Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

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  • Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

    I know one: Taken.

    Are there any other scripts/films where the hero arcs before the story even begins?

  • #2
    Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

    I wouldn't say he arcs before the film in Taken. I would say the arc is him getting his family's respect back, which he does by rescuing his daughter.

    Not the greatest arc ever, and it's plot driven instead of character based, but that's my thought.
    @ZOlkewicz - Don't follow me on Twitter.

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    • #3
      Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

      Originally posted by Chief View Post
      I know one: Taken.

      Are there any other scripts/films where the hero arcs before the story even begins?
      Why do you ask?

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      • #4
        Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

        Originally posted by Manchester View Post
        Why do you ask?
        Why do you ask?

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        • #5
          Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

          Originally posted by Chief View Post
          I know one: Taken.

          Are there any other scripts/films where the hero arcs before the story even begins?
          Originally posted by Manchester View Post
          Why do you ask?
          Originally posted by Chief View Post
          Why do you ask?
          Well, I am puzzled by OPs posting questions without any suggestion as to why/what purpose. Versus: "Hey, I was thinking about X. Here's my take on it. Anyone else have a take on it?"

          Like, when you started this thread: Action openings - For or Against? You posted someone else's long blog post, then simply appended, "A comment on the blog." And that was it.

          Sure. Post what you will.

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          • #6
            Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

            Then there would be no arc.

            - Bill
            Free Script Tips:
            http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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            • #7
              Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

              Ferris Bueller.

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              • #8
                Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                Originally posted by 8bit Llama View Post
                I wouldn't say he arcs before the film in Taken. I would say the arc is him getting his family's respect back, which he does by rescuing his daughter.

                Not the greatest arc ever, and it's plot driven instead of character based, but that's my thought.
                8bit Llama's comment leads me to ask:

                When the term "character arc" is used, do people mainly restrict it to specifically refer to a change/transformation in a character's own values/worldview? (If that is the case, then I don't think that the process of Neeson getting back his family's respect back constitutes a character arc -- i.e., not on his part, though it obviously does on the part of the other characters.)

                Or, is the term "character arc" also used in a broad sense, to generally refer to a protagonist's journey through the course of the movie, possibly involving how he faces challenges and overcomes them, and possibly including other characters' changing perceptions of the protagonist, but not necessarily strictly involving an internal change in values/worldview by the protagonist himself? (In this case, the process of Neeson getting back his family's respect would constitute an arc, as 8bit Llama suggests.)

                In short, in screenwriting parlance, is the phrase "character arc" strictly synonymous with "a change in a character's own values/worldview"?

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                • #9
                  Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                  Look at this by genre. Certain genres do certain things. In action movies like Taken, or Die Hard, The Bond Series, The Bourne movies, there is no grand arc of the main character. That genre spans more wide than it does deep.

                  No character arcs 'before' the story. I've never heard of such a thing. It's like saying if a tree falls in a forrest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?

                  Read scripts from a wide range of genres. In the action and horror genre, the story is not dependant on the arc of the main character. In fact, if there is an arc it is so slight that it is actually a secondary issue behind the action of the scare tactics. These movies go wide, meaning they span exotic locations, have alot of blowing things up, and narrowing escapes. They don't dig very deep into the psychosis of character. That's not what people pay to see in those genres.

                  Now in Dramas and comedies the arc is there and it takes center stage. In these genres you dig deep, but not very wide. Dramas take place in a very closed setting, and they focus on the main character who has been living with the consequences of his/her flaw. How this person eventually will change their mind about life is what the movie is about. This is what people pay to see in these genres.

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                  • #10
                    Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                    Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                    In the action and horror genre, the story is not dependent on the arc of the main character. In fact, if there is an arc it is so slight that it is actually a secondary issue behind the action of the scare tactics. These movies go wide, meaning they span exotic locations, have a lot of blowing things up, and narrow escapes. They don't dig very deep into the psychosis of character. That's not what people pay to see in those genres.
                    I agree completely. Yet I do know of writers who have penned action or horror scripts whose work has been criticized precisely because their protagonists either don't have a character-transformation arc, or have a minor character arc.

