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No, it’s because Avatar: The Last Airbender did it well with Zuko and now everyone wants to do the same in their shows. The problem is they forget that Zuko’s redemption wasn’t good because it was a redemption arc but because it was a genuine deepening of his character that took the entire series to complete.
Most showrunners just push a character over the moral event horizon and then have a redemption “arc” that just takes them from one caricature to another.
Redemption arcs are good. Everyone benefits from the idea that people can change for the better. They have been executed badly, but they are inherently a Good Trope
I was specifically criticizing redemption arcs that use it for irredeemable characters. Redemption arcs don’t work if the characters are space nazis and thousands of common soldiers were murdered with disdain before offering mecha-hitler a chance to change. Redemption arcs only work if that person is capable of being redeemed. Genocidal fascists and other monsters don’t deserve that no matter how much their lunch money was stolen in 4th grade.
No. It must be that it’s a cliche that never had merit.
I literally said Avatar did it well and had merit nerd. The problem comes when people who don’t understand why it was good and tack it on to their shows without thought.
