Bad Book Bonfires

A British mother has finally figured out the cause of depression and negativity: it's books with unhappy endings. But a cheery fire will lift our spirits.

Comments

Crazy, and long-term suicide

[freezingweasel]

From the article:

Norwich woman Clare Hughes is spearheading the eastern arm of a new national campaign to put a stop to children's books that don't have a happy ending.
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"Books should give them a sense of good triumphing over evil and let them be rest assured that the goodies will come out on top."
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"It's about encouraging children to read books with positive values. Look at Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, there are some unpleasant characters, but Charlie wins out in the end. That's the type of book we support."

It seems to me the logical result of showing kids nothing but "good always wins" is that they would expect it to happen automatically. It seems forcing kids to read a range of books with a range of positivity of endings would be better, so the kids will learn that good doesn't alway win, that they can't sit back and wait for matters to resolve themselves, a hero will always show up to right the wrong.

From the look of the world today, it seems we've already read far too many happy endings. That said, the primary purpose of most fiction is entertainment, not teaching, and happy endings are more entertaining, but consider that one of the selling points of short-stories (and anime) is that you don't always have happy endings (or when endings are happy, they're not glowingly happy, main characters die etc) giving the reader suspense. If everything is a happy ending, with no tension, what's the purpose in reading good vs evil stories? Comedy may still be worthwhile, as well as most anything from a particularly talented author (some authors have such a great writing style that they can make anything fun to read) but much dramatic fiction would be a shadow if there was no sting to it.

Even Disney stands behind a bit of pain.

Children should be subjected to enough range of endings that they realize that to win, good must not only take a stand, but work hard. At an appropriate age, children should be exposed to books showing how evil operates, but corrupting what is good for its own purposes. The Three Muskateers perhaps, showing how an office of the Church, normally to be trusted is not above taint?

Also important would be a few books that show major conflicts, and why they happen, focusing on the grunts of both sides, doing what they must to "defend themselves from the evil invaders", "wipe out the neighboring trash/infidel" and those at the top waging the war for their own gain, perfectly happy to toss away the lives of their citizens for personal gain. (Gundam perhaps) It's important to realize other nations aren't whole countries full of people with the attitude of the martians in "Mars Attacks" wringing their hands looking to cause trouble. All too often we want to belive that other nations are bad or horrible, but no whole nation on its own devotes itself to an invasion without a serious push, generally of propaganda.

To show nothing but happy endings will produce kids who will be unable to handle the real world. Sure "the perfect consumer" is a great thing now, while we *mostly* have enough jobs to go around, but as more and more jobs are outsourced and living conditions continue to worsen (and adherence to the constitution, suffering greatly of late) we'll realize, probably too late that the "always-feel-good" mantra is a chant to keep us in a happy-not-thinking state, and that we should question the motives of those who tell us in effect "don't worry about it, and no need to read the fine print".

Know what they're reading

[Anonymous Coward]

I did read the first Unfortunate Events book - dang, man, that's depressing!
If reading it to her kids was what sparked the whole thing, I gotta wonder why she didn't at least skim the book _before_ reading it.

Flip side:
I remember being read Jack London's "To Build A Fire" as a kid. There was no upside to that story, and we both shuddered when it finished ... yet it made an impression about realities of life.

Upshot:
Know what the kids are reading. Doesn't all have to be happy endings, and probably shouldn't, but know what it is before they do, and if you don't then don't take it out on society at large.

Hell Yes let's remove all sad endings in kids book

[jameskojiro]

Let's extend it to all other media too, Computer games when you die you should go to fairy unicorn princess land, and all movies should now be made by Disney. Let us wait 20 years and then see what happens when these pampered little sweeties find out that the world is a sucky place that the moon is a harsh mistress. That generation, let's call them "Generation W" for Wussies will drop a collective brick when they find out that life sucks when you get older and out of the parent's house. Meanwhile I will be in my late 40's and I will have some good entertainment when the W generation shits itself.