SPOILER ALERT: This series of posts is spoiler-heavy. But, seriously, the movie is from 1997!!! If you haven’t watched it by now…<\/b> <\/p>\n
I was doing some work on my script the other night, compiling a list of characters, major and minor, and outlining their arcs. It was interesting to note that not all of them arc.<\/p>\n
Does every character in your script need to arc?<\/p>\n
I don’t believe so.<\/p>\n
Minor characters will probably not get enough screen time to develop an arc. Some characters have a specific function, and if they arc, it could interfere with that function. Not to mention that if every character changes and develops, it would lead to a confusing, diluted story.<\/p>\n
I do, however, think that some characters should be presented with the opportunity to arc, and fail to grasp the opportunity. This is one way of highlighting the growth of the hero. If a supporting or antagonistic character has a similar flaw to the hero, their lack of growth can be a signpost to the growth occurring in the hero.<\/p>\n
There is an interesting example of this in L.A. Confidential<\/em>.<\/p>\n Sid Hudgens, a slippery, sleazy character initially shares some qualities with Jack Vincennes, one of the protagonists.<\/p>\n Hudgens slips Vincennes money in exchange for the opportunity to photograph him busting celebrities. It’s a scheme that works well for the two of them. Hudgens has material for his sleazy gossip-mag, and Vincennes gets some extra cash and notoriety.<\/p>\n When a young actor Vincennes busted as a result of a Hudgen’s tip-off winds up dead, however, Vincennes is deeply affected. He realises that there are consequence for his actions. It serves as a wake-up call to Vincennes, pricking his conscience. We see his attitude change and he experiences growth as a police officer and a person.<\/p>\n When Hudgens receives news about the death of the young actor, however, he is flippant and only concerned with the possibility of making a story of the young actor’s death.<\/p>\n The contrast between Hudgens and his lack of growth serves to highlight the character development in Vincennes.<\/p>\n So, not every character needs to arc. In fact, the change in a protagonist can be highlighted by having a supporting character fail to arc when faced with a similar dilemma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SPOILER ALERT: This series of posts is spoiler-heavy. But, seriously, the movie is from 1997!!! If you haven’t watched it by now… I was doing some work on my script the other night, compiling a list of characters, major<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51,12,50,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arcs","category-character","category-l-a-confidential","category-learning"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/k-tock.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}