will meets a girl, Skyler, who is capable of keeping up with his wit and sarcasm. As time goes on Will falls in love with Skyler but is in denial about the whole situation. Skyler being extremely bold and brave calls Will out on this, but finally realizes that Will will never come through and face reality. Understanding that there is nothing she can do to help or fix Will, Skyler takes off and branches off into independence. After leaving the movie follows the old cliché saying of, "you never know what you had, until it's gone". Following up on this theme Will decides to put off all open opportunities to go chase after Skyler. This "happy ending" or "ideal love" theme was overly cliche, and Will should have realized from the beginning the good thing he had going for him. It is ironic considering the fact that Will is extremely intelligent and can't even come to realization of the great girl he had before she left.
I think that there is a lot of movies that there are a lot of movies that end happily but the ending was not realistic or fulfilling at all. So when I had to choose one the first that came to mind was the movie “sleepover” mostly because my younger sisters favorite movie and watches it all the time, never the less it fit this perfectly. In the movie the main character Julie has a sleepover with her friends after the last day of 8th grade. During the sleepover they embark on a scavenger hunt to win the popular lunch spot at their anticipated new high school. Through out the movie the girls sneak past Julies father who is busy fixing the kitchen sink and complete all the tasks on the list. The girls steal a car, sneak in to a nightclub, trespass into a boys house to steal his boxers, and some how make their way in to a high school dance. In the end Julies group wins and she wins over the heart of the cutest boy in school. Although this is a very happy ending, it’s completely unrealistic. The chances of a group of 14-year-old girls doing this are very unlikely. I understand it’s a movie made for adolescent girls, but I feel a twist or two might have made it more believable. Sleepover your typical girl movie where everything works out in the end and the girl ends up with the cute boy. Although it’s entertaining I felt that the ending was very unfulfilling in the sense that you knew how it would because it was so predictable.
A movie that I love and have watched over and over is the movie "The Devil Wears Prada" with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. I think that is movie has a great story and has funny moments as well as heartwarming moments. However, the ending is predicable and a little too perfect. Main character Andy is a young aspiring journalist who ends up being an editors assistant for a fashion magazine. It is easily predicted that Andy will end the movie doing what she loves. While the character struggles throughout the movie fitting in it could be viewed as a bit of a disappointment when she finally changes to be a fashionable young New Yorker. In the end she gets everything she asked for. It was a very happy ending to this overall happy movie. I guess a lot of people as for happy endings. It certainly hasn't stopped me from watching this movie. "The Devil Wears Prada" is still one of my absolute favorite movies.
A movie that I enjoy very much but has that unrealistic ending is the movie “Matilda” based off Roald Dahl’s novel. The movie stayed very true to the novel all throughout the movie. It’s about a little girl named Matilda who is ignored in her home basically because she loves to read and learn while her family loves to watch TV. She develops these powers that allow her to move, close things, open doors etc. just by staring at it and moving her head slightly. When Matilda goes to school, she meets her teacher Ms.Honey who is as sweet as her name. As the movie continues, Matilda and Ms.Honey develop a strong mother-daughter bond while trying to get rid of the schools nasty principle Ms. Honey’s aunt Ms.Trunchable. In the end the kids drive Ms.Trunchable away by throwing food at her and chasing her to her car. Matilda’s parents, who are frauds flee the country but let Ms.Honey adopt Matilda by signing adoption papers that Matilda received from the library. As much as I love this movie the ending is just so unrealistic. For one how could a bunch of elementary school kids drive a teacher away by throwing food at her and why would some parents sign away the rights to their child and let someone else adopt her on some photocopied papers without even thinking it through first? This is a beloved movie but it’s ending is far from realistic.
