Is this character living his best life?
Character arcs.
What are they?
And how are they important?
Oh, and I see you titled this post Rick Dalton; Celebrating Characters in Cinema: Volume X, so I thought that was the subject of this post?
Well, kids we're doing something a little different in today's post. We're going to focus on character arcs, and what this term mean. While exploring this subject we're going to use THE BEST character Quentin Tarantino ever came up: Rick Dalton from Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) as the object of discussion.
This featured term, character arcs, is indigenous to both screenplays/movies and novels; ie. character arcs can be applied to both mediums, because character arcs are an aspect of story analysis and development. I like the think that character arcs derive a product of a character going through the story or plot you just watched or read. From a writer's perspective you can write out a character arc first then fit the plot to achieve the desired character arc, OR you can a analyze the affect the story and its conflicts have on a character based on this experience derive his or her resulting character arcs. Now that we've got the ball rolling on this key term, character arcs. Let's define it. From a November 7, 2022 post by Sean Glatch over at writers.com:
A character arc is a character's personal growth and adaption to the story's particular conflicts
So what we're looking at when the term "character arc" is bantered about is affect a given story has on a character. So when you analyze or craft character arcs on your own you need to consider what the character started the story off as, then what state of being they finished at when the story ends. Their character arc is then a product of the personal change the exhibit as a product of going through the story. The fun thing about character arcs is that this affect can be either high visible in a public sense, AND/OR it can be more of individualistic character improved or worstened state. Thus the overall character arcs arc a focused on character goes through in story can be a positive one, a negative one, or a neutral one.
One guy I found on-line, Bryn Donovan, rattled off 50 types of the he found in characters over the scope of books and movies!
You can derive your own conclusions about what a character's given was in a given story, but I'd like to give you some "tools" in how you evaluate an overall given character arc: positive, negative, or neutral. In comprising this I read this post from drabble.com:
Positive character arc: The character grows to be a better person by the end of the story. Zero to hero. Or they grow emotionally like Melvin Udal did in James L. Brooks' As Good as It Gets.
Negative character arc: The character becomes more morally reprehensible by the end of the story. Typically the villain's story: they get defeated by the hero, and show themselves to be some version of monster as a result of the problems they cause in story. This is indicative of trouble protagonist or minor characters, who actually become worse people as a result of going through the story. A good example of a character having a "negative character arc" is Natalie Portman's Nina Sayers character from Black Swan (2011).
Flat (or neuteral) character arc: The character really doesn't change at all as a result of their part in going through the adventure seen on screen. A good example of this is Sherlock Homes, as the mystery to be solved takes center stage, and Homes comes in highly skilled and adapt at solving problems.
So now that we've got an understanding what character arc is about let's apply this to the featured character in today's post: Rick Dalton as written by Quentin Tarantino and portrayed on screen by Leonardo Dicaprio. I'll apply
How Rick Dalton starts: Rick is established as actor coming off a TV series named "Bounty Law" where his antic contributed the show's cancellation, and now Rick is looking for new acting work, preferably in the movies.
Main goals: Proving that he has "it", can act, and is still good enough to get roles in the changing landscape of Hollywood of the late 1960s.
Key Dilemma: Comes to work on a series pilot hungover, and in while shooting a scene forgets his lines.
How Rick Dalton ends: Is a hero in real life, as he torches one of the Charles Manson cult members who broke into his house and threatened to kill everyone in there, which gets rewarded by Rick Dalton getting to meet Sharon Tale who worked with a director that he respected.
All of which leads to...
Character arc of Rick Dalton: An actor who prove that he can be a hero in real life that rivals any of those in his past, acting career, despite his worries and excessive drinking. If rated this would a positive character arc.
See how I derived Rick Dalton's character arc from the movie? When trying to find character arc just see how the action affect the character. In Rick Dalton's case, he suffers a blow to his ego, yet overcomes that. Then later in the movie he's DRUNK when the Manson cultists show up, yet he takes action and helps his buddy, Cliff Booth, ward them off; thus proving himself to a hero in real life. Rick doesn't overcome his drinking problem. He only partially addresses it by getting married to an actress he fell in love with while shooting a series of spaghetti westerns in Italy.
As far as my own rating of this character. Form my way of thinking Rick Dalton is a 10 out 10. Perfect score, the best any writer or actor can hope to achieve when endeavoring to create meaningful art.
To me he is sooo interesting, you don't want the show to end, you just wanna keep following him on adventures. And that's really the gold standard of ICONIC movie-making. Can you create a product that people love and wanna see more of? Well, Quentin Tarantino and Leonardo Dicaprio did just that with the magic they work in the creation and execution of the character Rick Dalton in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And for that Rick Dalton is my favorite character, all-time in the history of cinema. EASILY winning the top prize of top character in my "Celebrating Characters in Cinema". Speaking of which, I'm going to do a follow-up post on the other nine featured characters in the "Celebrating Characters in Cinema" series so be looking for that in the next day or two.
Lastly, as I close this post on character arcs lets briefly look at how character arcs can be used in story creation. I think it's a good idea to post character arcs in an author's character bio pages -- if you do them, which you should as they'll help you build better stories. For most scripts I write to do separate character bio pages in which I really do into my thoughts as to who and what a given character is. Most times I don't write an official arc for the character though. As I think character arcs are derived from the story as a whole. Usually with the character bio pages I write, that's more for me to understand the character and build momentum to have enough courage to write the story. I am a HUGE advocate of character bio page before a writer sets down to start their first draft, less enthused about a writer deciding on the character arc of the character before they actually start writing. Why? Because I believe writing is about discovery, and how can you discover anything if everything is laid out firmly in pre-writing? So writers out there, go into your stories with an idea of where the story could go, but leave room for bouts of "inspiration" where your characters and story come alive.
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