Ideas about endings

By Mark David  

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Ideas about endings

Let me say it upfront: As writer's we all want endings to resonate. Today I sit here with a pad and pen, tracing out 6 books with an idea of an ending that I want to resonate. I have 6 elements to play with and this has lead me to other endings and ideas, ideas that are best shared.

2001

I've always been an admirer of Stanley Kubrick's 2001. Especially for the ending, which takes the viewer into realms of reality-imagination never seen on screen before. Or since. Life. The Universe. This is why 2001 is commonly regarded as the greatest movie of all time. Why? Because it forces us to reflect. Deeply.

What was a tale of survival becomes a philosophic-abstract treatise on creation and mankind in the universe. It the ending that lifts the film from leading edge entertainment to the sublime - because it is Avantgarde and it challenges our own views of what the film was about.

'At Jupiter, Bowman leaves Discovery One in an EVA pod and finds a monolith in orbit around the planet. Approaching it, the pod is suddenly pulled into a tunnel of colored light, and a disoriented and terrified Bowman finds himself racing at great speed across vast distances of space, viewing bizarre cosmological phenomena and strange alien landscapes of unusual colors...'

Berlin Alexanderplatz

Similarly, though I have not seen the West-German TV series Berlin Alexanderplatz - the description of it's epilogue here turns the tables on the whole work, all X episodes.

'It is a film about the power of words to read an individual wrong. The power of words to bind individuals together - out of loneliness. Driven from one confinement to another our protagonist is doomed by others and his inability to articulate him self.'

Epilogue — My Dream of Franz Biberkopf's Dream

'With a nod perhaps to the "Nighttown" sequence of Joyce's Ulysses, Fassbinder breaks through the naturalism of the previous 13 chapters into a metaphysical-allegorical dream world. Its nearest cinematic equivalents are the circus sequences in Lola Montes (reiterating in symbolic form the "real" events we see in Lola's flashbacks) or the moment we pass through the Star Gate in Kubrick's 2001 and what had been up to that point a somewhat linear narrative turns abstract and avant-garde.'

'You are becoming Biberkopf and at the same time the torturing insanity because Biberkopf appears to you as deserving his fate, his insanity, hence your scourges and your violence. It is amazing at this moment to see how Fassbinder manages to make you be a double voyeur and transport you both into Biberkopf himself who cannot rebel in spite of you inhabiting him with the justification to rebel, and thus into the torturing insanity to punish him for not rebelling or to incite him to rebel.'

Back to 2001 

At the very end of 2001 Dave is old and is reincarnated as the star child, an ode to the universality of life in the Universe. I will leave it to others to construct the premise. Hint: It is cosmological. 

At the very simplest of levels, it is a testimony to the power of revelation. In 2001 the revelation is that life is cyclical, not linear. As when man realized the earth was flat. It was round. By realizing it was round, he was able to journey in ways he had never before dreamed of. That is the sort of resonance I can only dream of: That humanity has ended it's first evolutionary step and is ready to begin it's next one, ready to grow and evolve.

The ending of 2001 will always be a source of debate as younger generations discover this masterpiece.

I will leave you with some takes on the meaning behind 2001:

'Dave (old) is near death. In front of him monolith shows up. The monolith is some kind of step to a higher evolution level made by aliens. So then he is reincarnated in advanced spirit and new body form, a child, which could be a metaphor for purity, harmony and love. And now he watches the earth, actually means he is among us, still having a bond with humanity.'

'As Dave stays trapped in his really human friendly alien ZOO cage the aliens keep contacting him with the monolith when Dave learns everything about the univers except one thing and that is there is no gods only the aliens being the most powerful beings in the universe. As Dave learns this last thing he points at the monolith "aliens" accepting them as the most powerful beings in the universe and know he knows everything about the universe he turns into an immortal being and aliens send him back to earth so they can make humans evolve faster with the help of Immortal Dave.'

'Goddamn it ... this fucking movie says about evolution ... first we came from water right? then we became monkeys then our atmosphere was the vaccum at the age, then we discovered a THIRD atmsphere, in that case, the space. So this star baby is looking to the earth, the same way we look to the ocean .. we know we came from there, but we will never be able to return. GOT IT stupid?'