Hollywood never ceases to produce movies with unrealistic endings. They did just this in the movie How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. In this romantic comedy Kate Hudson plays Andie Anderson who is assigned to write an article on “how to lose a guy in 10 days”. Meanwhile, Matthew McConaughey plays Benjamin Barry who bets that he can make a woman fall in love with him in 10 days in order to win a work campaign. Soon after they decide to take on these 10 day challenges, they meet in a bar. Throughout the course of the movie, the couple does the unthinkable. Andie pulls out any and every trick in the book to drive Ben away from her psycho ways. To her surprise, he puts up with all of her up surd antics but in reality he wants out. It isn’t till the end of the movie where their true identities are revealed as well as their underlying motives. Andie and Ben were shocked to discover that they weren’t the only one playing games in their 10 day relationship. But wait. Oh, of course, despite the fact that they were both used as a project for the others work, they seem to put that all behind them and start a real relationship. I don’t know about you, but I probably wouldn’t start a relationship with someone who had put on a façade for the mere 10 days I knew them. Like I said , typical unrealistic Hollywood producers.
"The Breakfast Club" is one of my favorite movies of all time. Looking at the movie, it has a really simple theme to it, students in an all day detention on Saturday. I think I like it so much because, from that simple theme, the story dives deeper into the lives of the teenagers. The stereotypes, secrets, and what they all think eventually come out as the day goes on. The movie can be considered happy in many ways. They made it through the day of detention, they all became friends, and some even may have found new loves. But even a happy movie is sometimes unfulfilling. At the end of the movie, the teens part and go their separate ways, but from then on there are no hints to what will happen next. Not just so in the future, but even on the next Monday in school. After they reveal all their intimate secrets to each other, can they really just go along in school just ignoring each other like they had before and return to normal life? After the first time I saw "The Breakfast Club", I immediately looked for the sequel to it, but there was nothing to be found. To this day, my questions are still left unanswered. That may be one of the reasons why I have such a liking towards this movie. I can watch it over and over again, and still not know what is going to happen after. It lets my imagination roam, time and time again.
The movie "The Notebook" has the most unrealistic ending. Yes, it makes millions cry, and yes millions love the movie, but the ending is just not realistic! At the end of the movie, the man guy goes to see his love that has Alzheimer's and cannot remember him. They are now around 65 years old and everyday he goes and sees her and reads her this book they made together of their lives so she can remember her life. The time that she remembers decreases everyday. The very last time she comes back, it’s for 5 minutes. She screams who are you and make a scene, and the doctor sedates her. That night he sneaks in to see his wife. She remembers him! Not possible! She has Alzheimer’s. Then he gets in the bed with her at the hospital, and they say I love you and what not and then fall asleep. The next morning the nurse comes in and they both had died in their sleep. It is really rare for them to just lie next to each other and die together. It just isn’t realistic. I loved the movie, and I loved the ending. I cried during that scene and for like twenty minutes after. But it just doesn’t happen!
The movie "The Notebook" has the most unrealistic ending. Yes, it makes millions cry, and yes millions love the movie, but the ending is just not realistic! All during the movie, it is showing this guy reading to this girl a story about these two peoples lives. The girl who is being read this story has Alzheimer’s and is in the hospital. Finally at the end of the movie, the woman remembers that it is her and the guy who are the characters in the book! I don't think you can just remember like that. It’s not realistic with that disease. Anyways, they are now around 65 years old and everyday he goes and sees her and reads her this story. They had made it together of their lives so she can “come back to him” and remember her life. The time that she remembers decreases everyday. The very last time she comes back, it’s for 5 minutes. She screams who are you and make a scene, and the doctor sedates her. That night he sneaks in to see his wife. She remembers him! Not possible! She has Alzheimer’s. Then he gets in the bed with her at the hospital, and they say I love you and what not and then fall asleep. The next morning the nurse comes in and they both had died in their sleep. It is really rare for them to just lie next to each other and die together. It just isn’t realistic. I loved the movie, and I loved the ending. I cried during that scene and for like twenty minutes after. But it just doesn’t happen!
