Cliffhanger endings: Love them or hate them?
The “cliffhanger” is one of those beautiful terms of fiction whose meaning was initially literal. Supposedly, the word dates back to the 1870s, when a serialized novel novel by Thomas Hardy ended one of its chapters with its hero hanging off a cliff. Would he survive? You had to buy the next chapter to find out.
The early days of movies continued in that tradition with serials of their own, 12 or 14-part films that were released one week at a time. Each individual chapter left the audience wondering whether Pauline would fall to her doom, or if Batman would escape some dastardly death trap sprung by the serial’s masked villain.
Most feature films in the decades since ended in more conclusive fashion, but in recent years cliffhanger endings have seen a bit of a revival, as massive franchises and cinematic universes have created an environment where it’s good business to keep viewers wondering what will happen next. Sometimes that strategy really pays off; a great cliffhanger ending is about as good a way to get people into a movie theater as exists in cinema.
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