Academicgenius

Sometimes i start crying when watching a movie. I just burst out sobbing and I often don’t know why. What is it about certain movies that makes me wanna scream, punch something or just tell someone close to me that I love them? I think I’ve learned why. It’s the character arc. The way the character changes throughout the story. If it’s done great (damn you Spiderman) it hits me right in the heart. And if it’s done bad (looking at you Jurassic World) I don’t feel a thing. So how can you detect a well written arc? One way is to not just look at the character, but look at the plot of the movie. Let’s look at the three big plot points in Thor from 2011. Let’s see what we can learn from just those three events.

Thor starts out the movie being an arrogant, war hungry, norse god. He has been promised the throne and wants nothing more than to rule and bring glory to Asgard. He doesn’t seem to care that much about his friends, he’s too obsessed with himself and planning what to do once he gets the throne. When three frost giants sneaks into Asgard he immediately calls for action. He wants to attack the frost giants on their home realm and “teach them a lesson”. Ignoring his father order to stay put, he sneaks out of Asgard, attacks the frost giants and gets rescued by Odin in the last second. In the First Plot Point he gets banished from Asgard and sent to earth. And he loses his power source, Mjolnir. His arrogance and egoism leads to his downfall.

Let’s fast forward to the middle of the second act of the movie. Here is when Thor finally find Mjolnir down on earth and tries to lift it up and return to his rightful place in asgard. Just to find out that he can’t. He is not worthy. The truth smacks him right in his face. Moments after, Loki visits him and tell him that their father died and that their mother doesn’t want Thor to return. This moment is where the realisation fills his heart. This is The Second Plot Point, also called The Midpoint. This is where Thor says “Thank you” for the first time in the movie. He blames himself for once, and he thanks his brother for being honest (wich he’s not) and for bringing him the horrible news. The midpoint changes Thor drastically, now that he has realised what a douche he has been and what it has lead to.

After the midpoint he starts to appreciate the people around him. He thanks Dr Selvig for taking care of him on earth. He tells Jane Foster how much he likes to have her around. It’s a beautiful arc where Thor begins to change into a better person. It all leads up to The Third Plot Point, where a enormous sentinel is sent to earth to kill Thor. Thor’s friends has come to help, but he wishes they never came since this situation puts them in danger. He also tells his new human friends to evacuate the town since a lot of innocent people will die otherwise. And to top it all off, to show how much he has changed, He walks towards the sentinel, ready to sacrifice his own life, just to put an end to this war.

His arc when from an arrogant young man who only cares about himself, to becoming a man who cares about people and appreciates the ones closest to him.

This is just one way of many to show how a character arc is laid out, and I’ll talk about more in the near future. In the mean time, keep watching good movies, and try identify why you like them so much. And if the character arc is done well, chances are you’ll end up curled up in a wet puddle of tears. And that’s okay.