Open Endings in Entertainment

There will be spoilers for each of the productions I discuss. There will be a header for each production so you can skip over what you don’t want spoiled.

The Last of Us

I’ll go a little more in depth into this than I will for the rest of the productions I’ll talk about because I am most familiar with this title.

The ending of the last of us is one of my favorite videogame endings. This is probably influenced by the fact that it is my favorite story out of all the videogames I’ve played, but nonetheless it has a great open ending.

After a long, intense journey Ellie and Joel make it to the Fireflies. Because Ellie is immune to the fungi that have created the apocalyptic world they are in the Fireflies see her as a hope to create a cure. The only way to obtain what they need from to possibly create a cure is to perform a procedure that would result in Ellie’s death. Joel finds this out and decides that he is not going to let that happen. Joel already lost his biological daughter and under no circumstances is he going to allow that to happen to someone he has grown to view as a daughter. Joel saves her, eliminating any possibility for a cure (which would have been impossible to mass produce and distribute given the circumstances), and starts heading to his brother’s community.

When Ellie wakes up from anesthesia Joel lies and tells Ellie that the Fireflies stopped looking for a cure. When they get to the outskirts Ellie stops and tells Joel to swear that what he said about the Fireflies was true. Joel does and Ellie replies with “Okay.” Credits start rolling.

The way Ellie looks and sounds when she says “Okay” communicates that she doesn’t really buy into the lie. It is left open for the player to decide how she really feels and what happens after the events of the game. The game is not wrapped up neatly with a happily ever after bow, though it could if you imagine what happens after the events of the game is not influenced by Joel’s lie.

The ending makes the player think about Joel’s motives for saving Ellie and lying to her, and about Ellie’s motives for wanting to die for the possibility for a cure and her response to Joel’s lie. The player’s perception of their relationship is strengthened when they have to consider all these things in order to have closure on the journey that they just played through.

Here’s how I interpret the ending: Ellie was only willing to die for a potential cure because of survivors guilt. Her friend Riley died and Ellie never fully came to terms with it. She saw dying for a noble cause as a way to escape her survivors guilt though she didn’t realize that is what she was feeling. Joel decided that his relationship with Ellie was more important to him than potentially finding a cure. He loved her to much and was not willing to take a risk like that. He also didn’t see humanity as worth saving at that point. When Ellie says “Okay” to Joel’s lie I think she knew he was lying but fully understood why he lied. She trusted his decision to save her more than her decision to die for cure. I think they went on to live in Joel’s brother’s community but that at times Joel’s lie would affect both Ellie and Joel and create tension between them. I picture Ellie growing up to be similar to Joel yet being haunted by the fact that her chance at escaping her survivors guilt was taken from her.

Birdman

I’ve only watched this movie once so this section will be brief.

Only in recent years have I started watching and appreciating drama movies. Birdman is one that I enjoyed very much and the ending had me thinking for a while.

After trying to revitalize his acting career through a Broadway play, Riggan Thomson decides that he will make the performance of a lifetime by actually committing suicide in a scene where his character is supposed to do so. He fails and ends up maiming himself by shooting his nose off. We see him in the hospital where his daughter comes to visit him. She leaves the room briefly and it is implied that Riggan decides to jump out the window. When his daughter comes back in she sees that the window is open. She rushes toward and looks down and doesn’t see a body. She shifts her glance upwards and smiles with a little chuckle.

If you’ve seen the movie then you know that Riggan is the only one who sees his alter ego, Birdman. In the end his daughter sees Birdman. She sees her father the same way he sees himself. It is a positive shift in how she sees him. Whether Riggan actually jumped to his death is left ambiguous; it’s up to the audience to decide. I like this alot because what you believe happened to Riggan depends on how you view him, how you interpret his character and the the things he does, and what you think is going on in his head when he’s not speaking.

I haven’t decided what I think happened to Riggan but I’ve thought about it long and hard. I’d like to think that he’s alive and has a better relationship with his daughter now that she sees him in a positive light, but I don’t see that as very realistic based on what happened on screen. I think that believing he’s dead would be of more significance in the long run because he would be elevated as an actor based on the circumstances of his death and events leading up to it. I imagine I will be able to firmly decide my interpretation after I watch the movie one or two more times.

Gone Girl

To talk about the ending of this movie without explaining everything prior would be difficult. For the sake of time I will assume that whoever reads this has seen the movie.

I’ve seen this movie twice and was uncomfortable with the ending both times. That’s not to say I thought it was bad; I rather enjoyed the ending because it was able to make me uncomfortable. I’m not sure there is another ending that would be as strong.

Amy Dunne goes missing so her husband, Nick Dunne, starts looking for her. Police are involved, there are press events, everyone is looking for her. What everyone doesn’t know is that Amy orchestrated the whole thing to test/punish Nick. In the end Amy returns to Nick after having manipulated and killed her ex as a way to hide the fact that she orchestrated her “disappearance.” Nick, his sister, the lead investigator, and Nick’s attorney know the truth but because of the circumstances can’t do anything to reveal it.

The movie ends with Nick and Amy staying together because Amy is pregnant. Nick would be hated by everyone if he left his pregnant wife who was just “kidnapped and abused.” Nick and Amy are both messed up people and Amy most certainly has a psychological illness. The fact that they stay together in the end is what makes me uncomfortable. Nick is unwilling to sacrifice his reputation to get away from Amy and Amy is psychologically abusing Nick through what is basically blackmail and coercion.

The ending is unsettling because there is no justice or revelation of truth to please the audience. Few movies that I’ve seen have ended in such an unsettling way and that is why I feel strongly about the ending of Gone Girl. I’m not sure what message or question Fincher, the director, is trying to convey through the ending. Maybe something to do with why people stay in or get out of unhappy/unhealthy relationships. Maybe something to do gender roles and expectations in relationships. What ever it is I’ll be looking for it next time I watch Gone Girl.

There are a few more open ended movies (and possibly videogames) I have in mind to write about. I might add to this page in the future.