Open/closed ending narratives

Open/closed ending narratives

Open-ended narrative: The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

An open-ended film is when a film or show ends with no clue as to what will happen next whereas a closed-ending narrative is when a film or a show ends with no confusion and the audience don't have to question what will happen next.

The Dark Knight Rises is an open-ended film, this is due to the fact that it ends with Bane and Talia revealing that there is an armed device due to detonate just before they die. As the film ends like this, it is open for future directors to make a sequel to the film.
This is effective because it means that they can make even more profit from a popular film by making sequels. There are also many other advantages such as the fact that it keeps the audience guessing what will happen next and contains an element of surprise as often in open-ended narratives there are plot twists, take The Dark Knight Rises as an example of this as in the end of the film we find out that a device is about to detonate and therefore batman has not yet saved the day like we thought he had.

Moreover, open-ended films are good for film studios as, if the first film released is popular and generates a large profit for the studio, they will obviously decide to release a sequel or even a series of films which also have a high chance of being very successful and generating the studio even more money which is exactly what they want to achieve by making the film and releasing it for audiences to watch.

Another example of an open-ended film is inception, this is because in the final scene we see the top spinning however we never get to see if it falls over which means we don't find out if Cobb is back in reality or if he is still dreaming. This is a huge mystery for the audience as we want to know what happens next however there was never a sequel made which left questions unanswered for many people which may have left them unsatisfied with the ending.




On the other hand, there are also closed-ending films such as Karate kid which is based on a kid called Dre Parker who moves to China with his mum to start a new life and learns the art of karate, the film is closed-ended as in the end he wins the fight. The advantages of a closed-ending narrative is that the audience don't have to wait to solve a mystery or find out what happens in the next part which is satisfying for many viewers as they are not left questioning what may happen next like they would be with an open-ended film.

Another example of a closed-ending narrative is the majority of the Disney princess films, this is due to the fact that they are directed towards a younger audience of children who would not be interested in "cliffhangers" and therefore a closed-ending narrative would entertain/satisfy them much more due to the fact that most Disney films have a happy ending.