Happy or Sad?

[Razor]

I know this question has been asked a thousand times, and probably already has a thread somewhere that I'm too terribly lazy to dig up. However, I want STATISTICS and OPINIONS, muah ha ha.

 

Do you prefer happy or sad endings?

 

I prefer what one would refer to as bittersweet, a mix of the two, but given the strict choice would choose sad. I'm not sure why, it's just that sad endings evoke more emotion from me for the most part.

 

NOW TELL.

[Graeme]

I'm definitely a 'happy ending' person. I can handle bittersweet, and I've enjoyed some movies with sad endings ('Less Than Zero' being one I can recall from memory), but they aren't my preference.

[The Reaper]

Not to be sadistic/a downer, but i like sad endings. Depending on what mood im in, they can make me feel better about my life or they can make me feel all sad and emotional which gets me to start reading another story! IDK, im not sad ALL the time, but when im sad, i like empathy (even from fictional characters )

 

 

Who knows,

 

Ian

[colinian]

I'm basically a happy kind of guy, I love to laugh and tell and listen to jokes and kid around and find almost everything going on around me funny and make other people laugh too. I don't find what's going on in lots of the world funny at all, so I'm mostly local-centric. Hey, I just turned 17 and I'm a senior in HS and I should be happy, so I am! That extends to stories I read, I want happy endings. I want stories where the guy gets the guy and they walk off into the sunset and live happily ever after. I want romance and kissing and... well, you know! Stories with a lot of angst need to come out right at the end. Don't kill off the guy(s) in a story who I've become involved with and know and understand and love in my head!

 

Colin

[glomph]

It needs to fit the story. Is the ending of "The Other Side of Me" (Dom Luka's recently completed story) happy or sad? There's not a straight answer to that question. But it is an appropriate ending. And there needed to be some creepiness left to fit the story, rather than wrapping every detail into a neat package.

 

I would have preferred maybe a happier ending for "Desert Dropping," but it could have ended much worse.

Edited January 6, 2007 by glomph

[C James]

Generally happy for me. I don't like long stories with tragic endings. I basically read for enjoyment. When I say generally happy, I don't mean everything needs to be great. However, I won't knowingly read a story and root for a character for dozens of chapters only to see them die. But that's just me.

 

However, I'm different with short stories. In a short story, there isn't so much time and empathy tied up with the character, so with a short story I enjoy all kinds of endings.

[Bondwriter]

I read lots of hard-boiled fiction and it often deals with people who have streaks of bad luck, and who eventually die. This usually makes sense as the whole plot leads to this climax. But if you get some sentimental fiction with loveable characters and one of them dies in the end just to have the audience shed a tear, ME NOT LIKE IT!

[Razor]

How very interesting... an overwhelming majority prefer the happy.

 

Perhaps I should've included the option of bittersweet.

[JamesSavik]

I think most people prefer a happy ending but I want to qualify that with if it makes sense.

 

A happy ending to Dr. Faust or Julius Ceaser would make those classics completely different.

 

From an authors standpoint, a happy ending isn't nearly as important as one that is cohesive.

[Ibuprofen]

Not that anyone really knows this but I am a complete sap when it comes to stories. I tend to avoid anything that is labeled sad or just had that 'this probably isn't going to end well' feel to it within the first few paragraphs. Depressing storied tend to make me feel more down then I do normally, so I am going to say happy endings for me thanks.

 

But, as James said

 

I think most people prefer a happy ending but I want to qualify that with if it makes sense.

 

Thats true too.

 

This has happened to me more then once. I would get into a story despite the fact that I knew it wasn't a particularly happy story and wouldn't end well, then at the end it would just fall apart because the author somehow managed to twist it around so that everyone lives happily ever after and I'm left there thinking 'wow, they just managed to completely ruin a good story'.

 

I'm all for happy endings, as long as they go with the story.

[glomph]

A happy ending to Dr. Faust

 

Goethe's Faust has a happy ending, and it's especially so as Mahler set it to music in his eighth symphony.

 

OTOH, Mozart's Don Giovanni ends with the main character going straight to hell, and that's arguably a happy ending.

[Dusk]

Razor wrote:

 

"Perhaps I should've included the option of bittersweet."

 

Yup, yup, yup. My liking for bittersweet so outweighs the other options that it would be misleading for me to vote.

[Empathy]

Hmm, i enjoy both a great deal. When you're totally involved with a good story you can look past what the ending may or may not be. If i had to pick one or the other and not some middle ground I'd have to go with sad. I like happy upbeat stories as much as the next person but frankly i get bored rather quickly with stories where everything works out fine. I need a little angst and at least some illusion that things aren't... perfect. And i happen to write what I like to read.

[Umbathri]

I wouldn

[Drewbie]

It depends, most of the time I like happy endings, but I also like stories to realistic, some of them.

[Demetz]

I like a good tragedy where there are lots of characters and none is necessarily more good or either than the other and at least a couple survive to be happy, but plenty do not.

[Camy]

I love happy endings. Some films are wonderfully happy, or have a great premise but then.... 'ET' made me wail, as did 'Pay It Forward'.

 

Life is waaaaay too full of misery. Better to be happy when you can.

 

Camy

[Drewbie]

My brother cried for et

[old bob]

My brother cried for et

And you ?

[Obex]

Sad, if it fits the story. Happy if it fits the story. Nothing is worse then a happy ending that has been 'tacked on'.

 

Overall though, sad. Ever see the movie Hapiness? Now thats a sad ending!

[Drewbie]

And Winner is Happy Endings.

 

Can more members still vote or is it closed?

[Adrian Michaels]

Happy endings are way better. I like to see things work out for people.

[Razor]

Wow, so many happy people... weirdos.

[AFriendlyFace]

I like happy endings. I like sad endings. I like bittersweet endings. I guesss it just depends on the story, situation, and characters. I mostly like to not know ahead of time. I don't want to be thinking "well duh, they're going to get together and live happily ever after in the end." Or "well of course so and so is going to end up sacrificing his happiness for X". I like to be surprised and I like for any potential type of ending to be a viable option.

[Wingless]

Happy Happy Happy Happy! I really don't like sad endings. It just makes me feel depressed for no apparent reason. But if it's happy, I feel happy