Feel-good poems, movies, series, paintings, music...

This has probably been done before, but I think it's always wonderful to discover a work of art that really makes you happy. But before that, let me expose a theory about unhappy ends in cinema.

Sorrow is, of course, unfortuntely, always present in some way or another in real life. However I find that almost all of the "great movies" of the XXth century rely too much on sorrow. It's easy to make a spectator cry or feel sad, disturbed, or nervous. Brilliant movies such as One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Million Dollar Baby, The Hours, Virgin Suicides, Children of men could have ended more happily, without loosing their artistic power. This almost suggests that a movie needs an unhappy end to be nominated for Best Picture at the oscars... Critics often condemn happy ends by calling them "immature" . Why ?

The movies mentioned above claim to be realistic somehow. Yet is it truly realistic, and real, that humen beings despair so easily, without fighting on, or keeping any hope ?

It seems to me these works rely too much on our own fragility as individuals, giving no answers, instead of showing us (even if the characters do die, or tragedy does appear) that, one way or another, there is always some kind of hope.
This doesn't mean I reject all "unhappy ends" ; I just can't accept the philosophy of fatality so common in today's "films d'auteur".

Anyway,  back to the list ! ( movies and books are what I know best)

Movies with unhappy ends... but a positive message :
-Amadeus
-Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (the ending is ambiguous)
-Schindler's List
-Shakespeare in Love
-City of Angels
-Swept from the Sea
-Munich
-The Deer Hunter
-Van Helsing
-Tristan + Isolde

Literature of that nature :
-Romeo and Juliet
-Keats' Ode on Melancholy
-The Silmarillion by Tolkien

Now for feel-good movies with HAPPY ends (in no particular order)

-Lucky You
-Shooting Fish
-The Lord of the Rings
-Serendipity
-Garden State
-The Holiday
-Minority Report
-The Abduction Club
-A Beautiful Mind
-Cinderella Man
-Elizabethtown
-The Indiana Jones movies
-Kingdom of Heaven
-L.A. Confidential
-The Shadow
-The Russia House
-The Rocketeer
-The Shawsank Redemption
etc...

Literature with happy ends :

-Lord of the Rings
-Girl, Interrupted (the narrator finally heals)
-Everworld (an extroardinary fantasy, one of the best I've ever read, though the ending is less satisfying for some of the characters)
-The Travis McGee novels usually end well
-Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare ! What a genius...)
-Most of Walt Whitman's poetry is very positive (such as the quote under this post)

Do you agree with my "theory" ? What are your favorite uplifting works of art ?

Hi Romantic Poet(love the name),just a few thoughts,I do see your point in some cases but I have to admit I have always been more of a unhappy ending type.That being said I don't think its always a must for a good film or piece of literature.
I admit for example after reading something that is very dark I will sometimes go to something a bit more happy.For example after reading the book LA Confidental(do you really consider that a happy ending?considering how much was allowed to be covered up,the book is 10 times more bleak but thats James Ellroy for you)I went to issac asimov's 'I Robot' cause well I just wanted to totally escape and I really did enjoy that.Another time after reading alot of Raymond Chandler I went to 'Dune'.I see a place for both,sort of the ying and yang of human nature,one side can easily be abused,like so many dull and predictable comedies nowdays that seem to come from a cookie cutter.In the face of some of those I will take 'Chinatown' any day.By the same point,I will happily follow it up with The Lord of the Rings or even a bit of a guilty pleasure A Hard Days Night(happy ending there totally)but then I love,love The Beatles I just can't stay depressed when they break into "Its been a hard days night and I've been working like a dog"

Hi Sebastien,

I like this thread!

How about some silly comedies such as A Fish Called Wanda?

I enjoy and miss listening to the Beatles.

Sebastien, have you seen one of my favorite films of all time, The Big Blue. Directed by a French director, forgotten his name.

Some films really piss me off because of their unnecessarily sad and illogical endings. Cuckoos' Nest turned to crap once it got to the ending, but i think Schindlers List's ending (which was a true story, but i had never heard of him before) actually improved the film alot; almost made me want to start a new religion with Oscar as the icon.

I love art. I love in particular Klimt, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Les Fauvres, etc etc.

Love the piece 'Flaming June' by some British painter....forgotten his name..and Rosetti's fairy fale women.

It's by Frederic Leighton. It resides in Puerto Rico, but I saw it at a travelling show in DC once. It's breathtaking.

I really get breathless with paintings too; that's what i call real artistry.

Robin, what kind of art do you like? Music?

I like all forms of creative beauty, just like You.

