Movieline: Jessica Kellgren-Hayes
Should we have more of the happily ever after moments?
As it is almost Halloween I am sure you are expecting here to read about some classic movie villains, about a great horror film coming out this week or perhaps learn of the greatest and most diabolical schemes to ever grace the silver screen… But isn’t that all just a little too old hat? Haven’t we been there, done that?
Hollywood films are often accused of being formulaic and nowhere is this more true than in their slavish devotion to the antagonist. Even modern ‘dark’ films featuring antiheros, or children’s films with a fully redeemable baddy who gets their comeuppance, still abide by the rule.
Somehow, at some point, there will be a long section or a repeated riff on misery-guts-ism (definitely a word the Oxford English Dictionary needs to clue in to); a certain character will be evil or just plain mean to the people around them and the heroes will be in conflict with each other.
Once the bad character has been vanquished, once the misunderstandings between the leads has been corrected, then and only then can we all breathe a sigh of relief and start with the happy part of the film. Which is exactly when the end credits roll! In movie land, as soon as everything is good and the world is in balance, the film must end.
There is no time for pleasing, pleasant scenes of characters being successful and nice because once the villain has been vanquished and the amped-up central conflict solved, the nice parts must be crushed into one final scene. It is an awful shame and I for one would like to see a lot more of these happy times. I often find myself wishing there were fewer scenes of the miserable middle and more of the post-credits happy ever after.
Happily, two of the best films of this month managed to buck the trend: The Intern and The Martian. With the first being a sweet comedy about a retired old man and the second a space adventure they might not at first appear to have much in common yet they both excellently circumvent expectations of conflict in film. Here we can watch in unmitigated pleasure as talented people showcase their skills and have a lot of fun together – which is equally great fun for the audience!
The protagonists of these films don’t labour to become good people: they’re already amazing. That’s why we’re watching a film about them. We don’t need a villain. Life is hard enough sometimes so let’s just sit back, relax and enjoy some refreshing kindness on our cinema screens.
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