Thinking thingky thoughts about happy endings

[selenay]

I've been pondering my reading preferences. Not so much the genre or style I prefer, but my preference for stories with a happy ending. Or at least, in pro-fic, books that don't leave me a sobbing wreck on the floor.

When it comes to fanfic, I'm happy endings all the way, baby.

Hell, I'm not wild about ambiguous endings in novels but sometimes the subject matter is so intense (cf. Hunger Games trilogy, Newsflesh trilogy) that an unalloyed happy ending would make no sense. In those cases, I'd still prefer not to be a sobbing wreck but I can live with a not entirely happy-happy joy-joy ending. I'll just read something light and happy after to clear out the less-than-happy feels.

The thing is, I often feel guilty for this preference. I regularly encounter the "you aren't appreciating true art if you don't like to be a sobbing wreck" argument about books and it's just as prevalent in fanfic at times. There are definitely books and fics out there that I've felt strongly about, that I've been breathless and not-quite-sobbing over in the middle, and I keep reading and rereading them because the end makes it all better. Sometimes the stories with the hardest middles are the ones that make me feel best when the ending is good because it's such a contrast and relief.

It's just that, for me, most of my reading is about escapism. It's about leaving the mundane, frequently horrible real world and spending some time elsewhere. So I'd like it if the stories I'm reading left me feeling uplifted and happy at the end instead of searching for the nearest massive chocolate cake to bury my heartache and depression in.

Am I the only person who feels that way?

And why do so many people insist that this preference somehow makes me a lesser person than having a reading diet that's heavy on the tragedy?

Comments

[infiniteeight.livejournal.com]

You are definitely not the only one. I'm the same way about my fan fic, the novels I read, and the TV and movies I watch. It's gotten to the point that, if I have any doubt at all about how the ending is going to turn out, I scroll/fast forward/flip to the back to check and make sure spending my time on whatever it is isn't going to just end with me feeling bad.

I go a bit further with it and won't watch/read/etc. stuff that has a middle that is too dark, either. Some angst and tension and drama is okay, but I don't want to spend hours getting my heart torn to pieces even if there is five happy minutes at the end.

And it's for the same reason, I think. I want my entertainment to be entertaining. I want my escapism to be fun and/or exhilarating. I can't avoid the anxiety or crap in real life--why would I sign up for more of it in my entertainment time?

I know some folks find dark stories to be cathartic or make them feel less alone and other stuff like that, and that's cool. That's why there's multiple types of art/entertainment/etc. out there.

But the folks who claim, directly or indirectly, that making something ~gritty and real~ makes it better art/entertainment drive me nuts. It's a very elitist attitude. I often get a sense from these folks that it's "better" because you have to be "mature" and/or "intelligent" to appreciate the harsh stuff, and that things that are happy and shiny and where the good guys win are for children who can't handle the so-called real complexities of life. Bah.

I haven't ever felt guilty about my preference for happy stuff, but I did feel embarrassed about it for a long time. Like I had poor taste and should hide away that I like certain things, you know? But a couple of years ago I just kind of snapped and went, fuck it, this is what I like, and that doesn't make me less than anybody else, it's just what I enjoy.

[selenay]

I know some folks find dark stories to be cathartic or make them feel less alone and other stuff like that, and that's cool. That's why there's multiple types of art/entertainment/etc. out there.

This, absolutely this. Sometimes I'll be in the mood for something dark (not often, but it's been known to happen) and I'd never, ever want to institute an "all things must be happy all the time!" rule because everyone needs something different.

It's a very elitist attitude. I often get a sense from these folks that it's "better" because you have to be "mature" and/or "intelligent" to appreciate the harsh stuff, and that things that are happy and shiny and where the good guys win are for children who can't handle the so-called real complexities of life

This. This is exactly what I see a lot (in fanfic at times, in profic commentary a lot) and it's what drives me a bit nuts and is partially responsible for my little rant.

Like I had poor taste and should hide away that I like certain things, you know?

That's exactly the stage I'm at and I need to stop thinking that way. I'm not very good at it (is there a thing called Anglican guilt? Because that's me) but I need to learn how to say "This is my thing, it's as valid as yours, stop telling it's not".

[executrix]

+1 on being able to get depressed ALL BY MYSELF, I don't need other people's writing (pro or fan) for that.

[selenay]

Oh god, yes. And this is why my preference trends towards the happier end of the scale. I don't need help feeling low and uck and angsty. I DO IT REALLY WELL WITHOUT ANY HELP.

[briar_pipe]

(Here via Tumblr link o/)

Okay, apparently I have THOUGHTS. Please forgive the rambling. ^_^

I guess some folks think tragedy is a higher art form. A lot of people hold up Shakespeare's tragedies as his "best work", but were they really the most popular in his time? I doubt it. Good humor is harder to write than good pathos, so it's way more rare.

