A Brief Rant on Bookending Paragraphs

So, you know how many of those biopic films have a bunch of paragraphs and still images at the end which say “such and such spent the rest of time in Arkansas and is the most respected person in [insert Communist/third-world country]”.

Yeah, something like this.

They’ve shown up in films such as Bohemian Rhapsody, JFK, Rocketman and Boy Erased, and guess what? I hate them.

One of the most intrinsic rules of screenwriting is “show, don’t tell” – use visual ques to tell your story instead of just talking directly to the audience and narrating. Some movies do this brilliantly, such as The Dark Knight’s opening scene, which sets up perfectly the psychopathic, yet terrifyingly clever, character of the Joker. Others fail at this, such as 2017’s The Mummy, which spends 10 minutes at the start narrating the plot to you, then repeats that exact same story to you later in the film, as though you forgot the really simple backstory of a demonic Egyptian princess.

I find the paragraphs at the end of biopics which tell us all about how this person was happy for the rest of their lives have not only forgotten the “show, don’t tell rule”, but completely broken the immersion of the film. Not only are we subject to just reading bland information off a black screen from iMovie, but we have spent the entire film with these characters getting to know them and love them, before having the rug pulled out from underneath and not even getting to see how they end up where they are. I find it infuriating.

A great example of this is Rocketman, an otherwise really well-made film, which before the bookending paragraph has a scene where Elton John, having just recovered from his vices, sings his song “I’m Still Standing”. That is the perfect way to end the movie, a character having overcome his obstacles and shown us he still lives having learned from his past to remain positive. But then the paragraph comes in, and boringly tells him he’s living his best life, he found a partner, just spelt out in paragraphs for us to read instead of experience. It’s a real mood killer.

Could've ended like this...

...But they chose this. I don't know why.

And it’s not even limited to the end of the film. The Strangers, a divisive 2008 horror film from Bryan Bertino, actually starts with a 2-minute dramatically narrated paragraph trying to set up the pretension it’s a true story, when we know it isn’t, and the narration is just wasting time in an otherwise strongly made movie. Blade Runner, widely considered one of the best films ever, has a solid minute of opening crawl setting up the world without any music or development, but all of the information within could easily have been slipped into dialogue/context clues into the opening scene. In fact, the first 3 minutes of Blade Runner could be shaved off and I would appreciate the film much more.

One example of how to do a biopic without an ending/beginning paragraph is First Man, which in my opinion is one of the most original films I’ve ever seen in terms of filmmaking style. First Man doesn’t have an ending paragraph, but instead just ends with the hint of Neil Armstrong overcoming his grief and social problems, leaving the audience satisfied without boring them. It’s powerful and doesn’t try to promote the legend of Armstrong, but treats him like a regular joe.

Another great one is BlacKkKlansman, which chooses to whiplash the audience to the confronting imagery of how this historical event actually changed nothing. It doesn’t spell it out in a paragraph, but brutally cuts to imagery of modern day atrocities to show just how this stuff impacted, how it is not above the rest of us like a normal end-of-film paragraph would suggest.

In short? If you have to put an actual essay paragraph at the beginning or the end of the film, you’re doing something wrong. The fact that movies like Vice have started mocking you for using that trope is a pretty clear signal you need to go back to the drawing board. And it’s not like you lose money by suddenly not having an ending paragraph, so why don’t you not?

This is how we should react to all movies with an ending paragraph.

Anyway, what is your opinion on the matter? Leave your answer in the comments below.