Article published In:
Narrative InquiryVol. 24:1 (2014) ► pp.175–180
“Happily ever after”
Are traditional scripts just for fairy tales?
The domination of a happy narrative frame has gradually broadened to include different kinds of endings, but a positive resolution is still often expected. Do narratives need an optimistic ending? Do hopeful endings begin to loose their credibility? Should we buy into the Hollywood scripts presenting an ending that solves or completes the plot by the end of its telling? Endings point to a potential future, and culturally we have been conditioned to write this future optimistically. Not everything ends well, however. Sometimes, things just end. Narrative conclusions can be optimistic and have catharsis, but not end with a “happily ever after” (Purnell, 2013).
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Cited by (3)
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Gonot-Schoupinsky, Freda, Mark Weeks & Jerome Carson
2023. “You can end up in a happy place” (Voyce): a role for positive autoethnography. Mental Health and Social Inclusion 27:4 ► pp. 380 ff.
Soler, Gabriel, David F. Purnell & Daniel W. Clarke
2021. Facing Father Absences and Troubling Memories of Our Fathers. International Review of Qualitative Research 14:3 ► pp. 510 ff.
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