I went looking for happy endings for gay characters when I was younger, and back then? Nope. The happiest thing I found was a movie called "Jeffrey", and that was more hopeful/ambiguous. In desperation, I turned to zines and early online archives. Fandom, for me, is a way to fill the void that YA novels and the Lambda Awards are only just beginning to address: that people like me can have a happily ever after too.

On the plus side, ambiguous endings seem to be coming back into vogue, at least for bestsellers.

It's almost like a snobbery thing, where some hardcore Lit folks think that if half the cast doesn't die, the story is watered down and not hard-hitting enough. That it's somehow dishonest. There's also a bias against happy, stable relationships at the end, maybe because that's associated with romance novels? Idk. It reminds me of folks who love roller coasters looking down on those of us who get motion sick. It should just be a preference thing, but it's made into this big commentary on our inner qualities or something. It probably doesn't help that most movies nowadays have happy or at least semi-happy endings, so again, those endings look plebian.

I don't think there's anything wrong with using fandom for escapism, and I don't think every happy ending is unrealistic.

[selenay]

Please forgive the rambling

I love the rambling. It's excellent rambling and expressed some of what I was trying to say better than I could.

I went looking for happy endings for gay characters when I was younger, and back then?

Oh god, yes. There are, maybe, three movies out there with lesbian couples that don't end up miserably awful. Pretty sure the ratio is just as bad for male couples, I've not explored as much there. Why can't there be movies and books with gay couples that are actually happy? WHY? Why are straight couples the only ones with a happy ending?

It's almost like a snobbery thing, where some hardcore Lit folks think that if half the cast doesn't die, the story is watered down and not hard-hitting enough

This is what drives me utterly nuts and it's painful to see this attitude bleed through into fanfic as well. Why can't we all just agree that literature and stories and all that stuff is all wonderful and appreciate whether the writing is good rather than judging the quality by how tragically horrible you feel at the end?

I don't think there's anything wrong with using fandom for escapism, and I don't think every happy ending is unrealistic.

*fist-bump*

[executrix]

If you're willing to relax your standards of literary quality, there are entire publishing houses that have long lists of titles where f/f and m/m couples have happy endings. And Wolfe Films has heaps of happy-ending movies. And these bonbons can even be consumed at no expense, because public libraries tend to have lots of gay-interest books, and Netflix has a lot of the film and cable titles. Lots of which Never Came to a Theater Near You.

[selenay]

I...usually have very little in the way of literary standards :-D In my search for good stuff, I've got a stack of horrific novels here.

Books definitely have a lot more in the way of happy stories for gay couples than movies. Or at least, they've been slightly easier to find. My local library sadly doesn't have a gay interest section (all fiction except crime has been merged - wtf?) so unless I have titles/authors I don't know what to look for. It's been three or four years since I last picked up anything new so I've got no idea what to hunt for.

Do you have any recs?

Netflix is slowly learning my tastes and there are several movies I've noted to check out at some stage :-D

Rent Boys

[executrix]

Sorry, nothing specific, but I notice at Book Sale and in the New Fiction section of the public library, there are lots of covers and titles that make it clear that they're the M/M equivalent of chicklit.

No doubt you've seen My Beautiful Laundrette, Beautiful Thing, and Get Real, but putting them on your queue even if you don't rent them again will get you a million more suggestions!

[lysimache.livejournal.com]

You are definitely not the only one! I never purposely seek out things that don't end happily, and generally avoid them as much as possible. And I really resent the idea that more misery = more literary. That's ridiculous.

[selenay]

And I really resent the idea that more misery = more literary. That's ridiculous.

It really is and yet that's the attitude I see so often. Ugh.

[tawg.livejournal.com]

Jumping in here (and feel free to tell me to GTFO) - but maybe it's considered more of an achievement to get someone to keep reading sad/horrible events and find pleasure in the writing despite being but through the emotional wringer, than it is to keep someone reading a story that is filled with things they enjoy - like sex and vampires and mysteries?

[selenay]

I think that may be a really good point, at least for why sad/emotionally traumatic stories are seen to have more 'literary' value in the happier stories. It's not something I'd agree with, but I can definitely see why that judgement gets made.

[davidbrider.livejournal.com]

No, I'm with you - happy endings are a good thing. As a minimum, endings where all the loose ends of the plot are tidily resolved - even if there's a sequel planned, it's kind of nice to get closure, particularly if there's a long wait for the next in the series. But yes, in general, if the good guys triumph, the bad guys end up in prison or wherever, and where relevant, guy gets girl/guy gets guy/girl gets girl, it makes the reading experience more satisfying.

