Happy-ending movies are an intellectual interest of Lindsay Doran, a movie producer of much experience. In recent years she has lectured thoughtfully about the psychology of such movies. A Wikipedia article about Doran's career includes the following passages:
Lindsay Doran (c. 1949) is an American film producer and studio executive ...
Much of Doran's family has worked in the Hollywood film industry. She was born to D. A. Doran, a 55-year-old veteran Hollywood executive producer. Her mother, Marion Avery, began her career in film as a script typewriter for Preston Sturges before marrying D.A., and later became head of the play department at Columbia Pictures. Doran also has a brother, Daniel, a publicist whose work includes the 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
She recalled, "[Film] was all around me and what I saw was people who loved it and people who did not have to compromise who they were to be successful in the movie business." D.A. used to provide his daughter with screenplays and short stories, asking her opinion on whether they could be adapted into good films.
Doran moved to State College, Pennsylvania, where she worked for seven years with public television, first as a secretary and later as a producer and writer. .... She worked at the Screen Actors Guild ...
She soon received another job at Hollywood studio Avco Embassy Pictures, working her way up. When Doran was approximately thirty-years old, she became an executive at Embassy. There, she worked on comedy films directed by Rob Reiner, including This Is Spinal Tap and The Sure Thing.
In 1985, she became the vice president of production for Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. Her early work as a studio executive at Paramount saw her supervising five films simultaneously. .... There, she oversaw the development of Ghost, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, The Naked Gun, Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off, among other films. She developed the script for the 1991 film Dead Again ...
In 1989, Doran became a producer at Mirage Enterprises .... She found that in contrast to being a studio executive, the role of a producer required that she "initiate everything" rather than receive calls from others. She commented, "But in the end that's what I prefer because I can work closely on the script and be in the editing room if that's what it requires. You can supervise every aspect of it."
One of her first tasks in her new role was attending a company retreat to brainstorm new projects. Doran suggested Sense and Sensibility to the studio, her favorite book. After the film Dead Again had wrapped, she successfully persuaded Thompson to adapt it to film.
In 1996, Doran was hired as the new president and chief operating officer of small studio United Artists. .... Other films Doran oversaw included Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Ronin, and The Thomas Crown Affair.
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In the following video, Doran shares her thoughts about movies with happy endings. Her primary example in her lecture is Dirty Dancing.
Doran's explanation of such happy endings is based on the teachings of psychologist Martin E. P. Seligman, whose major book is titled Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being. Seligman teaches that a person is able to "flourish" into a state of happiness and well-being by assembling five building blocks:
1) Positive Emotion
2) Engagement
3) Relationships
4) Meaning
5) Accomplishment
These same building blocks -- explains Doran -- are assembled at the end of a movie with an effective happy ending, such as Dirty Dancing. The audience vicariously enjoys watching Baby "flourish" -- the word used by Doran and Seligman. As Dirty Dancing ends (in my own words) ....
1) Baby is emotionally happy in the moment.The audience vicariously enjoys Baby's "flourishing" and experiences the story's happy ending.
2) Baby is engaged in social interactions. On a low level, she is participating in the talent show. At the highest level, she aspires to improve the entire world.
3) Baby has repaired her damaged relationships -- especially with her father and with Johnny Castle.
4) Baby feels that her life has meaning. Johnny has publicly praised her wisdom and helpfulness.
5) Baby has accomplished an amazing dance performance.
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I would like to offer another element of the movie's happy ending that was not mentioned by Doran in her lecture.
The ending is happy because Baby's situation turned suddenly from sad to happy when Johnny came into the ballroom. I think that almost all happy endings involve an unexpected improvement of fortune. I think that happy endings improve the audience's optimism about their own fortunes.
The following video explains Seligman's teachings about "learned optimism".
All viewers of Dirty Dancing who have enjoyed watching Baby get some unexpected good luck can feel optimistic that they themselves might get some unexpected good luck in their own lives.
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See my subsequent article The Psychology of the Movie's Denouement.
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