MovieChat Forums > Picnic at Hanging Rock (1979) Discussion > Why does AMBIGUITY bother people so much...

Why does AMBIGUITY bother people so much?


I guess I wouldn't want EVERY movie to be like this, but I actually like movies to be ambiguous, or open to more than one interpretation. It seems to infuriate some people though that everything isn't spelled out for them. OR they become convinced that there is exactly ONE interpretation when it's obvious that's not the case, and try to explain it to everybody. I'm not necessarily saying they're wrong, but maybe there is a reason the filmmaker intentionally left everything so open.

Ambiguity is actually the REAL way of the world. The most powerful things in life--like death--are a completely unresolvable mystery. People can't deal with that though so they either tell themselves childish, self-serving religious fairy tales (that seem to involve them personally getting on Jesus' guest list), or they resort to totally rational reductionist atheism. I wish more people could accept MYSTERY and trust that things are just far greater than we are capable of understanding. There is actually solace in that.

This is just a very beautiful movie. It reminds me of the famous line from John Keats that "Truth is beauty and beauty truth. That is all you know on earth and all you need to know".

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Ambiguity is actually the REAL way of the world. The most powerful things in life--like death--are a completely unresolvable mystery. People can't deal with that...


Agreed, 100%. And I think some of my favourite movies, such as this one, are in fact my favourites because I appreciate how introspective and brave they are for not only being savvy to that truth, but for boldly offering it to the audience with not so much as a hint of resolution, in the typical sense.

And I realize this probably sounds totally pretentious (but whatever), but I feel like people who are frustrated by this film's lack of explanation don't really get it. By the time it ends, this movie isn't about the missing girls. The plot doesn't really matter. It's the themes, it's the atmosphere, it's the general feeling of the film - that's the point. If you're trying to find a standard narrative in here, you're missing the point.

Like you said, many find solace in this melancholic perspective. It might sound strange to some for a movie with such uncertainty and potentially tragic elements to bring comfort, but for me, it does. It's cathartic, as are films like this one.

Granted, some movies do use ambiguity as a cop out because they can't come up with a resolution that works. But I think the difference is when ambiguity isn't used for its own sake. In the case of Picnic at Hanging Rock, you'll notice that the story itself is always secondary. Upon a second viewing, it's very clear that the film was never intended to have a neat little conclusion.

Anyway, this has been a rambley response, but I just finished the book and my mind's still working on. Bottom line, I agree with you.

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I think we are now living in an age where everything is spoon-fed to people.

We want instant gratification and have no patience for anything else. You want the answer to a question? You don't have to wait until you can get to a library to look it up in an encyclopaedia, you just hop on the internet and there it is. We expect immediacy constantly, and become frustrated when we don't get it.

In addition, the world we live in gives us access to entertainment 24/7 - we no longer have to entertain ourselves and imagination seems to be a dying art.

When you see a film like PAHR, you have to just sit and absorb. Let it flow over you and yes, think for yourself a bit. It's not a roller-coaster, thrill-a-minute ride. It's subtle and beautiful and most importantly haunting.

It's the ambiguity that leaves us with that haunted feeling. Because it's not clear-cut, we must go away, let it play on our minds and be almost disturbed by it.

The ambiguity adds to the story and it's what makes the film stay with us long after we've seen the last frame.



So put some spice in my sauce, honey in my tea, an ace up my sleeve and a slinkyplanb

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I think don't think it's necessarily ambiguity as much as it is confusion on whether they feel like they are missing something or not.

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It's just human nature to not like what we can't explain, and some people deal with that better than others. Some people look at the world from an empirical standpoint because they like to have conceivable answers in front of them in order to make sense of things, while others are more comfortable with the alternative. I've always had a more mystical view of the world in general, so ambiguity like this is always a point of interest for me when it comes up in a work of art. Joan Lindsay's novel is probably my favorite book of all time. I really think it just comes down to what type of person you are-- it's a personality thing.

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I see no point at all to inventing a fictional mystery that doesn't have an explanation. people disappearing and not being found happens in real life often enough, but in fiction i see no sense in it at all.

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We do.

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good for you.

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People falsely assume that ambiguity in a story=laziness in an author. I've seen people who say that an ambiguous ending is a sign that the author doesn't know how to end a story so they just give up. But I personally disagree. I like a bit of mystery in stories because they allow you to use your imagination. Being an imaginative person myself that excites me. I can see how it could irritate people without good imaginations.

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I agree, but reign it in some. A lot of the time it gives the impression they couldn't finish the story properly so they thought they would get away with being "cryptic."

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I like some ambiguity in a story, but there is a difference between ambiguity and just hanging the reader/viewer out to dry.

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Agreed.

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What a bunch of pretentious a-holes in this thread! What ambiguity? The story seems to work towards some kind of resolution, but we don't even get a theory!

FYI, originally the author DID write an explanation that solved the mystery, but I guess the publisher thought it was too lame and decided no explanation would be better.

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