BridgeConsoleMasher wrote: ↑Tue Jun 08, 2021 3:59 pmThis is interesting. So would you say that the more modernist aspects of character outcome are discreetly placed in redemption arc’s, and not just a broad encompassing of plot direction in politics?
I admit I tend to take a more cynical and dark take on writing in my own writing and this is perhaps influencing what I like to enjoy in my stories but I also note that I feel like the redemptions shown in quite a few of the stories shown as examples are ones that exist regardless of character development. I also sometimes feel they're applied inconsistently and suffer a bit from "s/he's a protagonist and fan favorite so it works for them but not others."
It's REALLY noticeable in the sequels and She-Ra as well as Avatar.
Allow me to explain:
Star Wars
Kylo Ren is established as essentially an enormous shit bag who converted to the Dark Side of the Force because of his excessive Vader fanboyism. He murdered his fellow Jedi students, joined the First Order, and is involved in the destruction of Hosnian Prime. He's a scumbag who has no grand operatic reason for his evil (TLJ even says THE FORCE argued he's a monster and Luke turning on him was only a second's worry). However, he's redeemed out of a mother's love and Rey despite there being no reason whatsoever for him to have done the horrible things he did. It's an unsatisfying plot arc because it ignores that he had no reason to be a baddie until he wasn't except the assumption that Ben Solo was an evil shitbag to the core.
Contrast this to Finn who is a Stormtrooper who leaves the First Order and immediately starts blowing up his fellow child-soldiers. Finn is shown to be a human underneath that mask and immediately we have to wonder why all the others aren't slave soldiers either and worry about why Finn is so gleeful killing them or at least not grimly determined. His redemption is because he's a protagonist, not because we need to realize the Stormtroopers as a whole are indoctrinated brainwahsed slaves. Merct is extended to Finn but not the others because, well, we only have him as a main character.
There's an inconsistent ideology of good vs. evil that is lacking from the OT and even Prequels because at least there, "Fascists bad, Democracy Believing Rebels Good" is a consistent ethos. Indeed, the Prequels go out of their way to make it clear Anakin is a screwed up shitbag in general, perhaps excessively so, versus being corrupted by magic or other powers.
Avatar
Zuko is probably the best one here and I am willing to acknowledge he has all the makings of being a redeemable person. Indeed, as a child/teenager, he probably should be forgiven a lot. However, I actually also object to the fact that the show goes, "Well Zuko is good and kind but AZULA is evil." Azula who is irreedeemable because she's a psychopath and narcicisst but Zuko isn't despite her being a child too.
It tells us who is redeemable and not rather than give us a belief both should be redeemable or not.
The plot has decided for us.
She-Ra
Oddly, I think part of the issue that I have with Catra's redemption is that I grok Catra and like her a character a great deal. She-Ra is a woman who has always had a privileged view of the Horde due to being babyed by Shadow Weaver and convinced it was the good guys by propaganda. So it came as a great shock to her when it turned out they were imperialist conquerors and she turned on it.
However, Catra has ALWAYS known that the Horde was evil because they abused and tortured her. However, that "might makes right, survive at all costs" attitude is something that she also understands and internalizes because she's had to live it. She-Ra saying, "Oh my God, they're actually evil! Can you believe it!?" Ticks her off because it clearly shows She-ra was not paying attention to the abuse Catra was suffering and actually believed that poor Catra deserved all the punishments and abuses she got.
It'd piss me off too.
So I've been really enjoying her rise through the ranks motivated by the fact she knows that it's a dysfunctional awful mess and that only by getting to the top can she avoid being the ant stepped on. I also note the horrible things she does along the way that culminated in She-Ra finally turning her back on her--and one of the story's most powerful moments.
