Character Arc is Not All About Change

But that would mean William Wallace in Braveheart had no arc, and neither did Dr. Richard Kimble in The Fugitive.  Both of these are great stories, but according to the definition above they’re flawed.

What most story people don’t realize is that when they talk about character arc they are referring to what Dramatica calls the Main Character’s Growth.  Growth is all about whether or not the character is moving towards something or away from something - not whether or not they change.  You can grow as a person and still hold on to your beliefs - they just get stronger.

Both Mel Gibson and Harrison Ford’s characters have a character arc - both grow in their resolve as they hold out for the oppressive situations around them to alter.  Mel fights the subjugation of his people by the King of England while Harrison holds out against the obvious reality that he’s the only suspect in his wife’s murder.

So the next time you’re in a story meeting or reading a friend’s script, amaze them with your new found knowledge that just because a character doesn’t change, they can still have an “arc.”

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