I can just die when i see one of those really large and wide photos (for example) of a beautiful sunset in the horizon over a nice landscape. It's like watching the stars for me. I am really sensitive to beauty and i've dropped my jaw so many times over some things people over at devaintart.com create that i'm starting to wonder if it's time to replace it with a metal jaw soon.

The ending of a movie, the perfect match of a musical score with a betufil scene in a movie with a landscape, the utter excellence of detail in a painting of a persons eye; i'm not at all ashamed to admit that i can shed tears of happines sometimes that i have been able to view something so wonderful. I'm a real artist-appreciator.

Robin,

That's awesome. I'm like you--I also appreciate nature's beauty. Have you ever seen the Bluest Blue pictures at Flick.com? They are really amazing!

angelus said:

Hi Romantic Poet(love the name),just a few thoughts,I do see your point in some cases but I have to admit I have always been more of a unhappy ending type.That being said I don't think its always a must for a good film or piece of literature.
I admit for example after reading something that is very dark I will sometimes go to something a bit more happy.For example after reading the book LA Confidental(do you really consider that a happy ending?considering how much was allowed to be covered up,the book is 10 times more bleak but thats James Ellroy for you)I went to issac asimov's 'I Robot' cause well I just wanted to totally escape and I really did enjoy that.Another time after reading alot of Raymond Chandler I went to 'Dune'.I see a place for both,sort of the ying and yang of human nature,one side can easily be abused,like so many dull and predictable comedies nowdays that seem to come from a cookie cutter.In the face of some of those I will take 'Chinatown' any day.By the same point,I will happily follow it up with The Lord of the Rings or even a bit of a guilty pleasure A Hard Days Night(happy ending there totally)but then I love,love The Beatles I just can't stay depressed when they break into "Its been a hard days night and I've been working like a dog"

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Thanks for your answer !

I understand your point as well. I definitely agree with you when you say you could watch Chinatown anytime. Me too !For some reason, even with a very bleak ending, the movie still fascinates me. The score, by Jerry Goldsmith, is flabbergasting. By the way, have you seen the sequel, directed by Jack Nicholson himself, called "The Two Jakes" ? (I'm looking for it on DVD).

lonelygirl said:

Hi Sebastien,

I like this thread!

How about some silly comedies such as A Fish Called Wanda?

I enjoy and miss listening to the Beatles.

Sebastien, have you seen one of my favorite films of all time, The Big Blue. Directed by a French director, forgotten his name.

Click to expand...

Thanks for answering !

I haven't seen A Fish Called Wanda (It's always reserved at my library !) ; but I have definitely seen , and appreciated, The Big Blue (or Le Grand Bleu) ; the director is Luc Besson (who also did The Fifth Element). I always loved the moment when the asiatic diver takes a series of deep breaths, then dives about 5 feet deep, before coming straight up (they're supposed to be in a no-limits diving competition ! ) : it always makes me laugh. Jean Réno's performance is remarkable.

lonelygirl said:

I love art. I love in particular Klimt, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Les Fauvres, etc etc.

Love the piece 'Flaming June' by some British painter....forgotten his name..and Rosetti's fairy fale women.

Click to expand...

I love fairy-tale art as well. Illustrations by John Rackham, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, Alan Lee, John Howe ... Amazing artists.

Does anyone like the original (and sequel) "Fantasia" by Disney ? That movie is, to me, pure art. Dancing mushrooms and flowers, elephants in a ballet, living broomsticks... Fascinating and amazing.

I always particularly admired a cut sequence called "Clair de Lune", with Debussy's gorgeous music. You can find it in the extras of Fantasia n°1. It's really simple, but beautiful : on a moonlit night, in a bayou somewhere, a heron (I think it's a heron...) flies around the trees and looks at the reflections of the moon in the water (the animation is unbelievable) ; he then sees another heron, and both of them fly away towards the moon.
It's perhaps my favorite movie ever. See it if you can !

Robin said:

Some films really piss me off because of their unnecessarily sad and illogical endings. Cuckoos' Nest turned to crap once it got to the ending, but i think Schindlers List's ending (which was a true story, but i had never heard of him before) actually improved the film alot; almost made me want to start a new religion with Oscar as the icon.

Click to expand...

I cannot agree more. Schindler's List's ending is perfect. If one film in History needed an Oscar (and it got seven !), It's that one.

movies

-Titanic (tragic ending but it feels good to be loved)
-Love & Basketball (good message of perseverance in love and how fate can even lend a helping hand and ties into how the long wait is worth it to get that soul mate)
-Coach Carter (if you love sports anywhere near as much as I do then you'll find this a great feel-good movie)

feel-good songs for me would be songs that tell people off like:

Cory Lee - The Key of C
Christina Aguilera - Fighter
Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone, Walk Away, Never Again
Pussycat Dolls - Beep
Pink - U + Ur Hand
Evanescence - Call Me When You're Sober

or emotional songs that I can relate to like:

Cory Lee - As I Cry
Destiny's Child - Bad Habit
Christina Aguilera - Hurt
Joe - Another Used To Be

Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne is also a great feel-good song.

