@colormewind replied to your post “i keep seeing posts about how tragedy is lame/dumb/boring and how the...”
Hey, I think you’re bringing up a great point about well-written tragedies, but I also think there’s more nuance to this kind of attitude. For example, I work in the conflict resolution field. I deal with people’s lived tragedies almost every day. For those of us who deal in difficult work, a happy ending is what keeps us going. Tragedy, even well written kinds, can make people feel hopeless outside of the art itself.
For those who are poc/lgbtqa+/disabled, popular media doesn't often give their representations happy ending. For those groups, works with happy endings are subversive and hopeful. At the end of the day, you're right and it is a personal preference.
But when I’m pouring over radio transcripts and survivor reports of the Rwandan genocide all day, I want a happy ending, just once.
So I’d like to start by saying that I absolutely support you and that I hope you have lots of fiction with happy endings to read. Lots of people dislike tragedies, for a variety of reasons, many of which are deeply personal. The OP was a vent post because I’m a single-fandom blog for a tragedy and I got annoyed when I saw posts about how tragedy is Inherently Boring; I didn’t expect it to blow up three months after making it and would’ve been clearer and less generalizing in the post if I did. I’m sorry if it hurt you.
But.. I really don’t like the way you’re making assumptions. I have dealt with difficult work before. I am LGBT+ and disabled. The more awful, difficult things I deal with in real life, the more desperately I want to see those experiences reflected in fiction. Tragedies are what keep me going, they don’t make me feel hopeless, and I suspect that saying “but wait! i don’t find happy endings subversive and hopeful!” will not actually make me more functional in everyday life or prevent people from oppressing me. I should not have to disclose my life history in order to have it respected. I think it’s a good idea in general, when talking about how X Group Perceives Something, to always keep in mind that x group might be in your audience.
There’s a quote I heard once, that when reading stories, some people search for mirrors and others search for windows. I struggle sometimes with keeping in mind that my experiences aren’t universal, but I think that’s true of all of us: no experience is ever universal.
