The Illusion of Character Growth
In most reasonably commercial films, the film’s protagonist has to start off flawed and then become a better person by the movie’s conclusion. A character who is good at the beginning of the movie and evil by the end, then, isn’t the best crowd-pleaser.
But sometimes your story demands a main character who is good earlier in life, and eventually evil after that. You can’t help what inspiration deals you!
If you’re unfortunate enough to be so burdened, a solution would be to tell your story backward, Memento style. That way the character becomes a better person with every (time-reversing) scene. It may only be an illusion of positive character growth, but the audience won’t care. They’ll be too relived to see your hero as a toddler saving a baby bird instead of the old miser murdering all his sons he once was.
4 years ago