Dave Holmberg Sadly, Holmberg does not
remember writing this article. If you want to remind him, e-mail
[email protected].
This article has a surprise ending. While this may be the first
article you have read with a surprise ending, you’ve probably
seen a film with a delightful twist conveniently placed at the
end.
In fact, movies with secret endings like “The Sixth
Sense” and, more recently, “Memento,” are
becoming more common as our attention spans shrink to accommodate a
world composed of sound bites and snippets and other terms that
mean nothing other than “really small.”
The surprise ending has come to represent our current society
and its lack of any long term memory.
For example, imagine your lunch today is a nice, microwave-oven
heated cheeseburger from the local McDonald’s. Now picture it
sitting in the garbage can right outside, half eaten and soggy from
spilled Coke.
Now eat this burger. Yum. For dessert, however, you take a trip
to the nearest Godiva and buy a box of delicious imported truffles.
When asked the next day, “How was your lunch?”
you’ll probably only have a memory of those mouth-watering
chocolates, melting away to please those starved taste buds, and
answer, “Oh, it was wonderful.”
But there was that rotting cheeseburger, too. Obviously it
cannot be ignored, but on the scale of tastiness, the
scrumptiousness of the truffles well outweighs the rancid
burger.
People have extremely short memories, and typically choose to
mask unpleasant experiences with whatever is the best event that
follows.
So what does this have to do with surprise endings? Essentially
the same process is occurring in those films that choose to
capitalize on the failings of human memory.
There have always been films that are notorious for their
surprise endings. There is the now mundane but once stunning Sharon
Stone bisexual surprise at the conclusion of “Basic
Instinct.” And, believe it or not, there was a time before
the second installment in the “Star Wars” series,
“The Empire Strikes Back,” was released when the world
did not know that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father.
Recently, however, films have come to rely solely on their
endings to give them meaning. An excellent example is “The
Usual Suspects.” While walking past this film in the movie
store, most people agree that “Yeah, the movie rocked. I
loved the ending.”
Yes, the ending was surprising and unexpected. But does anyone
remember the rest of the film? It was adequate at best, and
certainly not worth the praise it has received. But no one
remembers the movie, just that final twist that gave relevance to
two hours of otherwise wasted time
Then there is “The Sixth Sense.” Again, it is hard
to argue that the ending was not a terrific turn that gave new
meaning to the entire film. The rest of the film, though, is just
another “Exorcist” knockoff, with spooky acting and a
few special effects to pull it through its numerous lulls. Yet
again, a poor to fair film is turned into a hit because audiences
only remember their last impression.
However, not all films with surprise endings are as worthless as
Bruce Willis’ acting. Films do get made that contain ending
twists that add further weight without serving purely as
gimmicks.
In “Thelma and Louise,” the final car ride into
oblivion is infamous, while it is still supported by an all-around
quality movie. Another is “Fight Club,” which ends with
a brutal knockout punch in the final round of an arduous
battle.
The newest film released to be ranked in this “well-used
and clever ending” category is Christopher Nolan’s
“Memento.” Part of the success of the film arises from
its chronologically-reversed structure, which ultimately means it
has a surprise beginning that is interesting in itself. But it does
not matter where the surprise is placed because the film does not
rely solely on its surprise factor.
The film also toys with the concept of the loss of short-term
memory. The lead character, played effectively by Guy Pearce,
suffers from a condition in which he cannot form new memories. The
last impression he has is of the incident that left him with a
deficient memory.
Surprise endings are evil in their manipulation of the limited
capacity of human brain retention, but those films that have a
solid narrative and interesting story for support are only improved
by the ending.
For your own determination of whether a film has duped or
pleased you, think about the rest of the film. Do you remember how
Han Solo got frozen in carbonite? Can you recall Brad Pitt’s
role in “Thelma and Louise”?
If your answer is “yes,” then the films have left
you with more than a temporary feeling.
Hopefully, you still remember that this article is supposed to
have a surprise ending.
The surprise ending is that there is no surprise. Disappointed?
Hopefully not, because you have learned the danger inherent in
these plot twists. And perhaps you will be left with more than you
started with, and not just a final feeling of bitterness that the
surprise ending is nonexistent.
Ultimately it doesn’t matter, because either way, in a
couple of minutes you will have forgotten about it all anyway.