Does Death Wait?

It’s kind of funny how much finality there is to both scripted television and reality television. Many people suspect that reality television is heavily scripted, and I’m really not going to deny that; it probably is. But the thing is that something that’s consistently added to most reality shows is the proper ending. You see it in virtually all sitcoms, and in most popular films, but interestingly not very often in indie (or artsy) films. A similar trend exists in literature. Tons of novels, especially the popular ones, have a firm or obvious conclusion. The exceptions are usually the really artsy ones. Still, the more obvious examples are in film/television, and this is a pop culture blog, so lets look at those.

I have always been a fan of those cheesy 90’s sitcoms even after the 90’s finished. Boy Meets World; Sister, Sister; and Saved By The Bell were all just fantastically cheesy. They had a lot of heart when they came out, and they still do. At this point their charm has morphed from being witty depictions of growing up into a clear view of a different past (and still with a lot of wit). One of the funny things about those shows is that everything always worked out in the end. Most of the time the situations were somewhat ridiculous. If the situations were actually likely to ever happen, they definitely wouldn’t happen on the weekly basis that they did in the shows. Unless I’m remembering high school wrong, it wasn’t consecutive weekends that we’d crash our parents’ cars, throw huge parties, and then beat our rivals in the talent show.

Everything usually did work out though. However, there was rarely an obvious lesson learned. Things just don’t really work that way in real life, though I probably don’t have to tell that to whoever is reading this. Still, we watch these shows and shows like them regardless of how implausible they can be.

Movies take it an extra step further as they often take advantage of their budgets and the time given to tell their stories to create something really special. Again, the chances of most plots from most movies actually happening are slim to none, but they’re still somewhat relatable. Most of the time we can still imagine what it would be like to be cast into these situations and speculate what we would do, and that makes us feel more involved. Plus, like in television shows, we often are presented with an ending that we know for sure was meant to leave you with a certain feeling. Even if it’s incredibly vague, and maybe unnecessary, like the ending of Inception, we feel settled because we’re given a true conclusion.

Indie films don’t do that. They tend to avoid situations that would never happen to a regular person, and when they end, they tend to just end without making a big culmination obvious. The most recent indie film I’ve seen is Terri, which according to Rotten Tomatoes got an 86% from the critics and a 60% from viewers. Getting a better score from critics than from casual fans is pretty common from not only indie films, but also almost any film nowadays that requires a commitment to paying attention. However, another thing that probably impedes them from achieving really high ratings is, as I mentioned, they have a tendency to lack really concrete endings.

When an indie film ends, it just sort of ends. In Terri, the main character had a good heart to heart conversation with another character, and then not that long after, the movie just ends kind of suddenly. If you’re interested in seeing the movie, do it. It’s really good and I didn’t spoil anything.

ANYWAY, the ending was significant. There was more left to the story. Terri copied real life storytelling in that most stories we tell are only a glimpse into a person’s complete life. That is pretty realistic, almost more than reality television in fact. A lot of times the stories we tell don’t even have proper endings either. Yet for some reason, stories having definite endings are very comforting. I certainly like them.

There are a lot of times where I have the choice to watch an absorbing movie like The Kids Are All Right (another indie film that just sort of ends), or a movie like Zombieland (you can just jump right into at any point after someone explains it to you in about fifteen seconds), and I chose the latter. Not just because I didn’t feel like starting from the beginning, but because I know movies that are known for being easy to like will have a satisfying ending. It’s just comforting to know that events will transpire, and then something will wrap everything up nicely and signal that a conflict is over.

It’s the same premise as people saying, “I’m too young to die.” Admittedly, I myself have said so when I thought my home was being broken into. We all want conflicts to be resolved before the ending comes, and we want clear endings to give us the assurance that conflicts are over.

However, it’s not realistic. Young people who could have had bright futures die all the time without their problems being resolved. I’m not saying this to be depressing, or to make anyone cynics. I’m just saying that we can’t always expect for everything to work itself out before we die because a lot of times things just won’t without active influence, and we can die at any moment. Death isn’t going to wait for you to find the person of your dreams, or finish getting your degree, or finding inner peace, or anything else that you may hope comes with time. I’m not saying go wild every night, but I am saying people should try to live well enough to die content tomorrow.