Happily Ever After?

…and they all lived happily ever after. This is an ideal Americans are socialized to expect if not in their own lives, in the movies we watch. We go to the movies for an escape from reality. Often times our own lives are too stressful and we need to enter an alternate reality, where indeed everyone lives “happily ever after”. I find that European movies, including the Spanish movies I have seen while in Spain are more true to life. The characters and the plots don’t always end up just as the audience would expect or prefer. This past week I was fortunate enough to attend a Movie and Tapas night at school. We watched “Los Dias de Futbol”. I absolutely loved it! This wasn’t the most realistic movie of all times. It was a hilarious comedy, and so of course had some exaggerated characters and situations. However, at the end of the movie my friends and I were left disappointed when one of the main characters, Jorge, stays with girlfriend Violeta- who turned down his proposal and cheated on him! I have noticed this slight let down with characters or plot several times when watching European movies. Some of “the knots” are left untied or the ending is slightly different then the audience would have “liked”. To American audiences this can be unsettling at first. I am growing to appreciate these types of movies, because they really are more representative of real people and real life. Is it really necessary for everyone to “live happily ever after”? For me, the unexpected or slightly “unhappy” ending for some characters does not take away at all from the quality of the movie.