I'm coming to this discussion late, so I have several things I want to comment on.
Cashdan says it alot better than I can, but I think he has a good point. I think that stories have a huge psychological purpose, and when stories end badly, there's no inner triumph.
The reason we read stories is to simultaneously escape from reality, and make sense of it. If the story doesn't do either of those things for you, then it's got problems. If it doesn't fit with your worldview, or at least the worldview that you want to have, then it leaves you feeling unsatisfied. If it's really good literature, that dissatisfaction might lead you to a new (hopefully better) worldview, but if it's not great literature or a better worldview, then you continue to be dissatisfied.
Endings should not be chosen on the basis of whether they are happy or sad, but whether they are satisfying (in terms of appropriateness to the events and setting and personalities of the characters) and what will develop the theme.
There are times when a happy ending is right. There are times when Deus ex machina is right. There are times when a sad (but satisfying) ending is right -- think of Shakespeare's tragedies. All through the DiCaprio version of Romeo and Juliet (which I really enjoyed) I was thinking, "Maybe they'll change the ending, maybe it will come out happy this time" but at the same time I was also thinking, "I'll hate them if they do change it."
The problems come when the happy or sad ending is the wrong choice, or so unrealistically executed that you can't even pretend to believe it.
There's also the topic of balance. Any given novel can have a sad ending as the right choice, and be excellent reading. If that's all you read, though, it gets depressing. Likewise, if you only read books with happy endings, it gets sappy. Your brain wants your books to fit in with your worldview which ought to realistically acknowledge that both happy and sad things happen.
One of my friends teaches 5th grade and has what she calls her "Dead Dog Unit" She divides up her class into groups and has one group read
Where the Red Fern Grows, and another group reads
Old Yeller and so forth. At the end of the unit she gives extra credit to the kids who also read
No more Dead Dogs by Gordon Korman to lighten the mood.
Jeff set up the soapbox for me, and I can't tell you how sick I am of people telling me I'm wrong for not wanting to watch 24. I dislike it. It makes me angry and violent. Therefore, in my mind, there is definitely something wrong with the show - no other show, movie, book, ever made me angry and hateful as 24 does.
I haven't watched 24, but I did decide a couple of years ago not to watch TV that made me depressed. I gave up ER and CSI and Law and Order (All excellent shows at times) because all I was getting from them was sickness, and death, and violent crime, and infidelity, and so on. I think if I'd had a better ablance of shows, they wouldn't have been such a problem.
I'm sorry but I'm not evil, I just don't like happy endings...they are just no good anymore. I enjoy and cliff hanger or just a bad ending for example this book never has "happy endings" http://www.lemonysnicket.com/index.cfm
Lemony Snicket has a great balance. Not only do his books have tragedy, the kids do come out on top (sort of) through their own endeavors, and they are growing more empowered as the series progresses. The balance is so perfect though, that I really would not be willing to bet 25 cents either way on the series having a happy ending -- or even having the kids survive.
Sorry this was so long
-Karen