One movie that I have seen recently is "My Fair Lady." This movie and Broadway musical is adopted from the play "Pygmalion" written by Bernard Shaw. At the start of the movie, Professor Henry Higgins, a posh Englishman, is walking around London and criticizes the people that cannot speak proper English, especially one flower girl in particular; Eliza Doolittle. She is determined to change her ways and wants to become a respectable young woman; with this notion, she visits the home of Professor Higgins. After some mocking and poking fun of Eliza, he and his friend, Colonel Pickering, decide to help her. Professor Higgins’s goal is to turn her into a lady and pass her off as someone of superior status at the Embassy Ball. Soon the lessons begin and with a very extensive and rigorous schedule. Eliza soon wants to quit, but never actually gives up. Finally, very late one night, during another intense round of training, Eliza finally grasps the speech of a proper young lady in England. Time passes and soon enough she is presented at the Embassy Ball, looking like a beautiful young lady, speaking properly and having good manners. Shortly after arriving home from the ball, she overhears Higgins bragging at his accomplishment and Eliza leaves his home, feeling used. The next morning, Higgins finds that something is “missing” in his home. He tries to “win her back”, but is quickly shot down. On his way home, he realizes just how much he misses her presence. Higgins then returns home and all of the memories of Eliza replay in his mind. Finally, he stops at the record player in his house and turns it on; the sound of Eliza’s cockney accented voice can be heard clearly through the bell-shaped speaker. He then turns away from and sits to let his mind wander. Eliza then appears in his house, unbeknownst to him. She then turns off the recording of her voice and tells Higgins in that same voice, “I was my hands and face ‘afore (before) I come I did.” Higgins appears delighted but then comments with the mere line, “Eliza, where are my slippers?”
This ending just seems very abrupt. To me, it does not give enough closure to the story. Eliza does come back and that is very happy to Higgins and even to the audience members. However, you never really know if she’s back to stay or not. Just because she appears to be back in the end, doesn’t mean she will actually stay with him; she could have come back merely as a symbol that she still wants to be there for him as a friend, but not in the way that Higgins wants, which seems to be a hidden passionate feeling of love for her. Another thing that I do not understand about the ending is the last line of the movie. He asks for her to fetch his slippers, which is a reference to earlier in the play when he asks for them. But why would he say this when he was at this point where he almost lost her? I would have expected more from Professor Higgins. I feel like it is not enough to show his gratitude for her return. This play has a happy ending, yes, but it leaves you unsatisfied at the end, feeling that there should be more of an ending to the story.
I chose to respond to the first option. From what I understand this article to be saying, Miller is recounting what Feinberg stated one of her son Alex’s teacher put it like this, "'A good book should make you cry.'' In this context, the success of Harry Potter and the mock-gothic Snicket books, in which orphans become intrepid adventurers instead of just numb survivors, has the whiff of insurrection." Truthfully I don’t think this article is very sensible at all. Not to mention the fact that the eighth full paragraph makes absolutely no sense what so ever. The article by saying that schools only read depressing books isn’t in my experience true that is until I came to Saint Marks, I loved all the books we had to read for school. I do realize that my situation was different than others might have been; the middle school I went to believed in expanding our imaginations and teaching us to enjoy learning rather than dreading it. In our reading classes we got to read all kinds of books. We would read anything from The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer, to Lois Duncan’s novel Locked In Time, we even read the Anybodies by N.E. Bode. In fact I love to read in general, the fact that most educators aren’t willing to recognize the genius of J.K. Rowling’s work and the lessons the Harry Potter series can teach kids, is absolutely disgusting to me. Having grown up reading the Harry Potter books they have always been there for me, it was a way to escape from reality so when times were hard or I had had a bad day I could get away from my problems and for a while. Sometimes getting away from your problems is the best way to figure out how to deal with them. What makes the Harry Potter series mean so much to me as a reader is that when I was too young to read the books myself, my parents would read them to me, as I grew up I was able to read them to myself. In other words I love the Harry Potter series, and I do not mind the fact that some people don’t like them, but in order for your opinion to matter at all you have to have read the books first. Which is not true for most that chose to bash Harry Potter, and it really saddens me to know that not many people my age really give a crap about books at all.
