I always hated the ending of TWoO, ever since I was old enough to watch it all the way through without getting scared of the flying monkeys. Especially since I knew the book’s ending was different.
She's not just a blob of energy, she's also a 14-year-old hormone bomb.
Spike ,'The Killer In Me'
Buffista Movies 7: Brides for 7 Samurai
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Tom Scola - May 25, 2013 7:56:20 am PDT #24517 of 30000
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
Amy - May 25, 2013 8:01:18 am PDT #24518 of 30000
Because books.
Which makes you the exception to the rule of no one complaining about it, I guess.
le nubian - May 25, 2013 8:06:18 am PDT #24519 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
Upon contemplation, I think when the "it is all a dream" is at its most outrage-provoking for me is when the author does not leave sufficient clues or character development to lead to this conclusion. But I suppose that is true for anything I read. I hate when any shit is just dropped on me, seemingly from out of nowhere, if it is a conventional narrative. I hate that about murder mysteries, science fiction, etc. Hell, I lost my shit over deus ex machina in high school, so this is an old issue for me.
Wizard of Oz (the movie), is pretty straightforward with its indicators about WTF is going on. At least for an adult. For a kid, after we are so thoroughly traumatized by flying monkeys, I think we welcome a revelation that none of the shit was real.
Jessica - May 25, 2013 8:06:37 am PDT #24520 of 30000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Yes, obviously I meant the cheapest and most literal possible interpretation of "It was only a dream!" because I just don't know what good writing is. t /eyeroll forever
billytea - May 25, 2013 8:07:53 am PDT #24521 of 30000
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I hate when any shit is just dropped on me, seemingly from out of nowhere
Also remarkably relevant to the Wizard of Oz.
DavidS - May 25, 2013 8:17:49 am PDT #24522 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Also remarkably relevant to the Wizard of Oz.
Ba-dump bump!
I'm with Tom. I've always resented the ending of the movie version of The Wizard of Oz.
Amy - May 25, 2013 8:28:41 am PDT #24523 of 30000
Because books.
I didn't read the book, so I have no idea how it ends. In the movie, I was completely satisfied that Dorothy actually made it home to the people she loved, which was what movie!Dorothy wanted all along.
Even as a kid, I never bought Oz as a particularly plausible reality. It was so different from Kansas that it seemed clear she'd ended somewhere at least sur real.
DavidS - May 25, 2013 8:32:22 am PDT #24524 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
Even as a kid, I never bought Oz as a particularly plausible reality.
It's not particularly plausible (the economy makes no sense!); but it's infinitely preferable to Dustbowl era Depression Kansas in black and white.
Amy - May 25, 2013 8:36:21 am PDT #24525 of 30000
Because books.
Unless all the people you love are there.
I'm sorry you guys felt betrayed by it, but there are generations of people who have loved the movie since childhood, so I think it's probably okay to say to that you're the exception rather than the rule.
Also my earlier point, which was that, at least in this case, based on decades of love for the movie, you can write a cliched trope like "it was all a dream" and make it work if you have the skill.
-t - May 25, 2013 8:44:30 am PDT #24526 of 30000
I am a woman of various inclinations and only some of the time are they to burn everything down in frustration
Jacob's Ladder uses the "it was all a dream" thing pretty effectively, I think.
I think I still have not seen TWoO all the way through. Huh.
I'm with le nubian on twists in general - when they make everything that came before make more sense and everything clicks into place, I love them; when they just show up out of the blue for the sake of being surprising, I hate them.
All categories of twist have been used badly in lazy stories. Extensively.
And there's obviously also "it's a cookbook!"