Happily ever afters, man.
I wouldn't even know where to start talking about what I think about the way (love) stories "should" end. I feel as though I'd be talking about all of me and all of Story and all of love. Because clearly I want them-- I could even say I need them, am addicted. But there's a personal definition at work there, as much as or more so than the more general one you'd assume.
I've been watching/reading an insane amount of Buffy/Spike last few days (whom most people would agree aren't "supposed" to have a happy ending-- whatever that means). I've been drowning in it and not coming up for air. I've literally done nothing else. Can't. Obsessed. Not 'cause I've read so much angst and need a happy ending-- just because their dynamic kind of enthralls me. And I can't even blame the porn. 'Cause nice as it is, het just doesn't do anything for me, thrill-wise.
The ever-present question: do I want them to settle down and get a dog & a baby & keep some swords and stakes in the closet? Or in other words, do I think of romantic(!) love as ideally permanent, exclusive, stable? (Short answer: No, but....)
Longass answer: I think love lasts as long as the lover contains the memory of it within them-- all love. But that's not the question, is it. It's a thorny question. I personally don't exactly write happy endings. I write (generally) ambiguously (to varying degrees) positive endings. I like the sensation of hope, of endless possibility at the end of a fic. I like thinking that anything can happen, and yes, I like thinking that this "thing" will be generally-- good. And my idea of "the good" is usually for people to act on their love. So there's prolly be a good long stretch of future that involves much the same things that were in the past-- a continuing process. Life.
I don't see why people think that after a certain point, life and what made it -good- has to change. It's like, you fall in love, and suddenly you're a different person who wants different things? Well, probably, to some extent. But even so-- that's the temporary-glitch aspect of romantic entanglements, isn't it. That's why people break up-- because they can't do it-- can't -be- it anymore. Hopefully, they could just not even begin it, and continue doing what works. (For Buffy&Spike, "what works" isn't as easy to figure out as it could be, but that's what makes it interesting, isn't it.)
This is why, by the way, I can't stand a lot of post-Hogwarts H/D. They settle down, get jobs, move in together (just add babies...). Please! I mean. They'd kill each other. I'd kill myself having to watch them. Some cows will fly, etc. Does that mean I think they can't exist outside of that one venue of fight-snark-duel-fuck that worked in school? No. I just wish someone would imagine a future that's -them- rather than being all about some Christian Midwesterners.
It's complicated. Endings don't exist in real life, and I wouldn't want them to. I don't like the hemmed in entrapment of it-- I don't like the idea of "this is it-- game over". Love doesn't gave a -goal-. Life in general has no goal that I can see beyond the living of it with passion. Everything kind of goes up and down and around-- as long as one isn't dead, anything can happen. I like that about life, and about stories. So how could I say I want any favorite couple to have a "happy ending", when I don't want them to end at all?
I'm obsessed with beginnings-- with openings. I think I latch on to the idea that some stories contain this germ of -something- that just -has- to bear fruit-- I just want to see that seed grow. I want to get the chance to see what develops when you give things a chance, when you don't ruin them prematurely. I think a lot of times people don't get the chance to be their best selves, and they never try again. I'm not sure if they always should, because one definitely learns from one's mistakes and that's all part of the process of living. One makes mistakes, incorporates some lessons from the experience, moves on to hopefully not screw up exactly the same way next time. Gets ready for another beginning.
Because that's what I think love can be, what life should be-- a series of beginnings. Entwined with endings, true, but it's the prospect of new beginnings that makes life -happy- for me. It's the sense of openness, the source of endless dreams. A "happy ending" for me is all about that -sensation-. Feeling oneself become open to the future, facing it without fear. At the end, the character falls in love with their own future. That's what I want. Isn't that what everyone wants, really, whether or not they'd call it a "happy ending"?
So back to mistakes and giving things a chance.