'I discovered this movie as a sophomore in college back in 1985...I didn;t understand it then....have seen it countless times since then...still don't understand it.'

'This Kubrick quote may put things in perspective: Extraterrestrials may have progressed from biological species, which are fragile shells for the mind at best, into immortal machine entities and then, over innumerable eons, they could emerge from the chrysalis of matter transformed into beings of pure energy and spirit. Their potentialities would be limitless and their intelligence ungraspable by humans. These beings would be gods to the billions of less advanced races in the universe, just as man would appear a god to an ant.'

Premise Nailed

By Mark David  

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Premise revisited

I have discussed premise before, without arriving at any consensus. These communities can be used for something really at the very core of writing really meaningful stories that move and enthral us. This is my motivating factor as a writer. 

I have previously stated: 

'Somewhere along the line, we have to say stop and figure out what it is we are doing. That is when we have to discover the premise, so we appreciate what the story is essentially about and how it can end (Enders-first not included).'

I have always had the feeling that premise lies at the very heart of creating a great work of fiction, whether it is a book or a film. The media are different, yet the device I feel is the same. I knew it had something to do with showing human quality. Defining just what that was is not easy.

To illustrate this, I have spent time looking for an example that encapsulates what it is I have been feeling I know is the key to great fiction writing - so I can learn from it and apply this recognition to turn my fiction into something it aspires to be. Great. Cutting Edge.

My mission in this post is to define PREMISE once and for all - by illustration

We can say that the 'core' of the meaningful story – contains the motivating force. The genetic material for the tree: The seed, from which a novel will grow with a trunk (storyline), branches (subplots), flowers (generate ideas) and bear fruit (prove its point).

This is exactly what the De Niro character does in the example I was looking for. It is a line from a film by a great instructor with the best actors and cinephotographers in the business.

'A guy told me one time. Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner.' 

HEAT

This line is the best one I have found that illustrates what PREMISE is all about.

The premise is attached to the main character played by Robert De Niro. He, through the choices he is confronted with, fails to live up to his own mantra, sealing his fate. It is a tragic premise, preaching destruction. Mantra, because these words are a sacred utterance, a profound statement of being and a prediction of what will happen to those who do not listen to their inner voices and abide by it. It is a deep and fascinating premise. It was what HEAT is all about and why I think this one of the best crime-robbery movies ever made.

'If we want our stories to create resonance with the reader, we have to believe whole-heartedly in the premise. It doesn't have to be the only truth there is, but a possible — a likely truth that we can out out hearts into. That core of meaning  - this what a strong premise provides.' (from a post on G+)

The premise is based on character. De Niro is faced with the choice of starting a new life with the young woman he has come to love, or exact revenge on him who has been the cause of the events that has lead him to his current predicament. It is a battle between belief and circumstance not of his own choosing. 

When he comes face to face with his opposite, the counterpoint, the meeting is defined by the premise in the film.

The premise in HEAT is imbued with overtones of existence and fate and the choices we face when the going gets tough, placing us in situations we have no control over and have not chosen to be placed within. To rise above circumstance and walk the right path to a 'better destiny' than the one he is currently headed towards. It is universal and I'm sure rereading will show other examples from cultures all around the world.

The premise drives the entire movie and it can be defined as: 

Emotion is greater than reason (for the antagonist)

Even when the stakes are at their greatest. This is the story and character premise is in its purest form. It is embodied in the antagonist, the antithesis of the protagaonist (Al Pacino) who follows his motivation to hunt at the expense of his emotional life. The protagonist does not conform to premise and this is what sets him apart as being the antithesis of the crime running forwards in story.

The differences between them men and their motivation is brought to fruition in the climax of the film that follows the events, placing the Protagonist in a situation where his fate is decided: Life. Destruction. Order. Chaos. The premise drives the antagonist, and the entire story, though they could each have their own premise. 

As far as I am concerned, this understanding nails premise once and for all.