Essay: Is There Such a Thing as Too Many Happy Endings?

It's true that most fairy tales end with good triumphing over evil and the hero or heroine getting their happily ever after. However, I feel like every story in the Japanese Fairy Tale unit ended on a positive note (except for the very last story and the ending of that one was almost tragic enough to make up for all the other happy endings). It's not that bad things don't happen in these stories. In one, a man's wife is killed and then fed to him. In another, a husband allows his wife to be killed and then starves their son. While there is no shortage of fairy tale tragedy, the endings see basically every problem solved or wrong righted or desire met. Nearly every story ended by saying, "So the main person was very happy and lived the rest of his/her life getting everything he/she ever desired until he/she died a peaceful death."

Now, I'm all for happy endings and justice being served, but I feel like these stories ended in unrealistically positive manners, even for fairy tales. This could be a conscious convention of Japanese fairy tales. Perhaps it is a universal rule that good always triumph over evil, no matter what, and that good people are heavily rewarded. It's an admirable endeavor. Too often in today's movies and TV shows do we see perpetrators of crime and evil go unpunished or even rewarded. I have often found myself rooting for people who would normally be labeled "bad guys" simply because they are presented as the "hero." Do we root for bank robbers or car thieves in the real world? Most likely, no. But do we cheer for Vin Diesel and his crew in the Fast and Furious franchise or Danny Ocean and his in the Ocean's Trilogy? Of course we do (if you have watched these series, at least). So I can understand not wanting to glorify being a villain or being a bad person.

However, I feel like the endings to most of these tales were just too happy. Nobody really get everything they ever wanted and live their lives as happy as possible. People go through good periods and bad periods in their lives; that's just life. I especially feel like some of the characters would have had a hard time living such happy lives considering the tragedies that befell them during the story, like the guy who unknowingly ate his wife or the son whose father killed his mother and then starved him. People in the real world tend to continue to deal with the emotional effects from tragic events for a long time after they happen. More importantly, in the real world sometimes the good guy looses and the bad guy gets away with it. Good things don't always happen to good people. Justice isn't always served. Maybe I'm just thinking or asking too much of fairy tales, but this is my opinion.

Super positive quote
(Flickr)