Happy endings that aren't happy the moment you think about them - Happily ever after...or is it? Deconstruct the shit out of happy endings in media.

[TheHarbinger]

More of a normie problem, but Fallout New Vegas.

The point of New Vegas, and its DLC, is that the "Great War" devastated the world so badly, that there is not only nothing to go back to. But the new world is probably never going to ever recover fully. And progress will be forever slow until the next big massive conflict. And that the horrors of the Wasteland will stay with us all eternally and are now part of the new world that everyone lives in. All endings are a "bad ending" because this world is bad.

Things like ghouls, super mutants, FEV, radioactive plants, nuclear fallout, disease, proliferation of weapons, low mortality rates, are permanent aspects of humanity now. Pretty much every major faction and DLC shares the theme of longing for a return to normalcy that can never be achieved. Society is trapped in perpetual misery because the great war ruined everything.

Fallout 1 was the classic example of this. You save the Vault and its inhabitants. Only to be told that your new persona is too violent and incompatible with living inside with everyone. And you are banished forever and can never go back. And eventually the Vault is abandoned slowly because living there forever is impossible anyways. And now everyone inside is forced to live in the Wasteland as the Vaults cannot sustain that old world life forever.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

All versions of A Christmas Carol. Scrooge might become a good, generous man and save Tiny Tim with his money, but Scrooge's wealth was built on him being the meanest, cutthroating-est son of a bitch moneylender that London had ever seen. Two years of throwing his wealth at the poor and Scrooge's finances will be so fucked that he'll have to move in with the Cratchits just to make ends meet.

Fezziwig's seems to make the case that you can still be a successful counting house while not being King Dick.

 

[RumblyTumbly]

It wasn't really protrayed as a good thing, just as a thing that happened. The entire point of the film is that Gump pops in and out of events and we follow him, from moment to moment, seeing events happening around him. Gump is happy, because Gump is always happy. He's happy for Lieutenant Dan and his magic legs and he's happy for his kid being smart. He just carries on doing what he does because that's what seems like it would be best. The film ends the way it started, with the audience following the POV of a feather that is being blown around by random chance. It's not a happy ending, or a sad ending; it's just another change.

Very interesting, but regardless of how you look at the ending, we can all agree that Jenny is absolutely horrible.

 

[ChampFantana]

Very interesting, but regardless of how you look at the ending, we can all agree that Jenny is absolutely horrible.

I agree, but she was also severely damaged by her dad molesting her.

 

[Nick Obre]

For me what really impressed me about Mr. Robot was that the tech jargon used to explain hacking sounded good to my ear, like in the introduction when he busts a CP trafficker. I don’t know if it would actually sound right to someone who actually understood web security (someone like Null) but it was so much better presented than your typical tv “hacking” where it’s a person furiously typing away on a keyboard like or the hilarious dialogue used on a show like CSI.

They do an excellent job of keeping the computerbabble realistic or at least verisimilar. You'll often see things you'll recognize, like instead of the hackers being geniuses that just mentally decode something ciphered in base64, or use some kind of extravagant software, no they just go to some real page that everyone can use to decode base64. Or they'll use ProtonMail, use Tor to access an onion site, and so on.

I recall there was some e-celeb with a background in hacking and cyber-intelligence who was angry at the show because at some point they used a real hacking challenge and showed the answer... which was the phone number of someone related to the challenge, and people started calling the number, which was completely unrelated to the show.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

The point of New Vegas, and its DLC, is that the "Great War" devastated the world so badly, that there is not only nothing to go back to. But the new world is probably never going to ever recover fully. And progress will be forever slow until the next big massive conflict. And that the horrors of the Wasteland will stay with us all eternally and are now part of the new world that everyone lives in. All endings are a "bad ending" because this world is bad.

Things like ghouls, super mutants, FEV, radioactive plants, nuclear fallout, disease, proliferation of weapons, low mortality rates, are permanent aspects of humanity now. Pretty much every major faction and DLC shares the theme of longing for a return to normalcy that can never be achieved. Society is trapped in perpetual misery because the great war ruined everything.

