Abstract
The Protagonist’s journey is fundamentally about change and the character’s potential transformation features an array of forms. This chapter analyzes common examples in movies and television: Change Agent—Forrest Gump, Wall-e, Being There, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Refuse Change—Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Succession, The Social Network, The Shield; Disintegration—Citizen Kane, Amadeus, The Wolf of Wall Street, Taxi Driver. While this variety of characters arcs speaks to the writer’s potential to explore diverse storylines, by far the most popular pattern of a Protagonist’s change is the Unity Arc. This process of metamorphosis can be broken down into four movements: Disunity, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Unity.
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Notes
- 1.
For decades, this has been the default approach to television sit-coms (situation comedies) which feature characters confronting a series of challenges, typically with multiple storylines (A plot, B plot, C plot), all resolved neatly by the end of the episode.
- 2.
As the final episode of Season One reveals, her best friend and business partner Boo committed suicide after learning Fleabag had an affair with Boo’s boyfriend.
- 3.
C. G. Jung, “The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche,” Collected Works VIII (Princeton University Press, 1969), para. 111, p. 59.
- 4.
There is another type of change agent: Crusader. In movies like Norma Rae (1979), Gandhi (1982), Silkwood (1983), and Erin Brockovich (2000), the Protagonist takes on The System, however, in these cases, the character goes through a change themselves—an empowerment character arc. As they fight back against authority, they discover within their psyche a source of strength and courage that had heretofore been untapped.
- 5.
Per Carl Jung, an individual’s negative instincts. See Chapter 9: Nemesis for a fuller exploration of this concept.
- 6.
1 Timothy 6:10.
- 7.
Taxi Driverin, written by Paul Schrader. Movie script, undated, p. 69.
Further Study
Fleabag: The Scriptures, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ballantine Books, 2019.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ken Kesey, Berkley Books, 1963.
‘One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’: Milos Forman’s Mosaic of Brilliance with a Lesson Still as Important as Ever, Sven Mikulec, Cinephilia & Beyond, October 15, 2016, https://cinephiliabeyond.org/one-flew-cuckoos-nest-milos-formans-mosaic-brilliance-lesson-still-important-ever/.
Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting, William Goldman, Warner Books, 1983.
Citizen Kane (Screen and Cinema), Orson Welles (screenwriter) and Herman J. Mankiewicz (screenwriter), Bantam Books, 1971.
‘Citizen Kane’: The Astonishing Debut of Hollywood’s Greatest Wunderkind, Sven Mikulec, Cinephilia & Beyond, March 1, 2016, https://cinephiliabeyond.org/citizen-kane-the-astonishing-debut-of-hollywoods-greatest-wunderkind/.
Taxi Driver (Faber Film), Paul Schrader, Faber & Faber, 1990.
Approaching Menace: The American Pathology of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Taxi Driver’, Tim Pelan, Cinephilia & Beyond, July 22, 2020, https://cinephiliabeyond.org/approaching-menace-the-american-pathology-of-martin-scorseses-taxi-driver/.
References
Goldman, W. (written by) (1969). Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Twentieth Century Fox.
Jung, C. G. (1969). “The Structure and Dynamics of the Psyche,” Collected Works VIII; Princeton University Press.
Mankiewicz, H. J., Welles, Orson (original screen play) (1941). Citizen Kane; Mercury Productions/RKO Radio Pictures.
Stanton, A. and Reardon, J. (screenplay), Stanton, A. and Docter, P. (story) (2008). Wall-e; Pixar Animation Studios/Walt Disney Pictures.
Waller-Bridge, P. (creator) (2016, 2019). Fleabag; British Broadcasting Corporation/Amazon Prime Video.
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Myers, S. (2022). Character Arc. In: The Protagonist's Journey. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79682-2_2
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