One of my favorite movies is a movie called "Shutter Island". The ending however is very confusing and depending on which way you look at it the ending can be happy or sad. Throughout the whole entire movie a man named Teddy Daniels is trying to solve a case of a missing murderess, Rachel Solando. The women was on an island for people with the most serious of mental problems, "Shutter Island". The role of Teddy Daniels is played by Leonardo DiCaprio and he does an amazing job of portraying the character. The case has many twists and turns and becomes very confusing, nothing makes sense. It seems that the institution is run by evil men and that their goal on the island is to imprison normal people and turn them mentally crazed through water, drugs and inhumane treatment. Teddy and his assistant Chuck seem to be on a wild goose chase and are getting no where within the case and further and further into the insanity of the asylum. The investigation is head spinning and nothing is making sense, his partner dissappears, and Teddy is having painful head aches and mirages of his wife who passed away in a fire a few years ago. Teddy makes a run for his escape off the island and through his break for it he finds the person he was looking for, Rachel Solando. She warns him to get off the island and he continues his run to the ocean. Once he makes it to the water he comes upon a tower and runs inside when he hears voices running towards him. When he gets in there he runs into the founder of the island. It is here that the mystery is unfolded. Teddy is not a detective, he is a patient at the mental hospital. He murdered his wife, who was Rachel Solando. He murdered her because she drown thier four children. Teddy has been told the story many times and this was his final chance to prove that he grasped the fact that he was a patient at the institution and they were not against him. At the end of the movie Teddy knows that if he doesn't admit to the murder they will wipe his memories with an experimental surgery, giving him a chance to lead a happy life. Teddy pretends that he is still insane after asking his therapist (who was his partner Chuck) if it is better to die a good man or to live of a man with guilt.
When i was younger my favorite books were the Harry Potter series. They still are actually. I remember when my family first got the first two and my mom read them to us on long car rides. and as we got older, we'd pre-order them and race to the mailbox when they finally came. It was always a contest to get them first. My older brother and I used to pretend that the school letters we got over the summer were our Hogwarts letters and we'd be going to Howgarts that September. My brother always got to the books before me and so he got to read them first. I always hated that because he'd tell me what would happen before I could get to the end. Even if it wasn't the true ending, he'd tell me something and it made me mad. when that 6th book finally came. He got it, read it, and then when I was in the middle of the story he actually told me the Dumbledore died! I was not happy, and i wanted to hit him. now that the books are all out and read. we treat the movies with the same childish excitement. Going to all the midnight showings and then to the Imax to see it in 3D. even now I will spen a whole day watching all 6 movies at home.
It seems that with every story comes along with it a fairytale ending. The princess always finds her prince; the nerd always gets the cheerleader, and so on and so forth. Every once in a while it is good to read a story or watch a movie where the ending is not so predictable. One prime example of this is the novel (later made into a movie) by Nicholas Sparks called "The Notebook." It is a story of forbidden love between South Carolina's elite southern belle, Allie, and a poor boy from the slums, Noah. Allie's prestigious parent's see that he reputation is on the line and send Allie away before the summer is over so that she can no longer see Noah. Noah writes Allie one letter a day for an entire year, only to find his own mailbox empty of response. Many years go by and Allie falls in love with another man, with whom she is engaged to marry. It is only when she sees Noah in the newspaper for upholding a promise that he made her does Allie venture back to him, unleashing all the feelings that she had kept locked away for all those years. Allie discovers that her mother had hid all the letters Noah had written and in the end, she id forced to choose between the two men in her life. As guess, Allie chooses Noah and they live happily ever after. Although the storyline for this movie is fantastic, I believe that sometimes the best stories emerge from unexpected twists. What if Allie had not chosen Noah? What if she did, but then Noah turned her down? All possible alternate endings would have made for a great, but unexpected, ending to the tale.
I agree with allot said in the article about making kids read “depressing books”. There should be no real standardization of what books a kid must read (especially younger kids). These deep philosophical books are overwhelming and too much for a child to take in and process correctly. Also, how is this teaching a kid to grow up? “Well son, I’m probably going to die in a horrific car crash with your mother. So, because we have no near by relatives you know of, you’re just going to have to make do and live homeless for a while. Life sucks, get used to it.” Kids are supposed to be happy and imaginative, dreaming of adventures with dragons and caves; princesses and princes. Along with age comes maturity and understanding. These books aren’t right for everyone and very few kids. I believe these types of books should not be mandatory, but merely and option. Reading is an important part of learning and developing. Without it, there is a monumental amount of life lost. In order to start kids off to be “readers for life” it is important to help them find what they are interested in reading. This will lead them to things they are interested in maybe someday working at; and isn’t that growing up? I think so.
