Stories are written with a definitive beginning/middle/end. We want to know the whole thing, we want to feel the outcome, to hear that settling and confirming last note. Some of the most controversial episodes of Law & Order were the ones where you didn’t know the verdict at the end. Like listening to a scale and not hearing the final note we are left uneasy without closure. We want to know how it ends.
Unfortunately stories select the narratives they want to present in order to provide us that. It’s not that the events or real life are like that, they are presented that way because that’s what we want. So the villain either hides behind a white hat or wears the black hat boldly, good triumphs unless it’s a tragedy, the roles are clearly defined unless is “literature” and if it doesn’t have drama of some kind it’s not worth bothering with. You don’t see an action here who is happily married. They’ve tried to make a few of those shows in the past few years and they all get pulled immediately. There’s no drama there. We like our heroes single and broken and standing alone against the odds. We don’t want to explore how amazing it would be if they were up to the challenge of being in relationship. We don’t want them to have an equal, they are unequalled.
So we don’t see what happens next. We don’t see relationships that succeed unless they are a trope of the old married couple who are cardboard set pieces. We don’t see the rape survivor that becomes a thriver who reclaims their life and becomes whole again. Where’s the drama in that? We don’t see the rebuilding of New York after it’s destroyed in every alien invasion, cataclysm, apocalypse that has ever been. Who wants to see that? Unless it’s an advertisement for patriotism. Again, the drama is the thing…
We’re fooled with smoke and mirrors, fed bread and circuses, all to keep our attention. Don’t get me wrong, I love me some stories as much as the next person. Maybe more. My undergrad is in English Lit. I made the spare bedroom in to a library. No lie. But what fascinates me the most is what happens after the story ends. What happens after the rape and the revenge and the journey to redemption. What did they choose to make of their lives which has nothing to do with the labels the story tried to give them? What do they choose to do after the bankruptcy? Or the storm? Or the layoff, betrayal, failure, retirement, car accident, cancer, bullying, friend’s suicide, death of a loved one…. I want to know what’s next. Because that’s the good stuff. The drama is just the beginning…