Open End and Closed End

In a play, in a novel or in a movie there is a narrative structure with three general elements: approach, knot and deanlacement. The latter constitutes the end of the action. However, not all endings seem definitive, because sometimes the viewer or reader does not know with certainty what the true outcome is.

The denomination open ending and closed ending in Spanish is a carbon copy of English, since it comes from two expressions: open ending and closed ending.

When all the ends of the story make full sense at the end

If we take a film as a reference, it has a closed ending when all the elements of the plot and all the unknowns are definitively resolved at the end of the film. In this sense, the viewer knows with absolute certainty how the story has ended.

In the open ending there are questions without answers

This type of ending can seem confusing or seemingly incomplete. However, it is a narrative device with which the viewer is invited to invent his own ending to the story. Some writers use this proposal so that their stories can have new episodes in the future. When a spectator leaves the

movie theater and he does not know very well what the outcome of the film has been, this means that the ending was open and, consequently, some kind of interpretation to clarify the unresolved unknowns.

The important thing is that the ending is good

There are spectators who prefer the closed ending and others opt for the open one. Beyond personal tastes, the most relevant thing is that at the end of the film there is a moment of climax. In the language cinematic climax is the climax of the narration and it is created in the moments before the final moment.

Examples from the history of open-ended cinema

In the movie "Shutter Island" starring Leonardo DiCaprio, the viewer does not know if the main character pretended to be crazy or if he really suffered from a mental disorder.

In the thriller "The Black Swan" the dancer starring Natalie Portman dies in the scene final, but the viewer does not know if his death is real or if it is a hallucination of the character.

In the series "Twin Peaks" directed by David Lynch the final outcome of the story is the subject of debate and on it there are all kinds of interpretations.

Fotolia photos: WoGi / Piyawat

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