The End

in #film5 years ago

All stories come to an end. Or at least, that's how it's supposed to be; just like the story of our actual lifes, every fictional narrative consists of a beginning, a middle and a conclusion.


end_small.jpg
Image by geralt - source: Pixabay

That's how it's supposed to be... When we were kids all stories started with "Once upon a time there was", and after an adventurous middle section all stories concluded with something like "and they lived happily ever after", because kids don't deal with the concept of death, or we won't let them until a certain age. But when the story was read to us, mom or dad spoke the dreaded words "The End", followed by the gentle, but resolute urging to go to sleep, even when we plead for one more story every night...

As sad as we were when the story ended as a kid, the end was always there, and as an adult we learn to appreciate the ending of a good story as part of the whole package; a good story is only good when the end delivers a satisfying conclusion to the plot and character development that preceded it. Unfortunately, a satisfying conclusion to our modern stories, at least the ones we consume through some sort of visual medium, like games, TV series and movies, is becoming increasingly scarce.

This is caused by the commercialization of modern pop culture. Film-studios and game publishers are owned by mega-corporations that are ultimately interested in the bottom-line only. That is, they only invest in that which generates enough profits, as to please the stockholders. This also means that they'll keep milking the narrative cows that proved successful for as long as they can; so they operate under the assumption of a follow-up, the ending needs to keep open the possibility of a sequel. And the sequel is beholden to the same principle; rinse and repeat, until the cow produces the milk no more, at which point the story abruptly ends...

This has happened to several TV series and games already, and now that every filmstudio is looking to create their own "cinematic universe", it's almost certain to happen there too. It actually already happened with Star Wars; the Skywalker sage had a perfect ending and that now got ruined to push forward a new generation of rather bland heroes that apparently can't stand on their own success. Or with Terminator, or the Alien franchise, both of which ruined previously established timelines in order to get that extra drop of milk from those old trusty cash-cows.

This is also for the most part the reason why there's so many reboots and remakes; it's a safe bet for the investors because fans of the originals will check out the new incarnation of their favorite heroes and universes at least once. Original stories, like Arrival, or a proper farewell, a satisfying end for old time heroes and long running franchises respectively, like in Logan, will be the exception to the rule, I'm afraid. The economics of maximizing profits is not the way to maximize quality, excellence or well-being, instead it is a recipe for guaranteed mediocrity. Be prepared for a lot more cliffhangers and a lot less real conclusions...


Boss Nass Warned George Lucas about Jar Jar Binks (Brian Blessed Interview)


Thanks so much for visiting my blog and reading my posts dear reader, I appreciate that a lot :-) If you like my content, please consider leaving a comment, upvote or resteem. I'll be back here tomorrow and sincerely hope you'll join me. Until then, keep steeming!


wave-13 divider odrau steem

Recent articles you might be interested in:

Latest article >>>>>>>>>>>The Needs Of The Many
A Venezuelan FairytaleConfidence In Incompetence
No More MoneyBipolar Disorder Author
Shoebills Are DinosaursDrama Queen Marvel

wave-13 divider odrau steem

Thanks for stopping by and reading. If you really liked this content, if you disagree (or if you do agree), please leave a comment. Of course, upvotes, follows, resteems are all greatly appreciated, but nothing brings me and you more growth than sharing our ideas. It's what Steemit is made for!
Helpienaut_post_banner_02-01.png

I am a proud helpinaut! @Helpie is looking for new members! Helpie has been growing nicely and we are always on the lookout for new valuable members. We are very supportive and community oriented. If you would like to be scouted for @helpie , please drop a comment on THIS POST or contact @paintingangels on discord at paintingangels(serena)#3668.

wave-13 divider odrau steem

Just for Full Disclosure, I'm invested in these crypto-currencies:

Bitcoin | Litecoin | EOS | OmiseGo | FunFair | KIN | Pillar | DENT | Polymath | XDCE | 0x | Decred | Ethereum | Carmel | XYO

wave-13 divider odrau steem

@helpie is a WITNESS now! So please help @helpie help you by voting for us here!Helpie_01.png

Sort:  

Curated for #informationwar (by @wakeupnd)

Ways you can help the @informationwar!

  • Upvote this comment or Delegate Steem Power. 25 SP 50 SP 100 SP or Join the curation trail here.
  • Tutorials on all ways to support us and useful resources here

Hi @zyx066!

Your post was upvoted by @steem-ua, new Steem dApp, using UserAuthority for algorithmic post curation!
Your UA account score is currently 3.688 which ranks you at #5412 across all Steem accounts.
Your rank has improved 8 places in the last three days (old rank 5420).

In our last Algorithmic Curation Round, consisting of 239 contributions, your post is ranked at #117.

Evaluation of your UA score:
  • You're on the right track, try to gather more followers.
  • The readers appreciate your great work!
  • You have already shown user engagement, try to improve it further.

Feel free to join our @steem-ua Discord server

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.35
TRX 0.12
JST 0.040
BTC 70601.11
ETH 3576.21
USDT 1.00
SBD 4.78