Unit 22 - Open endings

Narrative endings 

Open ended narrative

What is an open ending narrative?

An open ended narrative is a drama that finishes with the audience guessing what will happen next. They leave the audience in suspense by cutting off the end of story and leaving the audience wondering. They usually don't give clues on what will happen next and keep it a mystery. This would make the audience frustrated or exited. Examples of open ended narratives are Eastenders and empire. 

Inception 

During the end of inception we see Leonardo DiCaprio finally home with his family. He gets to see his kids like he wanted. However, during the end of the movie he takes out his totem. This tells the character in the movie whether or not they are in a dream or reality. The top would collapse if it's reality but if it doesn't then this means they are still in a dream. But, at the end of ‘inception’ we are shown a shot of the top that keeps spinning and when the camera slowly zooms in on the top and just when the top loses its momentum and begins losing speed we are cut to black and that’s it. We the audience are left in the dark questioning whether or not the totem will collapse. It arises many questions for us. Did it fall? Is it still spinning? Is Leonardo DiCaprio in a dream where he thinks he sees his kids? We don't know. This type of ending can only leave the audience with mixed emotions. They can either feel annoyed, laughter, frustration all together. Their reactions will cause them to talk about what they think as they are left to imagine how they think the movie will end. Some wouldn't mind and find pleasure coming up with the ending themselves while others would get annoyed with not knowing. Furthermore, the movie is mostly aimed at 16-30 year old men as it's action packed which many men like in movies. Although the plot makes appeal to both genders. Finally, the target audience would mostly apply to older men as the movie can be quite confusing. Young people may not follow it as well and may become confused. 

How I live now

This is about a girl who suffers from depression, anger and OCD and is sent to live with her cousins in London, as WW3 may be happening. With her aunt being gone due to the war she is left with her three cousins. She is at first unhappy and grumpy about it, but she soon takes a liking to the place while becoming closer to her cousins. This is when she starts to fall in love with one of her cousins.  London then has a nuclear attack and the kids decide to stay at the house but are then later taken. Daisy and her younger cousin are then adopted by a family but later on escape. Her exceptionally violent journey to get she, and the little one back home, is filled with chaos and danger but when she finally does, only one cousin remains the boy with whom she fell in love with. He has been beaten, tortured and scarred from what has happened to him. Unable to connect, or even speak, Daisy submits to being his caretaker. But what will become of them after the war? Will he ever recover? Will their parents ever return? It’s a bittersweet ending. This type of ending leaves the audience either annoyed because they want to know what happens to Daisy and if the person she loves will ever come out of his shell. The film however, would attract young teenager girls (15 - 19) as the characters are young and fall in love. But it would also attract adults with it's grim, disturbing scenes.

What do people think?

" Personally, I’m a big fan of an ending in which the reader is invited to supply the ending – but then, that has resulted in rejections because there isn’t a satisfying enough resolution!"

"I enjoy open ended movies up to a point (loved 2001) but sometimes I feel cheated, as thought the writers couldn't decide on the ending so they just left it hanging"

"If I'm left to contemplate and do serious thought about the implications of the possible endings, then I think the open film ending has been done successfully."

"The ambiguous ending can stretch our minds"

Personally I don't like movies that don't have an ending. It annoys and frustrates me. I like to know what happens in the end of the movie, It makes me think that people who made the movie where too lazy to complete the ending so they left us the audience in the dark. I hate not knowing and like to see what happens to the characters. I don't like guessing and like to have my answers about the characters answered. 

How about you? Can you think of some open-ended films that are your favorites?  Do you like a film with a puzzling ending or do you prefer a clear ending?