Conflict

I learned a lot of things in school that I didn't believe, or didn't want to believe. One of those things was that all stories have to have conflict and resolution. I was taught that there are different types of conflict: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. self, etc. After comparing that to all the stories I had ever heard or read or had seen in movies or tv, I realized it was the truth. There has to be conflict to make a story good. Or, at least, there always is.

Even in music, there has to be conflict and resolution. Harmonically speaking, a song that never used conflict would be only one chord the whole time. The melody would have to stay on one note. And the rhythm would need to stay constant and steady. There are no songs like this for one reason: that would stink. No one would listen to a song like that. Even atonal music, which is sometimes made only of conflict, provides some sort of resolution at the end of every single piece, even if that's only silence at the end.

But I really want to not accept this. I don't generally like conflict. I think that's the point. People don't like conflict, so they like to see it resolved. That's why stories are so appealing. But I don't like the creation of conflict in the first place. But on the one hand, I don't like to hear about conflict, but on the other hand, stories would be worthless without it. So what would conflictless stories look like?

Star Wars
There is no empire. The republic runs the galaxy. Han Solo and Leia fall in love and live happily ever after. Luke gets really good at flying spacecraft and using his lightsaber for games. There's no need for storm troopers and everyone has droids that do all their work. All people sit around and are happy.

The Bible (I'm not trying to say it's fiction, but it is a great story)
Adam and Eve never eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They always worship and bring all glory to God. Satan doesn't exist. Sin and death never entered the world. There is no need for Jesus. Adam and Eve never had kids. They stayed in the Garden of Eden forever and were very happy to have each other and God.

Hansel and Gretel
They go on a walk through the woods. They don't get lost. They live happily ever after.

Jaws
There is no shark, the beach is fun. And no one gets sunburned.

CSI
No one died. Everyone gets the day off.

You get the picture.

But writing this, I still have to say that I don't accept this. Maybe no one else would want to hear any of these stories, but I think I would. A few of my favorite movies have conflict in them that I could do without. A Good Year is about a British business man visiting southern France and falling in love with it and with a woman there. Of course, there is some conflict in it, but that's not what makes me like the movie.

But it's not about the conflict, its about the resolution. The resolution give us a sense of completion, which is very important to us for some reason. When a story is over, we can rest. But can there be resolution without conflict? I don't know. Why do I ask so many questions in this blog? I don't know that either.

So that's one of the things I think about. What do you think?