Fallout 1 was the classic example of this. You save the Vault and its inhabitants. Only to be told that your new persona is too violent and incompatible with living inside with everyone. And you are banished forever and can never go back. And eventually the Vault is abandoned slowly because living there forever is impossible anyways. And now everyone inside is forced to live in the Wasteland as the Vaults cannot sustain that old world life forever.

I disagree. The entire point of the DLC, except The Lonesome Road which is Chris Avalonne getting pissy, is that humanity has to move forward instead of imitating the past. Honest Hearts is Joshua embracing a living tradition over reviving his past and repeating his failure.

A huge part of Fallout is that shit can’t keep going as it was.

 

[Judge Dredd]

The movie Big ends with the female lead having to watch as the love of her life - whom she slept with - reverts back to being a 12 year old boy. The scene gives off strong pedo vibes and is a lot more disturbing than the filmmakers probably intended.

There's a similar scene in Ghost. It's not the ending, but part way through the film Patrick Swayze (the ghost, which is invisible) possesses Woopi Goldberg (a medium) so he and his girlfriend can kiss and dance one last time. Until you realise that even though it's Patrick in the scene, what she's really doing is kissing and dancing with Woopi Goldberg.

 

[Ted's of Beverly Hills]

IIRC that's the same for the movie The Butterfly Effect. One of the deleted scene had the main character going back in time and committing suicide in his mother's womb which didn't go over well with test audiences.

I remember when I first saw that movie, for some reason *that* was the default ending on the DVD version I rented from Blockbuster. I didn't learn that the theatrical release had an entirely different ending until years later when I stumbled across it on YouTube.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

I remember when I first saw that movie, for some reason *that* was the default ending on the DVD version I rented from Blockbuster. I didn't learn that the theatrical release had an entirely different ending until years later when I stumbled across it on YouTube.

Same, the director's cut was the only one available in my local store, and when it came out on cable, it had that ending too. I guess the director was somehow able to get it in, despite the fact that no, the fetus could not strangle itself in utero since it doesn't start breathing until birth.

 

[Jason Wynn]

Surprised The Graduate hasn’t been mentioned yet. It was obvious to me it wasn’t meant to be a happy ending, but I run into so many who think otherwise.

Ben crashes Elaine’s wedding, they confess their love for one another and run out of the church before hopping onto a bus, ready to spend the rest of their lives happily married right?

Nope. Watch their faces on the bus as the thrill of the moment starts to wear off and they both just sit in silence contemplating what just happened and the repercussions of it. They know subconsciously they fucked up and more than likely won’t last long together, alienating all their friends and possibly becoming estranged from their parents for nothing more than puppy love.

 

[ShittlerNiggler]

The point of New Vegas, and its DLC, is that the "Great War" devastated the world so badly, that there is not only nothing to go back to. But the new world is probably never going to ever recover fully. And progress will be forever slow until the next big massive conflict. And that the horrors of the Wasteland will stay with us all eternally and are now part of the new world that everyone lives in. All endings are a "bad ending" because this world is bad.

Things like ghouls, super mutants, FEV, radioactive plants, nuclear fallout, disease, proliferation of weapons, low mortality rates, are permanent aspects of humanity now. Pretty much every major faction and DLC shares the theme of longing for a return to normalcy that can never be achieved. Society is trapped in perpetual misery because the great war ruined everything.

Calling all endings bad just because the world turned to shit is a bit of a stretch. Mr House will rebuild New Vegas to it's pre-war condition in his ending. The NCR in Fallout 2 is slowly making the world a better place and may possible also turn the Mohjave into a more safer place in New Vegas. Even under Caesar's Legion have some people it way better then they had it before.
The Great War may have ruined everything but people rise from the ashes, adapt and slowly turn the wasteland into a better place. Even in Fallout 4 you have factions who aspire to do everything to make the commonwealth better (even tho they are horribly written).

 

[Spitz]

Monsters, Inc.

They're watching, always watching.

All of the The Land Before Time movies. Shit was sad; you grow up and realize that all those cute dinosaurs died in the biggest fire.

 

[TheHarbinger]

Even in Fallout 4 you have factions who aspire to do everything to make the commonwealth better (even tho they are horribly written).

No one considers Fallout 3, 4, and 76 to be canon and part of the actual universe and story outside of people whose first Fallout was 3 and never played 1 and 2.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

Fezziwig's seems to make the case that you can still be a successful counting house while not being King Dick.

