Can we at least agree that whether the ending is happy, sad, or bittersweet, it has to at least feel EARNED? That's where media has been fucking it up lately; they just go for the tragic gut shot for shock value instead of necessarily following narrative threads.

Ben dying, as a concept? Shockingly, I'm not against it. I'm not even against how it happened, at its core (i.e. Ben giving his life to save Rey). But there was no conclusion to the family drama OR his redemption arc, and there was no closure via Force ghost or mourning.

'Knives Out' had an element of tragedy: Harlan died for nothing. He should have been alive and happy at the end. He wasn't, but because justice was served and his wishes carried out, it ends up being a happy ending for Marta, and every ounce of it, for every character, is earned.

Or Vasya in Winternight: she goes through HELL. She loses so much and is put through trial after trial. She's with those she loves best at the end of the story, and she survives. She earns her happy ending. But she's allowed to mourn and feel the weight of the cost.

Don't make me care about fucking characters and story if you're not going to give weight to a tragic end and incorporate catharsis. You're looking at 2500 years of storytelling rules on that one, and it's endured for a goddamn reason.

By the same token, if you're going to give a character a happy ending, make them earn it. Make them go through trials and face challenges and weigh decisions to arrive at a point where reaching the elixir at the end of the journey feels like a just reward.

"This is a harsh ending because life is harsh" is the type of edgelord nihilism in storytelling that American culture is getting way too enamored with and it can fuck right off. We sneer at sincerity and gloat at suffering. Hopeful stories are damn near subversive in this climate

Anyway I'm going to keep writing stories where the characters suffer a lot but get to have something for it at the end and defending Hallmark movies and romance novels as valuable escapism (and I don't even partake of either of them myself). The end.