A prejudice that I have

I have noticed within myself a certain prejudice that sometimes prevents me from fully enjoying otherwise great experiences. When I tell you what it is, you may not think it is important. But, it does have an impact on my life. When reading a book or watching a movie I strongly dislike it when that part of the story ends on a cliffhanger.

In my mind, each individual component (book or movie) should be a complete story on its own with a satisfying climax and resolution to all the important story points. I understand that due to timing constraints it is not realistic to have everything the author intends to say done in such a fashion and I do not mind that longer story arcs are broken down into smaller segments.

It just bothers me when the main focus of the story is not completed within one book or when a movie ends in the middle of a tense scene. Take the Matrix series, for example. Taken individually, each movie is great. There's plenty of eye candy everywhere, explosions and other special effects, attractive people and martial arts galore. The music is great. The plot is engaging and the philosophical aspects are just wow. But the second movie ends right in the middle of a tense scene and I hated it. All my friends love all three movies. But I just have not been able to get past the ramping up that the movie does only to end with a ...to be continued.

When the second movie came out, I knew it was part of a trilogy. I knew the whole story would not be told by the end of the second movie. But, a part of me always expects to have a complete tale told in each movie and to have all the movies tie together to tell a bigger complete story altogether.

Now in contrast let's look at the Lord of the Rings movies. Each one has all of the same things that make the Matrix series great. They have dazzling special effects,gorgeous scenery, attractive charismatic characters, great plot and music. Each series tells two totally different stories, but the formula for their success is very similar. There is a ...to be continued in the Lord of the Rings as well. But it is right after a major battle and there is a natural breaking point where there is nothing "important" going on.

When I was a teenager I had a habit of going to the library and checking out two or three dozen sword and sorcery novels at a time. Many of them were books that were part of a series. Sometimes I ended up reading them out of order because I was unable to find book one or book three. I disliked not knowing what was going on because important elements to understanding what was going on in the book I was reading were in a previous book. I think this is where my idea that a single book or movie should be a complete story and that further books in the series should just be a continuation of said story. I have almost always been dissatisfied when a story is not self contained so to speak. 

One problem that I have with looking at things this way, is that expecting things to be a specific way is another way of saying that you assume they will be that way. One of the main rules that I run my life by is to not make assumptions. Invariably, once one makes assumptions and begins acting on them negative things follow.

The other problem with seeing things this way is that there is a preconceived notion that is stealing my enjoyment of otherwise great content.

It is my intention to enjoy every movie I watch and every book I read. If I am not going to enjoy a movie or book, then the time, energy and money that went into making that viewing or reading happen are all wasted. I do not enjoy wasting my time. So I will instead put energy into removing this prejudice as it does not serve me in any useful fashion.