While some movies have dark or ambiguous endings, and some of them can be truly great, the happy ending is traditionally what we expect from our entertainment. We want our heroes to win, and the characters we’re emotionally invested in to be happy. However, unless a movie gets a sequel, we never really know what happens after the credits roll.
A recent post on Reddit has been getting a lot of attention, which suggests that some movies, while they might have a happy ending, leave things in a place where it’s actually logical to assume things won’t end up as a happily ever after, after all. The OP suggests that repopulating the Earth at the end of Wall-E probably isn’t going to go so well, considering nobody on the spacecraft has any idea how to do it. (I guess a little trial and error never hurt anyone.)
Others chimed in with similar unfortunate situations, including:
- Wizard of Oz , nothing changed because she had a dream, they are still killing Toto - No_Variety9420
- Snowpiercer. They definitely got eaten by that polar bear as soon as the movie ended. - morningnerds
- Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Congratulations Charlie, you now own the largest child endangerment class action lawsuit in the country - Ocounter1
- Back to the Future. George and Lorraine will soon realize that this is not the child they raised. - BitcoinMD
- I mean pretty much the entire class is getting expelled on the spot from the, no doubt very expensive, school the minute Mr Keating leaves the room at the end of Dead Poets Society, right? 🤔 - Academic_Visual116
As somebody whose kids recently watched The Wizard of Oz, I have to say I had exactly the same thought as the comment above, when thinking about the fact that, unlike the original novel, the movie suggests that Dorthey’s experience in Oz is entirely a dream. This means she’s simply returned to the same situation she was in that caused her to run away, and an angry woman has a court order requiring her dog to be put to sleep.
Some of these others are pretty good as well. It’s totally unclear exactly what happened to the other kids in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and while Wonka himself is probably on the hook personally, if Charlie is the owner of the factory, he might be found liable in court. Speaking of the court, I think things might end up being even worse for Mr. Keating in Dead Poets Society. What happens if the parents of Neil think Keating is responsible for their son’s suicide, they could attempt to bring charges against him, and a lawsuit is almost a guarantee.
The Back to the Future comment is a key one as well, as time travel is one of those things that makes less sense the more one thinks about it. And Back to the Future's time travel makes far less sense than some other cinematic examples.
Honestly, this is all very depressing, as the more I think about it, the more I realize that a lot of movies might be darker than intended if you think about what happens next.
