Without a character arc?

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  • Without a character arc?

    Are there any ways to write a screenplay without a character arc?

    What are some examples of recent films without a solid character arc?

  • #2
    Re: Without a character arc?

    Personally I don't think your protagonist needs to arc, but somebody does.
    Chicks Who Script podcast

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    • #3
      Re: Without a character arc?

      What are some examples of recent films without a solid character arc?
      Book of Eli.

      Denzel's character relentlessly pursues his goal from start to finish, with only some irritating complications in the New Mexico desert, emerging with his internal and external architecture unchanged. His sidekick Mila does arc, however (but we hardly care).

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      • #4
        Re: Without a character arc?

        Originally posted by Donreel View Post
        Book of Eli.

        Denzel's character relentlessly pursues his goal from start to finish, with only some irritating complications in the New Mexico desert, emerging with his internal and external architecture unchanged. His sidekick Mila does arc, however (but we hardly care).
        I don't completely agree with this.

        While his pursuit of his goal is unflinching, before meeting Mila's character, he doesn't get involved in other people's problems, lest it sway him from his task. After she decides she wants to be his sidekick and gets herself into trouble, he puts himself and his goal at risk by going to her aid when she gets into trouble.
        "Only nothing is impossible."
        - Grant Morrison

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        • #5
          Re: Without a character arc?

          It's not about whether the protagonist has a character arc or not.

          Don't stop there.

          It's about whether or not the story would be better with a character arc.
          "I am the story itself; its source, its voice, its music."
          - Clive Barker, Galilee

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          • #6
            Re: Without a character arc?

            I've seen discussions on screenwriting forums of the Arc of Awesome, where the protagonist has no arc, but the story arcs with those around him realizing he's the man to get the job done (whatever that is). As you'd expect, most often seen in action movies. Unfortunately, I can't recall any examples right now.
            Patrick Sweeney

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            • #7
              Re: Without a character arc?

              Originally posted by TwoBrad Bradley View Post
              It's not about whether the protagonist has a character arc or not.

              Don't stop there.

              It's about whether or not the story would be better with a character arc.
              I think that about nails it.

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              • #8
                Re: Without a character arc?

                I think Eli is a pretty close example.

                If you have a character who is obsessed with a single task, completion of the task can work as an arc I think.

                Look at Once Upon The Time In the West. Charles Bronson doesn't really arcc

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                • #9
                  Re: Without a character arc?

                  Here's a link to the "arc of awesome" idea from the original author, who's a producer with several award-winning independent films to his credit:

                  http://keithcalder.com/post/52191389...arc-of-awesome

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                  • #10
                    Re: Without a character arc?

                    Yeah, it just depends on the type of story. Archetypal action heroes don't always have an arc. Indiana Jones, James Bond, etc. But on the other hand, Luke Skywalker has a beautiful arc.


                    Speaking of westerns, The Man with No Name -- does he ever arc? Doesn't seem so. And he got THREE chances.

                    But for the most part, I'm always thinking about how characters will change, why they need to, and what the consequences are if they don't.
                    Ever thus to deadbeats.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Without a character arc?

                      I drink your milkshake!

                      Arcs are not an essential ingredient in drama - just in commercial drama.

                      Antiheroes often do not arc.

                      In a classical sense, a comedy is one in which the protagonist is changed by way of epiphany, and a tragedy is one in which his fatal flaw (and inability to change) ultimately leads to his destruction/downfall/demise.

                      There is also the "traveling stranger" motif in which the protag does not arc but forces an arc in those around him (think William Wallace's effect on Robert the Bruce in BRAVEHEART).

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                      • #12
                        Re: Without a character arc?

                        Taken

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                        • #13
                          Re: Without a character arc?

                          Originally posted by NoTalentAssClown View Post
                          Yeah, it just depends on the type of story. Archetypal action heroes don't always have an arc. Indiana Jones, James Bond, etc. But on the other hand, Luke Skywalker has a beautiful arc.


                          Speaking of westerns, The Man with No Name -- does he ever arc? Doesn't seem so. And he got THREE chances.

                          But for the most part, I'm always thinking about how characters will change, why they need to, and what the consequences are if they don't.
                          You can argue that Indy arcs in RAIDERS. He initially refers to the Ark of the Covenant and its supposed powers as "hocus pocus mumbo jumbo" or some such **** when talking to the spooks, but at the end he tells Marion to close her eyes and look away and he does the same - he has come to believe in its power.

                          Now, setting TEMPLE OF DOOM earlier than RAIDERS was retarded because it circumvented this arc since he would already have encountered supernatural elements in his adventures and therefore had no reason to be a skeptic with the spooks at a later date.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Without a character arc?

                            Originally posted by NoTalentAssClown View Post


                            Speaking of westerns, The Man with No Name -- does he ever arc? Doesn't seem so. And he got THREE chances.
                            I consider Once Upon A Time in the West as the 4th installment of that trilogy. Which would make it a four'ogy. Clint was supposed to star in it.

                            Taken kinda fits into this template I was talking about -- man driven by a single goal.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Without a character arc?

                              There's a great interview by a famous screenwriter who talks about how ridiculous it is for everybody (i.e. studio execs) to expect a character to change in a story that is NOT ABOUT CHANGE. He was very adamant on that. He kept repeating that there are stories that are about people changing and there are stories that aren't. I don't know what I did with that link though.

                              When in doubt, just have your hero wrinkle his brow after he blows something up, people will think it reflects deep inner change and everybody will be happy

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