I hate when any shit is just dropped on me, seemingly from out of nowhere
Also remarkably relevant to the Wizard of Oz.
Simon: I, uh... I never-never shot anyone before. Book: I was there, son. I'm fair sure you haven't shot anyone yet.
'War Stories'
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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.
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!"
Atropa - May 25, 2013 9:28:35 am PDT #24527 of 30000
The artist formerly associated with cupcakes.
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.
I am still traumatized that I don't have my own flying monkeys.
erikaj - May 25, 2013 9:44:12 am PDT #24528 of 30000
Always Anti-fascist!
The guys that write the screenwriting blogs that I read(mostly the Bitter Screenwriter, who I think can't use his name because he still reads scripts for a studio) says, although he list several movies where dreams have been used effectively, overall, he wouldn't suggest that, because it allows writers to fool with introducing twists that they don't have to commit to, because it's not real life.
le nubian - May 25, 2013 10:14:43 am PDT #24529 of 30000
"And to be clear, I am the hell. And the high water."
I am still traumatized that I don't have my own flying monkeys.
what would you do with flying monkeys? Are we safe?
Kate P. - May 25, 2013 11:23:08 am PDT #24530 of 30000
That's the pain / That cuts a straight line down through the heart / We call it love
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.
Ding ding ding! Which is to say, yes, I think that's the most important aspect of whether or not a twist works.