Resolve – (1) settle or find a solution to (a problem, dispute, or contentious matter).
(2) decide firmly on a course of action.
Music resolve – Resolution in western tonal music theory is the move of a note or chord from dissonance (an unstable sound) to a consonance (a more final or stable sounding one).
I’ve been thinking of late what makes a satisfying ending. Having watched both The finale of The Big Bang Theory and the closing chapter of A Game of Thrones, as well as listening to the dissatisfaction (as well as some satisfaction) across the landscape, I’ve let my mind play back to some of the most popular films, music and television shows over the years and wondered why they were just that; so popular.
Games of Thrones divided its fan base in a decisive manner by making choices that a large part of the audience disagreed with; strongly. There were lots of reasons but the main one, I think, was because there wasn’t an inherent satisfaction to the ending. A resolve, if you will. In some storylines there really wasn’t a conclusion. Now a lot of people like the ambiguous ending, the unrequited cliffhanger, the conclusion that really doesn’t conclude. But given the ending of Thrones and many other films when the audience screams ‘I want my ending!’ I think what they’re really saying is give me a real ending to the beginning and middle that you have built up. Give me the full arc of the hero’s journey. Bring Odysseus Home. Give me resolve.
Many ambiguous endings are like a lot of music, with minor or dissonant chords that go on and on and don’t ever break but simply linger. But we want our crescendos, don’t we? We want the fanfare that builds to something (thank you, John Williams), otherwise, why lead us along the expectant path in the first place? There’s a reason Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite is so enduring with its soaring ending that keeps building and then comes to a glorious crescendo. Elgar’s Nimrod from Enigma Variations also has a slow climb that ascends to a heightened ending and is completely satisfying. And for my money one of the true, yearning music resolves of the last few decades is near the end of Braveheart where William Wallace is being tortured and James Horner’s beautiful score builds and builds…and builds…until Wallace cries out ‘Freedom!’ and then climaxes in a completely triumphant theme that carries us above Wallace’s suffering and into his reason for living. For such a brutal scene it’s a profoundly uplifting one.
Even in the world of art, paintings have stories. Some are hard to understand, to be sure. And being a great appreciator but not an aficionado, I’m going to go out on a limb and say there is a reason that some of our artworks have a timelessness to them (and I would say that just because we create something it isn’t necessarily art. Self-expression, sure. But I believe true art has a timelessness to it. But that’s another blog). Let’s take Norman Rockwell, for instance (no, you take him! I can hear someone yelling from the cheap seats). Considered a modest illustrator of magazine covers for many years, his paintings steadily grew in popularity until he gained international renown. No easy feat, that. His images come at us through paint and canvas, taking us into the story and we react emotionally. And with Rockwell, we understand the story because we’ve lived it. And most of the time we find great satisfaction because even in his singular images there is a conclusion. And whether we like to admit it or not, there’s something in us that needs that conclusion. We really do yearn for it. Just like we do in our everyday lives. We need work frustrations, relationships and dreams to have a resolution. It’s part of the human adventure.
So, the next time you catch a showing of ET and the moment comes where Elliot and ET have to say farewell and the alien curls his arms around the boy’s small shoulders and you choke up, it’s for good reason. Sad though it may be, we need that ending. We need to be able to say goodbye. We need the resolve.