The Power of Our Stories
I recently stumbled across this powerful quote by Orson Welles: “If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story.” So many examples of this came to my mind. That same weekend I’d been to the theater and saw Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.” At the end of the first act it’s all Fairy Tale Happy Endings, but in the second act we learn that Cinderella’s prince is pining over Sleeping Beauty, and Rapunzel’s suffering from post-partum depression after having twins and her prince has his eye on this beautiful girl in a glass coffin guarded by dwarves. So, you see, once again it depends on where you stop your story. I’m one of those people who doesn’t skip to the back of the book…