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Hey I didn't know this post was made for me. Thanks Libby
Okay, here's the deal guys. I'm writing a screenplay where the hero doesn't quite achieve what he was looking for at the end.
Libby wanted him to survive, but, I ixnayed that idea. He must not live.
There are quite a few movies where the protag or hero doesn't survive till the end.
I would have added the Omen as well.
That said, here is what Libby didn't tell you guys.
But, I will also add, she ads a great point, does it justify the means? IMO, the answer is yes.
I'm writing a horror story. There are quite a few horror stories that don't have good outcomes. Sometimes, it's justified, other times it isn't. Japanese horror often has 0 survivors.
My story reads like it is gonna be okay for our hero and main protag. Until it doesn't. I think that's good shock value. Especially in a horror story.
Oh, Libby, I hated the ending of Open Water. I just sat there drained. I thought they were gonna save the woman. I really did. But, I did find that very realistic. The odds of anyone finding them were next to 0.
I thought the Perfect Storm was in the same ilk. No one lives. That movie annoyed me more b/c the entire movie takes place on a ship and all of that is merely supposition.
As opposed to Open water that is much more about what would happen if 2 people got stranded in the ocean for a long period of time. I believe that would happen in Open Water.
The issue with Perfect Storm is how would any of the info of the choices the captain or the crew make ever get back for it to be written down? It isn't as bad as that whole season of Dallas (hey, it's a dream, don't worry fans, you only wasted a year of your lives, but, we're cool, right?), but, IMO, wasting my 2 hours on supposition is far worse then the protag not living.
I think that's a great topic, when is it worth it, and when isn't it worth it?
I hated the Perfect Storm far more then Open Water. But, the ending of Open Water left me so drained that I didn't want to do anything for a few hours. IMO, that's great writing. I was emotionally vested in those 2 characters. And the camera work didn't get me seasick.
I thought it was a brilliant film b/c it SHOULD have been boring as hell, yet, it wasn't. I was at the edge of my seat.
Also, given the fact that it was loosely based on a true story had me hoping they lived.
I enjoyed reading about this debate. So, Libby, have you come to the dark side? It's fun over here. We hurt our main characters and protags. I actually have 2 stories where they don't live...
I'm interested in reading animation, horror, sci fy, suspense, fantasy, and anything that is good. I enjoy writing the same. Looking to team with anyone!
The two great movies which came to my mind are both listed already: Terminator 2 and Twelve Monkeys, another one would be 'The Sixth Sense'.
Twelve Monkeys is a perfect example where this works out very well in my opinion, whereas in Terminator 2 I thought it was a bit forced in order to make the story end. Glad it didn't work
Oh, don't misunderstand me, Dan. I'm not averse to the 'dark side' at all. I just finished watching The Departed yet again, and almost everybody ends up dead in the end, but it's a masterpiece of a movie, and a brilliant script. And, of course Game Of Thrones is a perfect example of never getting attached to any one character...
What I don't like personally, is if the character's death is done illogically, gratuitously, nonsensically, and/or for shock value alone, or just to follow the latest horror trope. Imh, it needs to work on a level that the movie wouldn't be anywhere near as effective or memorable without that character's death.
Braveheart Titanic The Sixth Sense Gladiator
And numerous other examples wouldn't be half the movies they are or half as memorable without those main character's deaths.
When the death is a victory of sorts I think that's when it's most effective or even where it can change the course of events of a story/plot. Here's an example:
"LA Confidential." Curtis Hanson's retro-noir film about corruption in 1950s Hollywood has three heroes, each with a dark side. One of those heroes, Detective "Trashcan" Jack Vincennes, played by Kevin Spacey, is killed at the hands of the villainous crooked cop Dudley Smith, played by James Cromwell. His dying words, though, send Smith on the wrong track and alert the other heroes as to who the real bad guy is.
What I observed with your plot is that you set up the story along the lines of hero (the chosen one by God) who will save the day i.e., heroic sacrifice, and yet it appears it's all done in vain because this character's death ultimately just becomes one in a sequence of deaths which ultimately ends not only with his demise but with his failure to change the course of evil triumphing. A well worn theme of good v evil but then, he dies, the end.
Now, I could be wrong. This could be the perfect fatalistic ending for your story. The only true way in knowing if it is the best most satisfying outcome, in my opinion, is if in fact your character's death elevates your script, and the only way to know this is to post it up, (or post it out) to get a general consensus.
With anything we write there are going to be disparate viewpoints, you only need post a short on these boards to know that. In the end you are the writer and this is your story but the ending left me feeling the story was incomplete, and the denouement, though potentially visually stunning, a bit of a let down.
This sounds like something that's right up my ally. I am constantly chipped by people who read my writing because I get them to love a character and then they die.
I am Legend. Ladder 49. The Matrix Revolutions. The Green Mile. Elysium. Moulin Rouge. V for Vendetta. Man on Fire. American Sniper. It was more of a TV mini-series rather than a movie, but Joan of Arc. Superman was also killed in "Doomsday".
Sometimes movies need to have a "Real" element to them, the tearjerkers that people adore. Pull them in make them love a character only to have them fail, like life.