Are humans particularly fond of tragedies?

Landslides are all but rare in my country, and they seem to affect exclusively the poorer regions showing no compassion for those who already struggle to make a living. I'm used to this already: every year, during the rainy season, scores of people die because the hills are treacherous and nature isn't forgiving to those who insist to dwell where the scenery must change. Last year, however, I heard the most heart-breaking story ever reported about a person who died after the landslides. Somewhere in Belo Horizonte, a man and his only son perished during the storm. Hours later, the authorities gave the news to the man's wife: As soon as she learned about the demise of her whole family, she had a heart attack and died as well. So, of all stories ever broadcast, that one stood out as the most miserable history of how a survivor dealt with a catastrophe. And I've never been able to forget it.

It seems sad endings are particularly fascinating to humans, no matter if they're fictional or not... and I imagined everybody loved them, except for valley girls, hippie mums, and valley hippies. Think of Shakespeare's most famous story. Goethe's. Kafka's. Does the first Greek myth that comes to your mind involve incest and patricide? I figured as much.

I know I'm a sucker for drama, and since I mentioned Kafka, let it be known that he once said that if reading a book didn't feel like taking a punch, then it was not worth reading (see next link). And, though not all my favourite films end bad, they involve a good deal of anguish and despair until the end. And I've always taken this obsession for granted... until, that is, a mate told me he liked his books like he enjoys his massages, and I thought that was well weird because the books he reads are usually so bland... but they make him feel good in the end, and are angst-proof. For some reason, I can't take these books seriously, because true art is angsty. Right?

What do you think? Do you like sad stories? Why (not)?

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Happy endings are a figment of hollywood's imagination.

I'm all for happy endings as long as we get to see them shag.

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the ending should make sense regardless of feeling

quote:

Originally posted by trancypantzzz the ending should make sense regardless of feeling

I'm taking this for granted.

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I liked the end of Cloverfield cause they all died.

Same with Miracle Mile (which Cloverfield drew lots of inspiration from).

Also any movie where the bad guy wins.... Cause I mean seriously... When the bad guy wins there is going to be an awesome fucking explosion or something usually. Who doesn't want to see that?

I think tragedy is more poignant, and long-lasting.

as humans we encounter more tragedy in our lives than joy, so tragedy becomes immediately more relateable-- most people don't experience joy very often, and most people experience tragedy and mourning fairly often.

even the more meaningful positive stuff wears off pretty quickly. we get the ideological 'positive-side' of everything in most story-telling, so it loses its meaning to an extent..

Its lovely seeing random people being 'happy forever' (even if the story is brilliantly written and realistically achieved), but its just a story that most people will fail to really identify with (even people who are living happily)-- it's not at all universifiable...

compare that to tragedy: Everybody experiences death, horror, pain... etc
bad shit is universal: Everybody comes across it, and everybody is forced to deal with it in their life, the brilliant exploration of this kind of tragedy through media can really change our life, make us think differently about how we act when the bad shit does go down, and because of that, i think it's always more lasting and important for people.

also: People are just fucked up, and like to see other's suffering more than other's pleasure

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even though i love evil to triumph i still liked it when vader and raist sacrificed themselves for the good of others.

Some people, and I am one of them, hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm.

/Nabokov

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I don't think humans like sad endings any more than happy endings. Look at the list of highest grossing films of all time or the best selling books and count how many had sad endings.

True art is only angsty because it aspires to more than mere escapism.

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Titanic only became a happy ending when the old lady - one of the last survivors! - died at the end. Kind of an interesting twist to the whole sad-vs-happy ending debate, ch'think?

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Serious reply maybe coming later, for now let me just say that being angsty is imho just a cheap way to appear artsy.

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