Happy Endings are not that Important

I’ve just finished watching Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Chances are a film like this would not be made in our times because it does not have a happy ending.

But are happy endings that important for films and books? What are happy endings anyway?

Is “and they lived happily ever after” a better ending?

How do we know that they lived happily and didn’t fight like cats and dogs and separated a month later?

Some might say it’s about the feeling of hope that happy endings give us.

It’s not always possible to have a dream-like ending in real life so we need the most perfect one in films. I’m not going to disagree with that. We do need those sweet romantic hope-induced endings.

But every time I watch a film where two incompatible people stay together it makes me cringe.

How would they make it work? How will they overcome those obstacles in their way? It stresses more than the enjoyment it gives me, but that’s just me.

Going back to Roman Holiday – that’s a perfect ending in my opinion.

They’ve had their moment that many people never have. They could cherish those memories without complicating each other lives. And no one can tarnish their relationship and their memories because they belong to the two of them.

Happy endings are about how they make us feel at the end. If we feel a little bit more uplifted – it does not matter if the boy got the girl at the end.