The Problem With Codas
Lately the movie making machine, particularly in the summer and usually with the large blockbusters, has been inserting short scenes at the end of films. These codas, as they are called, are sometimes nods to the hardcore audience (comic book geeks) and at other times are plot elements thrown at the very end. Either way, they require the audience to have fore-knowledge of the existence of the scenes so that one has to stay behind to partake of it. This usually translates to the fact that, unless informed prior to the viewing, most audience members miss the scene as they all file out after the credits.
Ever since a few summers ago codas have become all the rage. Last summer, a time I like to term as the "summer of sequels", every single feature and blockbuster was stuck with a nice little coda at the end. The ending to the overblown and overproduced Pirates movie had a coda stuck in..jpg)
So too did the last X-Men and the second Fantastic Four. Yeah, I actually find it hard to think of a comic book movie in a while that has not used a coda. They primarily show up in Marvel movies too. You know, the badly directed and acted Marvel movies. Bryan Singer never dumped a coda at the end of his X-Men movies. Christopher Nolan never felt the need to throw in an extra scene when Batman Begins' credits rolled up. I think this is a sign of a good director and a coda itself is a cop-out, a way to throw in that extra scene you love or a way to bring about proper conclusion without being held to the flame. The fact that Xavier has not died and that the Silver Surfer has survived Galactus are important plot points. Will they get rehashed when the next sequel comes out? Or are the audience members expected to go back and re-watch those movies and wait for the ending. Will the new Iron Man movie have something to do with the Avengers? In that case, will we be re-treated to that final scene or are we supposed to guess it happened? These are the many unresolved questions a coda brings, a scene itself trying to bring resolution. Moreover, codas extend outside the superhero/action universe and this summer one got stuck at the end of Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay. At the very end Neil Patrick Harris manages to survive his encounter with a shotgun. Unless one was informed of this scene, in a genre not known for having codas, it would be rather easy to miss. "Oh yeah", an audience member says, "that was after the movie got over!" Right there, the movie is over and by and large the credits don't count as the movie. When they start to roll it is time to file out.
Which brings us to a bigger question, who stays to watch the entire credits?! That is a five minute long marquee of names and unless I know someone in there it makes little sense for me to watch it. The problem is that now, thanks to a slew of moviemakers inserting stuff at the very, very end, I have to sit through this gigantically long marquee. Some directors are smart, they throw on these scenes right after the "fancy" credits, but before the boring long line of names and departments. And thank god right? I mean I just spent an hour and a half to two hours watching your movie, the least you can do is honor what time I have to spare and show me that little bit at the end. A common statement is "This is for the geeks!".jpg)
Geeks support your movie by paying a ticket for it, not seeing all the hundreds of people who participated in it. If you want to do something for me, again, honor my time! Let me see that final scene with Nick Fury and Stark, so that I don't walk out of the theatre unbeknownst that it has happened.
So how can this be solved? Simply, throw a hint up when the credits start to roll that there will be a final scene. Thus, I don't need to scour the Internet for small nuggets of truth and have to be prepared for your movie when I walk in. This isn't class, there shouldn't be any required reading before I see your movie. However, I truly feel that this style should be done away with entirely. Are those scenes useless or irrelevant to your movie? In that case, throw them on a DVD and let us all move on. Are they important? In that case learn how to edit your movie properly and place them within that context. Yet, if you can't do either of that at least warn us when we are missing some vitally important scene by not staying for a marquee of names.
