Things That Annoy Me

The movie Arlington Road has perhaps the most unsatisfying ending ever. I saw it in 1999, and it still annoys the crap out of me.

A close second? 12 Monkeys. All that buildup, and I’m not sure how to interpret the ending. Argh!

Maybe I’m peculiar this way, but when I invest 2 hours of time in a movie, I like to see an ending that feels rewarding in some way. It doesn’t have to be a happy ending per se, and it’s also not much fun if the ending is totally predictable. It just has to be a satisfying resolution to the buildup of the last 90-120 minutes.

Like The Usual Suspects. Best ending ever.

Umm…what do best/worst movie endings have to do with music?

Well, have you ever wondered why music can engender strong emotional reactions in us? Why we like some music and not others? Why some performances have an emotional impact, and others don’t?

Researchers in cognitive science and music psychology have wondered the same thing, and there may be lessons to be learned from storytelling and filmmaking, that can help us elicit a stronger emotional reaction from our audiences as well.

Babies and patterns

From the moment you were born, you began organizing your experiences into templates (or “schemas”) about how the world works. You began identifying patterns, and using your growing understanding about these to predict the future.

As in, hmm…when I whimper, a soft cuddly creature who smells nice comes and pays attention to me. When I cry, things kick up a notch and I get pampered with food, clean diapers, and bouncy rides. And when I scream, it seems to be the same drill as crying, except I get faster service.

Over time, as we accumulate more experiences and conduct more tests of the world around us, we become increasingly sophistica...

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...ading them down the path you want them to take, knowing exactly what they are likely to predict, and then subtly (or not so subtly) delighting them with a surprise that only you knew was coming?

Totally unrelated, but I’m curious and on the lookout for a good movie to watch (hmm…is that abuse of the blog?). What are your picks for movies with best/worst endings ever? Share below…

Additional reading

Read about the study here: Why Music Makes Our Brain Sing

Check out the audio clips subjects listened to, and how they ended up ranking in terms of popularity (#1 is definitely more appealing than #60, but there’s something entertaining about #60 too…): Audio clips from music reward value study

Lady Gaga totally gets it: Lady Gaga interview with The Telegraph

And for fans of Lost and J.J. Abrams, check out his terrific TED talk, which gets at this from another angle.