And yes, there are loads of books in loads of genres that tick those boxes without somehow being "lesser books" or making you (or me) a lesser person for enjoying them. And as you say, it's as much about the journey as it is the destination (okay, you didn't say those exact words, but...) - the excitement and adventure and danger of the battle (and the losses incurred along the way) are part of the enjoyment of the whole thing...

Not the most erudite of LJ comments I've ever made, but anyway...

[selenay]

Not the most erudite of LJ comments I've ever made, but anyway...

But a valuable one because it's a good supplement to the things I was trying (however clumsily) to express :-D

[tawg.livejournal.com]

I really share that view with comics. Comics used to be my 'switch off, have fun' text. Then comics companies decided that gritty stories and gore were the new hip thing and I had to stop reading.

While I don't have anything against an abundance of happy endings (I like them myself), I have such a negative reaction to the attitude that I've seen so often in fandom that a good story should have a happy ending, that it needs to have a happy ending. And by that I don't mean that people writing alternative endings is a bad thing (I think it's awesome, and in Smallville fandom that was pretty much all that I read). More the attitude that the original writer (or fanwriter) was Doing It Wrong if a story had a sad ending, regardless of how expertly set up and foreshadowed it was. I think there's a difference between not liking an ending, and the ending being a bad one, you know?

But you post seems to actually be about people being judgemental jerks, and I completely agree that there is too much of that going around :p

[selenay]

I have such a negative reaction to the attitude that I've seen so often in fandom that a good story should have a happy ending, that it needs to have a happy ending

I'm with you (all evidence to the contrary *snerk*) because it should be the author's choice where a fic goes. There's no contract we sign as fic writers that we must end all fics with "And they all lived happily ever after".

I'd like enough warning to back out if I think the ending is going to break my heart in all the wrong ways (AO3 warnings are marvellous if only people would use them for things like 'death' and 'partner betrayal' and 'rape' argh) because a lot of the time I really cannot handle one more horribly depressing thing on top of whatever is going on around me. That way I can run off to something nice and fluffy if I choose to. But telling an author (fan or pro) how to write their thing seems off to me.

I think there's a difference between not liking an ending, and the ending being a bad one, you know?

Huge, massive, mega difference. Sometimes a story can't end with fluffy happy loveliness because it doesn't fit the rest of the story. It's not a bad ending, it's the right one for that story even if the reader didn't like it. The 'bad' ending would be the improbably fluffy happy love ending in that case ;-)

But you post seems to actually be about people being judgemental jerks, and I completely agree that there is too much of that going around :p

That was my possibly badly-worded intent, yes :-D But I see that I struck a chord there with stuff you're seeing around, about a slightly different aspect, and it's all interesting to talk about.

[tawg.livejournal.com]

I agree so much about using tags/warnings! I am awful at doing that with Hail Hydra (in my head, I still have it classified as a funny and fluffy story, despite it having outgrown it's cracky beginnings). I have one coming up that will have so many warning tags and probably an author's note for a sad ending. And the werewolf AU will have so much angst but not an angsty ending, so I need to find a nice way to say "Pls hang in here okay".

I guess I've been an emotional reader so often that I have a deep sympathy for people not wanting to read certain content at certain times. I oscillate between being quite annoyed as an author that I'm expected to spoil my own fics by tagging for events and pairings, and being really frustrated as a reader that the books I buy off the shelf don't come with those kind of content guides. Now I look at it as "Do I want to accidentally ruin someone's day by not tagging my shit?", and the answer is always "No".

[selenay]

Now I look at it as "Do I want to accidentally ruin someone's day by not tagging my shit?", and the answer is always "No".

And this is why you are awesome :-D There are definitely books out there I wouldn't have read if there had been warnings on. Or wouldn't have read at that time, at least, because it is subjective according to everything else that's going on in my life. Authors who think like you do are wonderful.

I am awful at doing that with Hail Hydra (in my head, I still have it classified as a funny and fluffy story, despite it having outgrown it's cracky beginnings).

I started reading Hail Hydra the day you posted it because I'd read your other fics and loved them so I figured this one would be great too. My heart has been a little shredded as it got darker, but I'm still loving it and part of that is because you're one of the authors I trust with sadder, darker things. If that makes any sense. You can break my heart but I'll still love your writing because it breaks my heart so perfectly :-D

[tawg.livejournal.com]

You can break my heart but I'll still love your writing because it breaks my heart so perfectly :-D
Akshgfs. I am writhing with pleasure right now. Hail Hydra is such a blast to write because I can do one chapter that's filled with horror and angst, and the next is filled with banter and slapstick. It's a universe where the characters realise that their lives are ridiculous, built on a framework of very real and horrible life events. It's so very comic book :p

There are definitely books out there I wouldn't have read if there had been warnings on.
This is why I'm digging review blogs at the moment - they do all of the tagging and warning for a book that the book doesn't do. Since profic is filling up with people who have fannish beginnings (and middles, and ends) I'm interested to see how fannish culture of "tag your shit" might translate into published book or ebook culture.