( Because I can never stop while I'm ahead, really. Also, still have to tie this all to fanfiction and the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. )
I wouldn't even know where to start talking about what I think about the way (love) stories "should" end. I feel as though I'd be talking about all of me and all of Story and all of love. Because clearly I want them-- I could even say I need them, am addicted. But there's a personal definition at work there, as much as or more so than the more general one you'd assume.
I've been watching/reading an insane amount of Buffy/Spike last few days (whom most people would agree aren't "supposed" to have a happy ending-- whatever that means). I've been drowning in it and not coming up for air. I've literally done nothing else. Can't. Obsessed. Not 'cause I've read so much angst and need a happy ending-- just because their dynamic kind of enthralls me. And I can't even blame the porn. 'Cause nice as it is, het just doesn't do anything for me, thrill-wise.
The ever-present question: do I want them to settle down and get a dog & a baby & keep some swords and stakes in the closet? Or in other words, do I think of romantic(!) love as ideally permanent, exclusive, stable? (Short answer: No, but....)
Longass answer: I think love lasts as long as the lover contains the memory of it within them-- all love. But that's not the question, is it. It's a thorny question. I personally don't exactly write happy endings. I write (generally) ambiguously (to varying degrees) positive endings. I like the sensation of hope, of endless possibility at the end of a fic. I like thinking that anything can happen, and yes, I like thinking that this "thing" will be generally-- good. And my idea of "the good" is usually for people to act on their love. So there's prolly be a good long stretch of future that involves much the same things that were in the past-- a continuing process. Life.
I don't see why people think that after a certain point, life and what made it -good- has to change. It's like, you fall in love, and suddenly you're a different person who wants different things? Well, probably, to some extent. But even so-- that's the temporary-glitch aspect of romantic entanglements, isn't it. That's why people break up-- because they can't do it-- can't -be- it anymore. Hopefully, they could just not even begin it, and continue doing what works. (For Buffy&Spike, "what works" isn't as easy to figure out as it could be, but that's what makes it interesting, isn't it.)
This is why, by the way, I can't stand a lot of post-Hogwarts H/D. They settle down, get jobs, move in together (just add babies...). Please! I mean. They'd kill each other. I'd kill myself having to watch them. Some cows will fly, etc. Does that mean I think they can't exist outside of that one venue of fight-snark-duel-fuck that worked in school? No. I just wish someone would imagine a future that's -them- rather than being all about some Christian Midwesterners.
It's complicated. Endings don't exist in real life, and I wouldn't want them to. I don't like the hemmed in entrapment of it-- I don't like the idea of "this is it-- game over". Love doesn't gave a -goal-. Life in general has no goal that I can see beyond the living of it with passion. Everything kind of goes up and down and around-- as long as one isn't dead, anything can happen. I like that about life, and about stories. So how could I say I want any favorite couple to have a "happy ending", when I don't want them to end at all?
I'm obsessed with beginnings-- with openings. I think I latch on to the idea that some stories contain this germ of -something- that just -has- to bear fruit-- I just want to see that seed grow. I want to get the chance to see what develops when you give things a chance, when you don't ruin them prematurely. I think a lot of times people don't get the chance to be their best selves, and they never try again. I'm not sure if they always should, because one definitely learns from one's mistakes and that's all part of the process of living. One makes mistakes, incorporates some lessons from the experience, moves on to hopefully not screw up exactly the same way next time. Gets ready for another beginning.
Because that's what I think love can be, what life should be-- a series of beginnings. Entwined with endings, true, but it's the prospect of new beginnings that makes life -happy- for me. It's the sense of openness, the source of endless dreams. A "happy ending" for me is all about that -sensation-. Feeling oneself become open to the future, facing it without fear. At the end, the character falls in love with their own future. That's what I want. Isn't that what everyone wants, really, whether or not they'd call it a "happy ending"?
So back to mistakes and giving things a chance.
( Because I can never stop while I'm ahead, really. Also, still have to tie this all to fanfiction and the meaning of life, the universe, and everything. )
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