Hi Romantic Poet

Oh yes Chinatown has a great score,I espeically love the feeling,the atmosphere it provides at the very end of the film as Jakes partner says to him "forget it Jake,its Chinatown" and the camera slowly pans away from them,what an amazing moment that is.Sadly I have not seen the sequel,I have heard in general its not as good but I must admit I would at least like to see it once.

What I think it comes down to and again this is opinion so I could be wrong,about a happy or sad ending is the intent on the part of the film maker,writer,or artist.If you have a movie(for example)where the film maker has a sad or dark ending because they think the public will respond better in terms of going to see it...I think it shows,shows that its contrived.The same with a happy ending,if it ends that way cause the film makes or artist feels thats where the story should go,if they do it with integrity I think it will also show.A great example of that is the movie 'Blade Runner',a favorite of mine,when it was first released in I think 1984 the film studio that put it out forced the director(or may even have done this without his consent)to basically tack on a happy ending to it when he felt that it would not work that way but they did it anyway and it feels tacked on to,unlike the later directors cut without the happy ending.Its like did you ever hear a ballad on the radio and instead of it making you sad or emotional you listen to it and think "this is just someone trying to have a hit!".what the intent,the motives are of an artist is often reflected in there work,prehaps in ways even they don't at first see.I don't think its always wrong for any artist to have ambition but they must always still remain an artist.

It's a depressing movie, but I love the movie "Requiem for a Dream."

I've never done drugs, but this movie shows you the desperation of addiction.

I love all fantasy movies, such as:

"Legend" with Tom Cruise and Mia Sara (romantic and sexy!)

"Labrynth" with David Bowie and the gorgeous Jennifer Connelly

The Dark Crystal...Time Bandits....

the best feel good movie has to be My Neighbour Totoro. it's probably in my top 5 best movies of all time. it's pure bliss. watching with the original voices with subtitles is even better. if you have kids, please let them see this.

angelus said:

Hi Romantic Poet

Oh yes Chinatown has a great score,I espeically love the feeling,the atmosphere it provides at the very end of the film as Jakes partner says to him "forget it Jake,its Chinatown" and the camera slowly pans away from them,what an amazing moment that is.Sadly I have not seen the sequel,I have heard in general its not as good but I must admit I would at least like to see it once.

What I think it comes down to and again this is opinion so I could be wrong,about a happy or sad ending is the intent on the part of the film maker,writer,or artist.If you have a movie(for example)where the film maker has a sad or dark ending because they think the public will respond better in terms of going to see it...I think it shows,shows that its contrived.The same with a happy ending,if it ends that way cause the film makes or artist feels thats where the story should go,if they do it with integrity I think it will also show.A great example of that is the movie 'Blade Runner',a favorite of mine,when it was first released in I think 1984 the film studio that put it out forced the director(or may even have done this without his consent)to basically tack on a happy ending to it when he felt that it would not work that way but they did it anyway and it feels tacked on to,unlike the later directors cut without the happy ending.Its like did you ever hear a ballad on the radio and instead of it making you sad or emotional you listen to it and think "this is just someone trying to have a hit!".what the intent,the motives are of an artist is often reflected in there work,prehaps in ways even they don't at first see.I don't think its always wrong for any artist to have ambition but they must always still remain an artist.

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Thanks for your reply.

I basically have the same opinion as you ; I don't fundamentally reject an unhappy end, but only if this unhappy end has some sort of positive message.

The example of Blade Runner is a perfect example (I love the movie by the way !) ; the studio "happy end" with Deckard's voice-over was indeed foolish.
The Director's cut's ending (SPOILERS : if anyone reading this hasn't seen the movie do not read further !),
even if it's pessimistic (Deckard and Rachel are Robots doomed to die in more or less four years), has a positive meaning : they found each other. So, in a way, love triumphed.

lonelygirl said:

I love all fantasy movies, such as:

"Legend" with Tom Cruise and Mia Sara (romantic and sexy!)

"Labrynth" with David Bowie and the gorgeous Jennifer Connelly

The Dark Crystal...Time Bandits....

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Me too !
I own on DVD those four movies. I don't know if you've heard about it, but there's a sequel to The Dark Crystal being made. I don't know if it will be any good, but I look forward to seeing it.