Obsessed with Closure.

If you ever seem to be a sitcom fan and The Big Bang Theory is your favorite because of the lead, Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons); I'm sure you'll be able to relate to this article. Dear readers, today I'm going to talk about The Closure Alternative (Big Bang Season 6- Episode 21) and my inputs on this morbid obsession with closure.

The most amazing writers end their books abruptly; like you're reading and there seems to be no conclusion for what would have happened to the characters? Did they really meet, survive or die? Sometimes we even miss out the chance to know what the author might have thought about the end of the story. With reading, we get more attached to the characters. Somehow, we seem to get more worried when the fictional character is facing a problem and with them, we weave our own version of the story.

People say it's hard to make a movie which is as close as it has been described in the book. Well, I couldn't disagree more because every reader makes his/her own character sketch and it isn't an easy task to put all those sketches in one single character in the movie. However, it's just not books but even movies end abruptly. What is the motive behind this? Why do they make us scratch our heads or leave us in a profound state of curiosity?

Linking it back to my favorite character, Sheldon Cooper (So he's this scientist guy who has his own set of annoying idiosyncrasies. He lives with his roommate Leonard, who has to bear all his tantrums. Sheldon has an obsessive compulsive disorder and the episode I mentioned, he faces a problem where he cannot accept situations which have no closure; like not being able to blow all the candles on a birthday cake, not completing a word in a sentence or not finishing the tic tac toe, not letting the dominos trip, etc.) he goes through the same problem some of us do. 

We get really obsessive about characters and it becomes difficult to watch a movie or read a book with no closure. Recently, I read one of the most beautiful books, The fault in our stars by John Green whose character Hazel Grace goes through the same obsession; so much that she writes fan mails and even goes all the way to Amsterdam just to meet the author and get all her answers.

It's not like people obsessed with closure are facing a psychological threat but somehow, reading takes us to another world. It's a magical palace with a thousand imaginary worlds, of our own. Movies, adapted from books play the same trick. For some, reading might just be a hobby but some really wish to crawl in those books and be a part of it. Like how would it feel to be there with Harry Potter fighting his fight against Lord Voldemort, to get lost in the labyrinth with Alice in Wonderland or to be the Charlie and take a tour in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory!

We've had several movies which end unanticipated and the people who seem to appreciate this style had something else to say. So I asked a friend of mine, Niraj Mulani, to tell me what he felt about closure and he said, 'I think I like it when the author or director leaves the story on a lose end and let's the audience figure out what might have happened because then it let's me be a part of the story and the audience can have their own version as the suspense.' So the director or author plays safe with not disappointing the audience and as well have their own happy ending. 

The truth is we don't really like unfinished things and this closure, we're forgetting how closely it affects us. For years, we've tried to give ourselves the comfort to deal with all the discomforts we find. Dealing with deaths isn't easy, so we came up with funerals as a closure to the dead and the sentiments attached with them. When incongruency took over us, we came up with the comfort of defense mechanisms which could as well be a closure for someone ignoring reality. We need closures in life, to deal with situations, people, relationships and deaths; to realize that something is over and we need to let go maybe because our mind is still stuck in the things we didn't conclude. We need to move past it and realize that no matter how hard it hurt, it's time to take a step ahead then moving backwards. Closure is a healing we all need; those last words said and the last goodbyes- we can't be devoid of the last chance. The closure may or may not meet your expectations but we all seek it to let the old go and say hello to new things.

That reminds me of how Yann Mattel beautifully put it in Life of Pi, 'It's important in life to conclude things properly. Only then can you let go.'

Wishing for Immortality

Immortality is a virtue, only attained by fictional characters. We keep blaming Eve for having the Forbidden fruit, in a hope that we wouldn't have lost our dear ones; we wouldn't have to wake up to obituary columns or terrible accidental deaths. Those nightmares wouldn't come true and the people we lost would still be right beside you. How we wish all this could be more than just words, how I wish immortality could actually be a virtue!

We've dealt with deaths and after-death phase, letting go the attachment and acquainting ourselves to their absence. We smiled in their smiles, cried in their tears, we saw them in our eyes and loved them like they were going to stay around forever and yet one day; they chose to leave. We all knew they might abode their stairway to heaven someday but the day came as a shock.

We know that man is a social animal. We fairly concentrate on the word ‘social’ but we forget that man is an animal and he behaves in a similar manner. We are filled with gushing emotions and we express them deeply. Deaths lead us to pain, shock, agony and the absence of our loved ones drives us crazy. Some face reality and try accepting it, the pain makes them cry but some; they try to be stoical every time, they refuse to show the world they are weak and crying isn't their trait.

But you’re a human animal. You can’t hide your emotions for too long and eventually, you might have a breakdown. You shall express your agony by crying or anger, you shall love people and nevertheless get attached even if you didn't wish to and you will miss them when they’re gone. Attachment to humans or animals is undeniable but what comes aftermath is tough. Feelings rushing down our minds to hearts venting out through our eyes, oh how complex we humans are!

So the people we are so attached to, We can’t have them around forever and years down when they’re breathing their last; every memory with them comes rushing down our mind. From the moment when we met them to the good and bad, to happy and sad and to the fact that whenever you needed them, they were there, right there beside you! The person could be a family member or your adorable pet but the attachment doesn't die. 

Today, they are there in the stars, happily watching us from heavens above while we’re living, without them. We do miss them once in a while and some of us still haven’t got used to their absence. The social quotient makes us love having people around us and their absence makes us cranky, gloomy. And when the absence is permanent, you can’t imagine the shock one can go through. This is when I wish immortality could be a superpower only good souls could have and the ones I love could stay around even today. Sometimes, I feel their presence right beside me. I still have dreams about them, they are on their way home- they do miss me and they are bored of heaven, they are coming back to me. *Alarm rings* For we all know, that’s just a dream.

But then, there’s a reason we are combating mortality. Imagine the population exploding if everyone who took birth would have been alive till now; we could even be in need of another galaxy to suffice ourselves. And capital punishment? We got no right to take away life when we can’t restore it but how would we punish the devils of this society? Also, when people go through a lot of suffering, physically or mentally during any phase of their life, they seek death, or as Hindus call it ‘Moksha’(Salvation).

If Immortality could be bestowed upon us, would we relish each day like our last? Would we appreciate the sole soul of a person or take everyone for granted? Wishing for Immortality, we all do that; but appreciating the short-lived mortals; we ought to learn that!