Aurora Harkelroad: "Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: This is the Only Ending I Can Remember"

Dear Vina Jie-Min Prasad: This Is the Only Ending I Can Remember

by Aurora Harkelroad

I've always found endings almost impossible to remember. I'm not sure if it's how my reading speed increases as I near the end, anxious to find out what happens. I'm not sure if it was just a bad ending. I'm not sure if I just got bored or disappointed before I finished it and dropped the book entirely. Probably a combination of those three. However, the endings that stuck the landing and are still held dear to my heart, managed to leave me with a surprised feeling, regardless of whether I remember it or not.

It's that feeling you get when you've run out of pocket change for coffee but someone else felt motivated enough to pay it forward that day. Or even more unexpected when someone gets the wrong coffee, and offers it to you, discovering that it's not exactly what you wanted, but what you needed for the day. The strife thrust upon you by the story is suddenly warped into pleasant surprise, without loss of the weight of the mood. It's alchemy at its finest, turning tragedy into bliss. And the reader doesn't want more answers, they want more of the world you made.

Spirited Away, one of my beloved childhood films, was one of the stories that for a long time I never knew the ending to. As most small children do, watching a favorite film becomes a daily ritual, and part of that ritual was falling asleep before the movie ended. Eventually, VHS tapes were no longer a thing, and I lost my copy of Spirited Away (yes, I had it on VHS, can I join the old person club yet?). It bothered me years later to not remember the name, but fortunately a friend re-introduced me to the film and everything came back to me. Except the ending. After re-watching, the ending itself is very apparent from the beginning. However, every other thread in the plot that tied so neatly  in with the primary thread were less so. Every character found resolve through helping Chihiro find a solution to her problem, combining everything together into a neat package as her resolve was found.

So many unexpected places of closure were found for every character in another's doing. Haku's entire story thread line as a mysterious helper character was brought to the forefront through his connection to Chihiro, tears and everything. I won't spoil if you haven't watched it already. But fair warning: the closure granted by Spirited Away makes people seek more of the same universe, so prepare to fall in love with this film. Brilliant aesthetics and character development aside, it's the unexpected victories that add a spark of magic to the story, much like the unexpected victories in our own lives. Other Studio Ghibli films have the same effect, lending its reputation of leaving audiences dumbstruck with the warm fuzzies. Occasionally, Diana Wynne Jones’ novels have a similar device of sudden combined resolves, although she makes use of Chekhov's Gun rather than taking an entirely different subplot. While unexpected threads coming together can make the world feel complete again, it's entirely different from Chekhov's Gun, and tends to give a vibe of greater emotional impact.  

Left looking for the sudden serendipitous moments in my day that determine the direction I go in with a slight aftertaste of whimsy in the back of my mind, it's nice to think every once in a while things will work out despite all odds.