10 Harsh Realities That Completely Ruin Classic Film Happy Endings
This is heavy.
Everyone loves a happy ending, but while audiences marvel at a nicely packaged cheerful full-stop, or bawl their eyes out at a heart-jerker, they should be considering what comes next, after the good times end and the dust settles.
Because sometimes a happy ending hides a multitude of consequences, and if you think beyond the reaches of the film, they probably aren't as happy as you might originally believe. Sometimes there's a sting in the tail, and a harsh reality just around the corner to burst even the happiest of bubbles. And that's what we're here to discuss.
These are logical extrapolations of the truth we've taken the facts shown in the movie, and explored what probably happened after the cameras stopped rolling. Behold, the life-ruining realisations that spoiled some of Hollywood's classic happy endings...
10. Back To The Future - Libyans Never Forget
The Happy Ending
Marty gets back to the future after having carefully navigated the murky waters of incest with his attractive young mother, and having basically messed up the entire timeline in ways he will never be held accountable for, only to see Doc Brown cruelly gunned down by an enraged group of Libyan terrorists.
But what's this? Doc isn't dead, having prepared himself with a bullet-proof vest, since terrorists never shoot for the head. He's alive and well, and the Libyans are killed. Everyone is happy, and Marty goes back to his newly rich home, where the guy who tried to rape his mom is the handyman, and where he somehow has to learn everything about his own life, without coming across as an escaped mental patient.
The Harsh Reality
Terrorism doesn't just disappear, and the consequences of leaving a group of dead terrorists in a carpark will be far reaching. That could be in terms of the Libyans themselves, who wouldn't simply give up pursuing Doc, or his known associates, or it could come from the US government, who would probably find out about the dead Libyan terrorists with giant guns, and quickly follow the trail first to Doc, and then to Marty when it is discovered that Brown has disappeared into thin air.
So basically, Marty either ends up a hostage to terrorists, or arrested for links to terrorism and harbouring a fugitive. Bright future, indeed.