i hate when ppl act like the only reason to not like a “sad” ending is because you can’t take it or whatever. personally as a tragedy enjoyer, i hate a poorly written ending. i hate an ending that is just kind of a bummer. i hate an ending that feels mean-spirited to the audience. i hate an ending that’s redundant. i love a sad ending that is thematically consistent, poignant, and bespoke to the rest of its narrative.
This, this is it.
It’s not always so clear-cut though.
Some endings are just bad-bad in general (The Mist, anyone?) for being mean-spirited, redundant, or a betrayal rather than a subversion of the story’s themes and expectations.
But some bad endings are only upsetting and “bad” depending on how you experience the story, which characters you identify with and what expectations you bring to the narrative.
I remember Skeleton Key, for example, for having one of the most terrible endings because it was simultaneously a mean-spirited betrayal of audience expectations AND a brilliant commentary on racism and what characters a (white) audience identifies with. It has actually made me avoid horror movies with racial undertones ever since (sorry, Jordan Peele, I just can’t do it).
Simultaneously, I loved the “unhappy” ending of American Mary for how intensely thematically consistent it was… but friends who are SA survivors have told me the ending left them wrecked -the narrative theme of the POV character’s revenge quest ending in death and healing being impossible hit them far harder than it did me.
Idk. When someone says they hated the ending of something, I always wonder what they brought with them to the story when they started it.