Character Arcs: Are They Necessary?

If you take any Writing 101 course then you will be familiar with the importance of character arcs to fiction. Prose fiction has always been regarded as having quite a bit of leeway when it comes to eschewing traditional writing advice such as the inclusion of character arcs; but, outside of the art-house realm, character arcs are seen as much more important. In fact, most of the writing on the subject goes so far as to claim they are necessary for a film to be good.

I take umbrage with this.

Character arcs are certainly valuable. After all, we as humans are on a journey of growth throughout our years and so it fills us with a certain sense of closure when a character grows as well. By giving your character an arc, you are able to develop them in a way that feels very life-like.

But to claim that character arcs are necessary is rather limiting. Let’s take a look at a couple examples of films which manage to get by without the inclusion of a character arc as most sources describe them. Keep in mind, a character arc represents a change or growth in a character and not just their actions themselves. All characters take actions, even if that action is to sit still, but not every character grows.

The most recent example we’ll use in Mad Max: Fury Road. The title character begins and ends the movie the same, yet this is actually a bit of a trick. Despite the film being named after him, this is not Max’s movie. Furiosa is actually the main character in the film and she gets to experience a fair deal of growth throughout. So despite Max staying the same, there is a solid character arc woven into the narrative.

In contrast, there is Big Trouble in Little China. Similar to Fury Road, there is a character arc to be had by Wang Chi (who is also “secretly” the main character). Yet the film pushes Kurt Russell’s Jack Burton to the forefront as the main character, especially in the artwork on the film’s poster. Yet Jack Burton is obvious to what is happening around him, has a cock-sure attitude at the beginning, and finishes with that same cock-sure attitude at the end.

What Big Trouble in Little China is doing with Jack Burton is actually rather subversive for the time it came out. Burton is your All-American Action Hero ™ in the classic mold. As such, it is his responsibility to show up, beat the bad guys, and then ride off into the sunset. But what nobody told Burton is that he’s actually the sidekick. He spends the movie believing himself to be the main character and he sticks to the generic action hero mold from start to finish.

A more straight-forward example of this is in Die Hard. It could be argued that John McClane has a character arc. After all, he starts the movie on bad terms with his wife Holly but by the end they’re together. However, the purpose of McClane’s visit to the Nakatomi Plaza in the first place is to reconnect with his wife. So the fact that McClane is able to do so is not character growth but rather the accomplishment of his goal from the beginning. McClane is able to share a few softer moments throughout the narrative, but these feel like natural extensions of what he is being put through.

Die Hard falls into the category of what we’ll call Road of Trial films. The Road of Trials is part of Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey. It’s the first part of the second leg of the journey, after the character has left the comforts of their everyday life and been separated from what they’ve always known. The Road of Trial is filled with tests that the hero must undergo in order to grow and, eventually, cross the threshold back into their previous life.

But a Road of Trials film focuses almost entirely on the challenges that the hero must face. There is often lip service to the other elements of the hero’s journey, but they are always secondary to the challenges that must be overcome. The story gets developed rather than the characters; take Bloodfist VI: Ground Zero as an example: Don the Dragon Wilson’s character has already done his growing in the past, all that is left is to toss him in the way of a terrorist plot to take over America’s nuclear weaponry and let the plot develop. At the end of the day, when every terrorist has been successfully kick-punched, the movie can end. Another way to think of this is as plot-driven rather than character-driven.

This approach to storytelling can be quite thrilling. If the action is good and lots of people get kick-punched, then we’re going to have a good time with the film regardless of the lack of a character arc. However, these characters are often quite forgettable unless they have something going for them like McClane’s witty dialogue or the silent intensity of Max.

But there is one other way in which a lack of a character arc can have a profound and shocking effect, one that is particularly suitable for Scriptophobic readers as it occurs most often in horror. This is the Refusal to Grow.

Often, a character will be forced into a situation in horror films where their previous notions of how the world works completely fall apart. Most characters adapt to this rupture by growing and learning how to incorporate this knowledge into their new world-view. For example, Nancy realizes that Freddy Kruger is real, adapts to that knowledge, and learns not to fear him.

But not every character forced into this rupture of worldview manages to grow. This lack of growth can be absolutely terrifying if handled correctly. Let’s look at Der Fan as an example.

In Der Fan, teenage Simone is obsessed with the popstar R. She begins the film thinking of nothing other than R. She dreams of how perfect their meeting will be, how he will take her into his arms, casting aside his groupies, because of the true, pure, brilliant love that he will see in her.

Reality doesn’t quite work that way. Instead, when Simone and R meet, R sleeps with her and then discards her. In a fit of rage, Simone murders R. You would think that this murder would force growth on the character, or that his betrayal would at the least. Simone, on the other hand, does not let herself grow in the least. She consumes the body and heads home, with her narration informing us that she believes herself pregnant with his baby and him and her still meant to be together just like she had always dreamed.

In Der Fan, it is the starting lack of growth that leaves us feeling the most chilled. Here is true insanity; insanity that will not grow; insanity that will cling to itself and prevent anything other than its misguided belief from getting through to Simone. As such, it is the lack of a character arc that gives the film the power it retains.

So, ultimately, should your film include a character arc? Chances are, yeah, it should. We’ll be able to connect to your characters on a deeper level. 

But does it have to?

Absolutely not. You are the writer. The decision on what your script needs is yours to make alone. If you have a badass character that is a joy to spend time with, we don’t need them to grow. If you want to shock the audience at just how far gone the character really is (or dangle it in front of our eyes the whole time like Pit Stop did so brilliantly), then that can work too. Writing a screenplay is about telling your story, the way you want to tell your story, not making sure to check off the box next to every element that a Screenwriting 101 class told you it needs.

Be weird. Experiment. But don’t exclude a character arc because you read this article. Make the decisions on what your screenplay needs considering it’s unique needs. I write this not to convince you that one way or another is right but to give you permission to write it your own way.