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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.
You’re saying it did well despite being a redemption arc, not because of it. Or more precisely, that redemption arcs are mostly bad but avatar was just an example of an Only Good One.
HOLY SHIT your shoulders much hurt with all that reaching. Here’s the exact quote:
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.
I said that Zuko’s redemption arc wasn’t inherently good because it was a redemption arc, but because it deepened his character. Saying that redemption arcs don’t automatically make a story better != saying that redemption arcs suck and are trash. Redemption arcs, like most literary tropes, are neutral. Redemption arcs are just more popular now and writers who don’t understand why they work often do them poorly.
Someone who’s a genocidal fascist is obviously a bad person but isn’t incapable of changing. It’s factually wrong to say they are. It’s certainly absurdly unlikely, but it’s not impossible. Whether or not they “deserve” it is beside the point.
“It is me, Hitler, who now having been surrounded by the allies wishes to say he is sorry about the mass slaughter of millions. I now know it was bad, I won’t do it again and I have learned my lesson.”
“Well fuck, guess Hitler really was sorry. Pack it up everyone, redemption arc completed. No need to think about how blatant forgiveness of genocidal dictators is bad or something.” - GonzoBonzo.
What a great moral lesson to teach people.
