Live Poll: The Climax Types

The climax is the final confrontation of all the conflicting forces in the movie, in a generally spectacular or emotional manner leading to the resolution, for better or for worse. So, if you judge a story by the height it reaches, then there's no good movie without a good climax.

Here are different types of cinematic climaxes based on the situations (rather than the settings, contexts or even the genres). Generally speaking, which climax type is your favorite or satisfies you the most?

http://www.imdb.com/list/ls025072525/
http://www.imdb.com/poll/27zWbCtI4c0/

Responses

ElMaruecan82

5.1K Messages

•

137.9K Points

7 years ago

I'd be glad to include new suggestions but be sure they don't overlap with any of these, and with a few bits of explanations (and/or examples), it would be perfect.

leavey_2

1.9K Messages

•

52.5K Points

7 years ago

The "Twist"

ElMaruecan82

5.1K Messages

•

137.9K Points

7 years ago

bump

ElMaruecan82

5.1K Messages

•

137.9K Points

7 years ago

bump

jason_boese

277 Messages

•

4.9K Points

7 years ago

I like a good battle for a climax, like Saving Private Ryan and Ran.

I'd also like to add I appreciate any type of climax, so long as it's of good quality. Give me quality, and I'm a happy person.

A neat poll, too. If it gets picked, I'll be happy (though I think I'd rather something from Saving Private Ryan be the picture for the battle, but that's just me).

Hm, I wonder how the climax of All Quiet on the Western Front would be described? Maybe anti-climactic? It's just kind of a downer. It's a wonderful ending, but it just ends everything.

ElMaruecan82

5.1K Messages

•

137.9K Points

War movies tend to culminate with either a battle or an emotional breakdown, in the case of All Quiet, it depends on which scene we're talking about, the 'butterfly' ending seems more like a resolution, an escape, it can be a "death" pure and simple, the climax can be the loss of his mentor, "death" or "battle" or some could see the confrontation with young idealistic schoolboys as the real climax, I don't know where it fits "speech", "emotional breakdown", "twist" or "anti-climax", I guess it depends on your own experience with the film.

7 years ago

jason_boese

277 Messages

•

4.9K Points

I think that's why it's so effective; it's an atypical ending. He just dies. I hesitate to call anything else the climax, because they're supposed to be the big key of the film, and the climax being the ending is possible. I do consider the butterfly scene the climax.

And I do agree with you that war films typically end with a giant battle, but that is one thing that separates All Quiet on the Western Front from other films.

See, this is a good poll. I like ones where research has been done. Keep up the good work!

7 years ago

ElMaruecan82

5.1K Messages

•

137.9K Points

Oh yeah, you better believe there has been some homework behind that poll.
Thanks for the kind words:)

7 years ago

rubyfruit76

Champion

•

7.5K Messages

•

193K Points

7 years ago

'Maybe the anti-climax, but maybe "the speech," "the escape," or "the emotional breakdown." I just thought of a few favorite movies off the top of my head and what kind of climax they employ: To Kill a Mockingbird (the answer maybe because of Boo Radley and the way it all comes together and an overarching philosophy is revealed within that metaphor and character), Lost in Translation (the farewell), Pulp Fiction (the speech), Silence of the Lambs (the showdown), The Florida Project (the emotional breakdown), Salaam Bombay! (oh no, I can't remember!), Half Nelson (I'm guessing "the answer" or maybe anti-climax, hmm...), Three Colors: Red (natural disaster maybe, hmmm...) ... 'very cool.

May I suggest one small edit? (I think it was a typo) In #14: Any climax that consists of a juxtaposition ("of" instead of "on")

This is, I think, a perfect poll. Everything about it (the writing of the intro, the insertion of humor as in "especially you, Scarecrow," the informative but compelling, fun nature, the way it fuels curiosity, the images) pulls together precisely; it's just lovely (and I feel like I'm writing a blurb for a film, lol).

ElMaruecan82

5.1K Messages

•

137.9K Points

Thanks Ruby, you just warmed my heart as usual.

Many of these climax types overlap, but never three categories at once, I think it all depends on your individual experience. One can say the real climax of Saving Private Ryan as the "Earn this" or the emotional breakdown in the cemetery, but I thought it would be ignoring the impact of the other guys' deaths so I think sometimes, the whole battle can be regarded as the highest spot of the film.

And I fixed the typo, thanks :)

7 years ago

rubyfruit76

Champion

•

7.5K Messages

•

193K Points

It's interesting, indeed, how some films lend themselves to some ambiguity, or at least the personal experience of the viewer, which I think is cool. I was talking about this to a friend today about my latest favorite film, The Florida Project, and my friend and I completely disagreed about which scene was the climax and, therefore, which type of climax the film had, even though we agree about almost everything else about the movie. I definitely agree with you about Saving Private Ryan. Have you seen Three Colors: Red? If so, what do you think is the climactic scene? I think part of the problem is that, even though it's one of my five favorite films, I haven't seen it in a long time so my memory's not real clear, but I also think it might be somewhat ambiguous, which I do like. I'm also interested in what other trusted film connoisseurs think, and you are definitely a trusted film connoisseur. :)

By the way, thank you for the really kind response, ElMo, and another interest8ing and educational and enlightening discussion.

7 years ago

rubyfruit76

Champion

•

7.5K Messages

•

193K Points

7 years ago

Live Poll: http://www.imdb.com/poll/27zWbCtI4c0/?ref_=po_fp Bravo; applause, applause!

tykaloo

13 Messages

•

214 Points

7 years ago

Great poll, great idea !

dan_dassow

Champion

•

19.3K Messages

•

475.9K Points

7 years ago

Congratulations ElMaruecan82 on your 413th live poll!
As of 23-Nov-2017 1:18 AM Pacific your polls have 843,357 or more votes, for an average of 2,042 votes per poll.

5893rd Live Poll: http://www.imdb.com/poll/27zWbCtI4c0/

This is the 1,744th Image poll. Such polls have a total of 3,478,549 votes for an average of 1,995 votes per poll.

- - -

Total Number of Votes			13,880,243
Projected Date of 15 Million Votes	23-May-2018
Days Until 15 Million Votes		181

- - -

This is the list of ElMaruecan82's polls as of 16-Nov-2017:

Sorted Alphabetically
http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2014/05/imdb-polls-alphabetical-by-author.html#ElMaruecan82

In Decreasing Order of Votes
http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2015/03/imdb-polls-descending-order-of-votes-by.html#ElMaruecan82

- - -

Alphabetical List of Polls
http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2014/03/imdb-polls-alphabetical.html

Top IMDb Polls
http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2015/07/top-imdb-polls.html

IMDb Polls - Descending Order of Votes
http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2013/12/imdb-polls-descending-order-of-votes.html

Summary Statistics
http://mypollwatch.blogspot.com/2016/05/summary-statistics.html

Key Threads - IMDb Poll FAQs Index
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/faq-key-threads-imdb-poll-faqs-index

How to Improve the Chance of Having your Poll on the Home Page
https://getsatisfaction.com/imdb/topics/faq-how-to-improve-the-chance-of-having-your-poll-on-the-hom...

ElMaruecan82

Live Poll: The Climax Types

ElMaruecan82

leavey_2

ElMaruecan82

ElMaruecan82

jason_boese

ElMaruecan82

jason_boese

ElMaruecan82

rubyfruit76

ElMaruecan82

rubyfruit76

rubyfruit76

tykaloo

dan_dassow

Related Conversations

Helpful Widget