ABSTRACT
The common scholarly adage is that art films end in the middle of things because they want to keep the people thinking beyond our actual engagement with the text. Consider, for instance, the two fairy tales the author cited earlier with respect to their Once-upon-a-time openings: "Little Red Riding Hood" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". In the oral milieu, there is no such thing as a story that, for the sake of its perpetuation, doesn't require at least two parties, a teller and a listener. Rather, it's that, in the formulation and sharing of narrative, they are inextricably bound to others through the voice-ear connection and, consequently, not prone to thinking of story as independently or privately experienced affairs. It’s not that people like Brooks, or the author, or the people ought to be blamed for having grown neurologically and expectantly into their literately inflected environment.