A movie that really left me satisfied at the end was "Dear John", based off the novel by Nicholas Sparks. I was relieved to finally see a movie with a depressing, yet realistic ending. It starts off with Savannah from South Carolina falling in love with an angry rebel turned Army recruit named John. They spend an entire summer together falling in love, when suddenly John had to pack up and move out to finish his tour of duty in Iraq. They agree to write each other love letters everyday to keep their relationship alive but as time goes on, the letters become shorter and less frequent. Sadly, while John was across the globe, the separation finds Savannah falling in love all over again and engaged but with an old friend. Upon Johns return home, he must come to face the fact that Savannah, now married, is still his true love and he can not have her back. They shared something when he returned to see her while her husband was in the hospital for cancer, but she still wasn’t willing to give up her new life to start a new beginning with John. I was expecting from the start that the two would end up together, because of the way the movie portrayed their strong love, but as it progressed on I could finally put together the pieces of the ending. It was disappointing to see them not end up together but I think Nicholas Sparks really did a great job of letting everyone know that you don’t always get the happy ending you want. You have to expect the unexpected always and never let your guard down because eventually in life you can’t just get everything you want and you’ll need to settle for what you can get.
One movie/book that people may see as a sad ending but in reality has a happy ending is A Walk to Remember. This is one of my all time favorite movies/books that I will enjoy whenever I watch/read it. Throughout the movie/book there is a typical teenager, popular, “bad boy” type; and a typical teenager, quiet, shy, “goody goody” girl. After spending a lot of time with each other and realizing that they both had qualities in each other that they both could benefit and learn from they somehow fall in love. (Big surprise.) The “bad boy” realizes that his friends aren’t who he thought they were and he really doesn’t even want to be around them anymore. What he realizes is that he needs someone like this girl to keep him out of trouble and proceed successfully in his life. When he finds out his girlfriend has cancer, he is absolutely devastated. He feels guilty, saddened, worried, and scared. His confidence completely vanishes as he realizes he can’t lose this girl. Struggling to stay healthy, vibrant and youthful, the cancer is slowly winning the battle. She can’t fight it anymore. She passes out in her room, and is taken to the hospital right away. She’s pronounced dead sometime during her visit. The boy is so hurt; he thought he may have done something wrong. He actually thought for a moment, “Why did this have to happen to her? And me?” Right now, this is an extremely sad ending. But what’s surprising is that there is a light to the tunnel. There is a moral and happy ending to this story. The boy goes to talk to her father after everything is done with, and the father actually tells him that he’s what kept her alive as long as she lived. He was her guardian angel, her miracle, all she ever needed in her life.
I agree with the author's opinion that there are two types of children's books. All happy-go-lucky stories have typical, predicatable endings that are obviously very traditional. The adventure books, or "Phatom Tollbooth" type, are the kinds that I always enjoyed as a child. I would say that this includes the Goosebumps series and A Series of Unfortunate Events, both series that I could not put down when I was younger. I suppose you could say that they were both "depressing" series, but they kept me interested and wanting to find out more. In A Series of Unfortunate Events, I always wondered how the Baudelaire children would get out of the next sticky situation and get free of the hands of Count Olaf. These books were somewhat predictable in the sense that you always knew that Count Olaf would make some sort of disguise to try to get the orphans back and steal their fortune, but the author was extremely creative about making new, odd disguises that one would never expect Count Olaf to be in. Sometimes the "Phantom Tollbooth", "depressing" stories end up being the ones that everyone loves and is intrigued by. As you can tell, this was my favorite series as a child.
