No, I don't really agree--there are lots of ways to get to a "happy" ending, up to and including bittersweet endings, or endings that aren't happy so much as having an opening for the characters to work toward happiness. Having said that, if someone wants to put unhappy endings into their creations, that's their business! After all, I don't have to watch them.
But in the end it all depends on how they do it. Having a protagonist struggle hard to overcome all obstacles, and in the end just lose, isn't my thing. Emily and I read a Stephen King novel called "Cell" that we really liked--the ending was open ended as far as whether the protagonist succeeds, but it was still possible at the end of the book. Then we watched the movie version, and the ending was nothing but "everyone is dead now and it was hopeless all along". I'm a big NO with that.
Sure it also a matter of personal preference, to be more inclined to positive ending stories. No doubt there is enough depressing stuff going on in the world, that there is no need to invent some more.
And of course the "unhappy ending" stories are not a new thing - also here the old Greeks were first and called it Tragedy.
At the end of the day its more important what happens during the story, rather than how it ends. What I'm saying is just, that things are shown in a different way today, especially in movies and TV. In the past it used to be all black and white - not the picture, the story line - good vs. bad, and good always wins. And it was like that for decades.
But thats what people wanted to see and pay for, I guess.
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Often it's a reaction to what's going on in the world--like how musicals and screwball comedies were so popular during the Great Depression. I love a good musical, too! But even those don't necessarily have a happy ending, as "West Side Story" shows.
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True, in difficult times people prefer "light entertainment". So what does that mean for our time? Is it too easy? Doesn't seem so to me...
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It depends on the creator, I suppose, but light entertainment doesn't have to be easy, at all. I give you "The Sound of Music", for example, a joyous musical--about escaping from Nazis.
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