[selenay]

It's a universe where the characters realise that their lives are ridiculous, built on a framework of very real and horrible life events.

I think that's what the big appeal is for me. They know it's crazy and ridiculous and that things are horrible at times and they're muddling through. Plus, it's not unrelenting dark and horrific. It's the right mix.

Ode to Hail Hydra, let me write thee.

I'm interested to see how fannish culture of "tag your shit" might translate into published book or ebook culture.

This is going to be fascinating to watch. A lot of my profic reading comes from recs and reviews, much more than through just picking up random stuff. Tagging in some way is bound to start happening.

[nic]

When I was younger, and had not experienced much pain/angst in real life, I was all about reading Dark!Fiction. The grittier, the better, and I loved wallowing in tragic endings.

Then I grew up. And now I would much rather my fiction to end happily, to have a positive message, to make me smile. After all, it's my escape from real life. (Not that my life is bad, it's good, but I like to keep things positive in every part of my life! To me, crying is not fun.)

[selenay]

I think our tastes vary a lot through our lives :-D I've been in my All Dark All The Time phases as well. Now I'm more of an escapist, please make me feel good reader. We've grown as people and no longer want to hurt ourselves through our reading, heh.

[fahrenheit-f430.livejournal.com]

Happy endings - yes, please!

I think, for me, it's 'cause my OTPs over the last few years canonically occupy a special little hellpit of unrelenting angst, so I just want them to be happy. Just once. I want to read about my favourite characters being happy, content and emotionally fulfilled... Even if it's right at the bitter end of a 90,000 word angst and misery-fest of will-they-won't-they proportions! LET MY PRECIOUS POPPETS BE HAPPY, DAMN YOU.

I want Krycek and Scully to realise they can sneak off without Mulder! I want Charles and Erik without the bullet! I want Guy and Allan without everything after S2 ep 11! I want Alan and Kevin and Kevin and Tron without CLU trouble! I want Kyle and Marcus without the heart transplant ultimate sacrifice thing! I want Archie Hicox and Heinz Kruger to get together, nakedly, and soothe the pain their respective sudden departures in separate canons caused me! I want Annie to drag Mitchell literally out of Hell! And I'm trying to avoid the issue of the Battle of the Five Armies right now as that small, entirely avoidable, incident is going to wipe out my entire Hobbit porn bingo card!

...

I want therefore I need. I need happy. I need joy. I need things that skew canon in more ways than slash or het or rare pairs or porn. I need my tortured, miserable, angsty little rainclouds to experience all the things canon cruelly snatches away. Even the things that're 'not even close, but you guys are in the same time period - GAME ON!'

GODDAMNIT, HAPPY ENDINGS IS MY ALL-PAIRING FOREVER AU! They are the comfort to the hurt. They are the sweet in 'bittersweet.' Without the impulse for happy endings there'd be no fixit fic or coffee shop AUs or fairytales. No whimsy. No euphoria. And who wants their favourite characters to have a long, dark, teatime of the soul without the prospect of biscuits or a cupcake?

That's my light, fairly hyperbolic and sprinkled with stardust opinion. My serious and blunt assessment is that there are no lesser individuals other than those who equate bleak content with excellence, especially those who fail to notice when technically brilliant writing is gold-plating a turd of ham-fisted audience manipulation.

That said, everyone can like what they like 'cause they like it. However, telling me to like what you like 'cause what you like is comparable to Kafka going to a Linkin Park gig and snorting cocaine off a chainsaw, and whatever I like will forever be populist, lacking artistic merit and credibility, and make me less-good than other human beings...

I'd troll that fucking hipster into the ground. No exceptions. No mercy. I DO know a song that'll get on their nerves (getontheirnervesgetontheirnerves)!

[selenay]

Dude, if you will keep picking the epically tragic (in canon) OTPs then you've got to expect some pain! Although wanting happy stuff for your OTPs makes even more sense in that context :-D

I'd troll that fucking hipster into the ground. No exceptions. No mercy. I DO know a song that'll get on their nerves (getontheirnervesgetontheirnerves)!

I'd pay to see that :-D 'Cos it's that attitude that makes me scream. Oh god, populist and unlikely to make you suicidal *doesn't mean it's shit*. People appear to be determined to stay confused on that one.