A movie that I enjoyed but had an unfulfilling happy ending was "Knowing". The movie starred Nicholas Cage following a set of numbers he uncovered in a school time capsule. He finds a pattern in the numbers and realizes they are all dates. All of the dates were the dates of occurences of disaster, except for the dates that hadn't happened yet. He was able to predict disaster and he would attempt to prevent it. At the end of the list there is one last date, which they conclude will be the end of the world. Then the movie takes a weird turn. Before the world ends some type of aliens appear and take the two children of the main characters, one male and one female. After the world ends they take the children to another planet to "seed" a new world. Although this was somewhat an optimistic end, I found it a strange turn and very unrealistic
A movie that has a happy ending that I do not agree with Signs. Signs centers around a family living on a farm when mysterious crop circles start to appear. These crop circles suggest something more frightening to come, which are aliens. The movie ends with the aliens leaving Earth and the family surviving. Like most alien movies, the aliens have some flaw that make them defeatable. Realistically we do not know a lot about extra terrestrial life so Hollywood uses this lack of knowledge to create these creatures to their imagination. Aliens are usually portrayed as hostile but, of course for a happy ending, they are killed by natural causes. In signs the aliens flaw is their H2O allergies. The ending was unfulfilling leaving me thinking , “Wow, what a lame way to die.” Also, it was very unrealistic because if these aliens were capable of space travel, planning, and invading Earth then they should be intelligent enough to not invade a planet that is mostly covered in water. Sure they invaded dry areas but there is water everywhere. I believe aliens capable of the previously stated would have prepared better by making some sort of protective armor. The movie was good and it had a good message of faith but the water allergic aliens really ruined the end that could have been much better and a lot less ridiculous.
My favorite Christmas movie of all time is "Nation Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" starring Chevy Chase and Beverly D'Angelo.I never get tired of watching it even when it's not Christmas tiime. The movie kicks off with the Christmas tree roadtrip involving the Griswold's station wagon and a beat up pick up truck. We all should know what happens next. The movie has all the funny parts well spaced out for the most part. The movie represents what a real family Christmas is. The extended family visiting makes the movie perfect. There's nothing like your annoying family getting under your skin about the dumbest thing.Clark was a real trooper the whole movie becasue I think my dad wouldn't last a day with that many people staying at our house. Towards the end of the movie, all the funny parts start getting clumped together like a fireworks finale. Clark's cousin eddie brings home Clark's boss and the police come and raid the house, and finally Uncle Louis blows up Santa Claus and .... the end. What upsets me about the movie's ending is that it happens too fast.
In the article "Why teachers love depressing books", I believe that books that our teachers are instigating into children are allowing the kids to grow and mature. This allows the kids to gain the knowledge of overcoming drastic obstacles that life may through at a person. Allowing kids to have knowledge of death at a younger age allows them to create a better reaction to real-life death and depression. This is because their exposure to this depressing subject at such a young age allows them to be engaged and also constantly learning about the subject for a longer period of time before adulthood. Another benefit that these readings provide the teachers and also the children reading the book is the connection that the kid will have with the book. If it is talking about death then it will intrigue the child to keep reading the book till the end. Teachers take advantage of this because it makes reading the book a lot easier to accomplish. It also allows the teacher to provide and engage in effective discussion about the sensible subjects. Overall I believe that teachers are correct with approaching these subjects to juveniles at a young age.
Although I come off as the quiet and nerdy type, I didn't actually start reading real novels until my early teen years. My dad actually got me into reading historical fiction novels. I was already a huge history "buff" (if anyone actually still uses that term)and had a huge shelf in my room filled with a ton of nonfiction history books. I was skeptical at first because I didn't really have an interest in novels unless they were assigned to me in school. I started to read it and could not put it down. The books were a series about the exploits of a British officer in the Naploeonic wars. I always did like stories about war. The characters (at least in the books I read) were not only brave and inspiring but they were also from the bottom of society and had simple virtues of honesty and courage. I also like the way war is portrayed in the books I read. War is not glorified. Much to the contrary, it does not hesitate to speak of the horrors of the battlefield and of the folly of war in general. The characters are real and have their own flaws, even the heroes. In the end, I liked they these stories the same reason I like all of the history literature I read. Its simple, eloquent in its simplicity, and as real as you can get.
In gradeschool we had required summer reading and every year it seemed like the books were always depressing. Some examples of the books I remember reading were Sarah plain and tall, the outsiders, and roll of thunder hear my cry. these stories all seemed to be sad and a little scary to me as a young child. The outsiders was intense and violent. Even though it taught the importance of friends and family and the bonds between the gang of boys that kept them strong and together throughout the book. In sarah plain and tall, the fact that the mother had passed away leaving behind her two young children and husband was deprssing. The children had a hard time accepting sarah but once they do its a touching story. The depressing books do in a way prepare kids for life. you can read about happy and sad experiences and it exposes you to all kinds of readings.
Post a Comment
<< Home