Doesn't Scrooge have one Christmas left before he croaks? The whole point was to do good before he dies, and it's not just his redemption, it's Jacob Marley's redemption as well.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Doesn't Scrooge have one Christmas left before he croaks? The whole point was to do good before he dies, and it's not just his redemption, it's Jacob Marley's redemption as well.

Wasn't the implication that Scrooge died early because he was an evil bastard so he either didn't have anyone to care for him or just the general fate of being a greedy fuck?

 

[starborn427614]

Wasn't the implication that Scrooge died early because he was an evil bastard so he either didn't have anyone to care for him or just the general fate of being a greedy fuck?

Loneliness is a genuine killer, so yeah it's probably that that would've done him in.

 

[Shroom King]

How soft has this community gotten that no one has yet posted “trooning out” as a happy ending in media that sours the moment you consider its obvious consequences (e.g., you cut your dick off and nobody wants to be around you)?

The only movies that I know of where someone troons out are Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. Buffalo Bill dies in Silence of the Lambs and Norman Bates is committed to a nuthouse for a very long time at the end of Psycho. These are good endings and just rewards for violently insane people who just happen to have gender dysphoria.

 

[Your Starter for 10]

The only movies that I know of where someone troons out are Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. Buffalo Bill dies in Silence of the Lambs and Norman Bates is committed to a nuthouse for a very long time at the end of Psycho. These are good endings and just rewards for violently insane people who just happen to have gender dysphoria.

The Sleepaway Camp series features one. Although it doesn't have quite the cache of the two you mentioned. And to be fair he only trooned out because of a boating accident, followed by being raised by a lunatic mother. But the fact that the troon goes on to want to work with (and molest and kill) children and be a serial killer essentially makes it a documentary.

Then there's The Crying Game, but I'm not 100% sure that the whole movie wasn't just a set up to prank the protagonist.

 

[Mao Hao Hao]

Logan's Run.

At the end of the film, the humans are free of the computer's iron-fisted rule and no longer have to end their lives prematurely with "Carrousel".

On the other hand, their city is in ruins, all they have are the clothes on their backs, and (having lived pampered hedonistic lives with the computer providing everything) none of them are likely to know the first thing about outdoors life. Nothing about hunting/foraging/farming for food, purifying water, making fire, building shelter, etc.

Unless doddery Peter Ustinov and the moldering books in Washington can bring them up to speed, the city dwellers are going to start dying off real fast.

Wall-E is very similar to this too. Sure, all the humans are 'free' now and are back on Earth instead of being trapped on the ship, drifting in space for further centuries, but they have essentially been living in a sanitized, protected bubble the whole time. I guarantee 90% of them (or more, given how their very genetics have changed) would die to diseases/pollution as soon as they attempted life outside of the ship environment, especially given how Earth is still a polluted wasteland for the vast majority of its surface.
The robots could help, but that would require the humans to stay on the grounded ship in a forced quarantine until the later generations born could adapt to the changes better, which I doubt would go down well, given their newfound freedoms.

 

[naaaaiiiiillllll!!!]

The only movies that I know of where someone troons out are Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. Buffalo Bill dies in Silence of the Lambs and Norman Bates is committed to a nuthouse for a very long time at the end of Psycho. These are good endings and just rewards for violently insane people who just happen to have gender dysphoria.

The Sleepaway Camp series features one. Although it doesn't have quite the cache of the two you mentioned. And to be fair he only trooned out because of a boating accident, followed by being raised by a lunatic mother. But the fact that the troon goes on to want to work with (and molest and kill) children and be a serial killer essentially makes it a documentary.

Then there's The Crying Game, but I'm not 100% sure that the whole movie wasn't just a set up to prank the protagonist.

The first Ace Ventura Pet Detective movie had a trans villain as well, which I guess you kinda feel sorry for because he missed a field goal before trooning out. Rest of the movie gives him very little reason to sympathize with.

Unless you’re going out of your way to find some woke artsy film, there are practically no films with troon characters where trooning out is seen as a happy ending. Maybe Ed Wood’s “Glen or Glenda”? Ed Wood is a bit too culty for my normie-ass so I’ll defer to our resident movie snobs experts like @BrunoMattei for more details.