                    That reflects, I think, how much the concept of the character arc has become ingrained in the Hollywood mindset. And I do think this is due to the gurus, who preach character-transformation arcs like gospels.

                    Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                    No character arcs 'before' the story. I've never heard of such a thing.
                    I'm guessing that this refers to a transformational character arc that occurs in the backstory of the film.

                    Thus, in Taken, the film establishes that Neeson's character was formerly a workaholic who cared more about his work than his family, and thereby lost his family. His transformation -- the realization that this was a mistake, on his part, and that he should have been a better husband and father -- takes place before the film begins. It has already happened. When the film begins, Neeson is already in the post-transformation process of trying to reconnect with his daughter. His whole backstory represents just the kind of transformational change in values that one often sees in movies with character arcs.

                    To the O.P.'s question, I think Unforgiven is another example of a script/movie where one arc has taken place before the story begins (though another one happens in the film itself). Unforgiven establishes that Eastwood's character was once a cold-blooded killer, but that his wife cured him of his drunkenness and wickedness. That's just the kind of transformational, "civilizing" character arc (often through a gunslinger finding a beloved) that happens in a number of old westerns.

                    The story of Unforgiven itself shows the process of undoing this pre-film arc, as Eastwood slowly "changes back," regaining his killer instinct, even eventually turning back to drink, until at the end, he is just as potent a killer as he was before his pre-film arc.

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                    • #11
                      Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                      I would not use the label 'arc' to describe what the poster means. Again, they are labels so you can call it what you want, but Backstory does not have an arc it has present day consequences

                      In Taken: He is a man that has a rocky relationship with his daughter - the present consequences of backstory - now retired he is trying to really build something with her. In fact, he lets her go to Europe with a friend so she would 'love' him and not 'hate' him. This decision later bites him in the ass.

                      Unforgiven is another movie where the character has present consequences to his backstory. He was a murderous outlaw that killed innocent people. Now he is a lonely man with one friend, and people 'know' who he is. There are present consequences to his backstory.

                      A lot of books call this the character's 'shadow'. An arc is something else all together.

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                      • #12
                        Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                        Originally posted by Cyfress View Post
                        A lot of books call this the character's 'shadow'. An arc is something else all together.
                        A shadow. That is a very interesting term and a good way of thinking about it. Thank you.

                        I suppose the only reason I might have been inclined to apply the term "arc" to these two cases (and perhaps others -- these are the two that come to mind) is that the charcters' "shadows" immediately conjure an impression of an entire, prior, transformational story arc -- an entire film prequel, as it were.

                        In Taken, the character's "shadow" easily allows one to imagine a complete prequel film, in which a character becomes more and more involved in his work, losing his soul to it, and gradually loses his family as a result.

                        In Unforgiven, the character's "shadow" easily allows one to imagine a complete prequel film, a traditional Western, in which a character begins as a ruthless, hard-drinking killer, meets an angelic woman, and over the course of the film transforms into a civilized, God-fearing teetotaler. (And at the end, tragically, she dies -- what a beat that is.)

                        In fact, the idea of pre-film shadow prequels immediately suggests another obvious candidate: Star Wars. Darth Vader's transformational arc (or shadow) has occurred prior to the beginning of Episode IV. And in that case, the character's pre-story arc/shadow was woven into a complete film (albeit badly).

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                        • #13
                          Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                          Present Consequences of past backstory is what generally the first ten pages of your script is about in the Comedy or Drama genres. Figuring out what those present consequences are is real important to the story.

                          This is something I see lacking in amateur scripts as compared to sold scripts. The relevance of backstory to current story.

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                          • #14
                            Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                            Re: TAKEN -- it's also possible that it's a movie where the character arc just isn't executed all that well.

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                            • #15
                              Re: Scripts/movies where character arcs before start of story?

                              The shadow or relevant backstory gives the reader a sense that the character has already been through some stuff with the greatest challenge lying ahead.

                              You will hear the term all the time of makeing sure you have a well rounded character. A shadow helps do that for you.

                              Re TAKEN: taken is an action flick where a retired special ops assassin has to find out who took his daughter. The film does not ride on some bi realization that the main character makes about life. It's an action flick that relies on ass whoopins and explosions.

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