why happy endings (was Disney and *Aida*)

[Rosemary]

Ebony wrote:
> Kids like happy endings.  They protested at the end... called the characters
> stupid (what does a ten-year old know about "love unto death" and beyond the
> grave?  Heck, what do any of us know?  I'm not sure *I'd* do it!)... and
> proposed at least a dozen ways "happily ever after" could have been
> achieved.
> 
> Which makes me think of something else.  Why is "happily ever after" so
> important to us?  Is it because of the uncertainties of our own lives that
> we want a sure thing when we read?   

	Good question, Ebony, and something I wanted to respond to  sooner only
real life got in the way...
 
	Tragedies warn the mighty that they may be brought low. Happy endings
tell the powerless that they may be lifted up. This is why they appeal
so strongly to children and teenagers,  and why they are appropriate to
tales of enchantment, which recapitulate the transformation of the child
into an adult.
	The enchanted worlds of fantasy  allow us to re-experience as adults
something we all experienced as children. We were all born into a
strange world, ruled by forces beyond our comprehension and inhabited by
huge and powerful creatures, some benevolent, others not. We all
discovered in ourselves powers we never knew we had.  We all confront
evil: the evil enchanters and ogres symbolize our own greedy appetites,
which we must overcome if we are to leave the narcissistic world of
childhood and  gain the power to love as an adult which is represented
by the union of the Prince and Princess. 
	
Pippin