The ending why oh why?! (spoiler)
I'd like an ending in which the protagonist doesn't get away and things go back to "normal".
I am the Alpha and the Omoxus. The Omoxus and the Omega
Wicker Man
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MovieChat Forums > The Giver (2014) Discussion > The ending why oh why?! (spoiler)
Brazil
shareOr where the bad guy (guess that would be Meryl Streep) is proven to be correct and society descends into violence, rape, murder and war because the memories were returned.
I mean, the whole point of this society is that the elders know how dangerous humanity can be so they encourage sameness. Is it too much to ask that they are proven right once in a while?
We have colour, love, individuality and diversity.......everything is beautiful and.......oh sh!t, my children have just been raped and now I'm being stabbed by a junkie......whoops, guess those elders had a point.
They lived in a society where infanticide and killing the elderly who get to a certain age was seen as a good thing and where people are forced to follow authority exactly even though the authority don't know anything more than anyone else. This is a case of the blind leading the blind through centuries of unchanging behaviour.
Bob
A_Bob^
Exactly.
I can't believe someone would want this totalitarian society with its lack of choice -- even lack of color, no wildlife, fake trees, lack of privacy, forced daily vaccinations to mute their very humanity, etc. -- and their sterilized murder, to 'win' as opposed to a society with color, freedom of choice, individuality, passion, creativity, etc.
If people want to be sheeple or eloi, so be it. That can be *their* choice. But don't force that on me or mine.
Heck, those types of people might as well be trees or rocks, to choose that type of existence, IMHO.
Evil was not wiped out in that society. It was just repackaged & disguised.
"Much communication in a motion, without conversation or a notion"
But it was okay for Jonas to choose to break the Sameness? He forced that break on people, they didn't have a choice.
shareThey never had any choice in much of anything they did. Think of it as removing someone from a cult. They may not want to do it at first, but it in their best interest to get them out.
Bob
I mean, the whole point of this society is that the elders know how dangerous humanity can be so they encourage sameness. Is it too much to ask that they are proven right once in a while?
Just go move to a totalitarian country and see how right they are.
When the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?
-Benjamin Francis Leftwich share
They lived in a society where infanticide and killing the elderly who get to a certain age was seen as a good thing
Exactly. So when the memories return, these people will suddenly be overcome with remorse and guilt. Traumatised by what they've done. Part of the disaster Streep's character predicted. Hence, she would be proved right.
Just go move to a totalitarian country and see how right they are.
Non-totalitarian societies ain't exactly paradise either. That's the point, regaining the memories won't just show them about love and individuality, it will also show them the horrible consequences of giving up their sameness. It would be nice if a movie occasionally, paid attention to that (hence, it would be nice for the nay-sayers in movies to be proven right once in a while). share
The Elders CREATED that potential disaster in the first place!
Jonas saw all the pain and misery of the past already. He knows that human beings are flawed creatures but they are capable of so much more than their failures if only they were given the CHOICE and shown only SHOWN-and not forced-the way.
When the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?
-Benjamin Francis Leftwich
"So when the memories return, these people will suddenly be overcome with remorse and guilt."
Good. They will then get over that remorse and guilt and be able to build a better society where life is treated with the utmost respect. This will only be a short-lived disaster. In the long run, they will changed for the better, as the third book affirms.
Bob
...Why?
When the stars are the only things we share
Will you be there?
-Benjamin Francis Leftwich
It's funny....I thought the ending of the book was too sad for a YA book. But this Hollywood happy ending is so cheesy and such a copout
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Now I'm curious about the ending in the book, because it felt to me that he died at the end of the movie, even though logic would dictate that they made it across the border. Just didn't feel realistic that the sled and the house would be there, exactly like in a memory from who knows how many generations ago. But the memories could only be released if they made it, and this only happened after they found the sled, so...
shareInteresting take!
Read the last page of the book and I'm sure you will find it even sadder.
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