There’s something I’ve always loved about the tiny little redemption arcs that Billy Wilder seemed fond of. Basically, “self-abasing sleezeball manages to do the good and decent thing.”
William Holden in Sunset Blvd is the prickly example here, and Jack Lemmon in The Apartment is the warm and fuzzy one.
I love this topic. I definitely agree on Sidney Carton, and I think he's a neat example of a redemption arc where the act of redemption is accomplished pretty suddenly and dramatically, as opposed to a long journey. Also agree with Jean Valjean-- I think his conversion happens very early in the novel, but then so many of his actions in the rest of the novel are motivated by his desire to redeem himself (not from his original "crime" of course, but from the attitude toward life that he adopted in the ordeal that followed). It shows how the redemption arc can have a dark side-- it's really sad toward the end of the novel when Valjean estranges himself from Cosette out of shame about his past, and it seems that this could have been avoided if he had been able to recognize and be at peace with his own redemption earlier.
Emma is also a bit of a redemption arc and shows how atonement for very small, specific things can be important-- after deciding to stop being selfish, Emma takes concrete steps to be kind to those she had been rude to, to rectify the marriage she had messed up early on in the story, etc.
Another kind-of-redemption arc that I really like is Harriet Vane in Gaudy Night. Much of the novel consists of her working out whether or not her past mistakes should confine her to an academic life, resolving itself in her eventual acceptance of the fact that she is worthy of love.
I think the only redemption arcs I don't like are ones where there is a creepy sort of situation where a woman has made a mistake (in choice of marriage partner or in sexual sin), gets out of that situation (e.g. the scoundrel dies) and sees herself as unworthy of a different, superior man, and the man sort of forces her to come around and agree to marry him. This happens in a few Anthony Trollope stories.
A related topic that I think is interesting is how conversion arcs and redemption arcs relate to each other. Crime and Punishment probably wouldn't have been as compelling if Raskolnikov had had the intellectual commitments he had at the beginning and undergone the change he underwent throughout the novel, but hadn't murdered anyone; but could a conversion story ever be as compelling as a redemption story, and what would that take?
OK Eve, I loved thinking about this question, and while I love redemption arcs, I can't think of many favorites that utilize it, beyond the Zuko example. My friends would definitely say Kylo Ren. But I think Space Sweepers, the South Korean movie, is a great one, because these band of selfish misfits sacrifice to save a little girl. And another example would be the Denzel Washington movie Flight. And a really, really good 1941 film with Joan Crawford called A Woman's Face has a beautiful redemption arc for a woman!!
Mordin Solus in the Mass Effect trilogy. (An interesting example in that it’s not coded as a redemption arc until the very end, and for a lot of it he actively resists the idea that there’s anything in need of repentance. Also interesting in that there are subtle hints that his redemption arc is Christian or at least involves some concept of grace.)
I can think of several that aren’t *quite* redemption arcs, but they are adjacent to them in a way that might provoke interesting discussion. Jean Valjean in Les Mis (not a redemption *arc* really because it happens so early on, but lots of tension with Valjean over whether such an arc is possible). Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre (who is punished for his misdeeds in a way but still gets what he wants and it’s not totally clear he learned anything?)
There’s something I’ve always loved about the tiny little redemption arcs that Billy Wilder seemed fond of. Basically, “self-abasing sleezeball manages to do the good and decent thing.”
William Holden in Sunset Blvd is the prickly example here, and Jack Lemmon in The Apartment is the warm and fuzzy one.
I love this topic. I definitely agree on Sidney Carton, and I think he's a neat example of a redemption arc where the act of redemption is accomplished pretty suddenly and dramatically, as opposed to a long journey. Also agree with Jean Valjean-- I think his conversion happens very early in the novel, but then so many of his actions in the rest of the novel are motivated by his desire to redeem himself (not from his original "crime" of course, but from the attitude toward life that he adopted in the ordeal that followed). It shows how the redemption arc can have a dark side-- it's really sad toward the end of the novel when Valjean estranges himself from Cosette out of shame about his past, and it seems that this could have been avoided if he had been able to recognize and be at peace with his own redemption earlier.
Emma is also a bit of a redemption arc and shows how atonement for very small, specific things can be important-- after deciding to stop being selfish, Emma takes concrete steps to be kind to those she had been rude to, to rectify the marriage she had messed up early on in the story, etc.
Another kind-of-redemption arc that I really like is Harriet Vane in Gaudy Night. Much of the novel consists of her working out whether or not her past mistakes should confine her to an academic life, resolving itself in her eventual acceptance of the fact that she is worthy of love.
I think the only redemption arcs I don't like are ones where there is a creepy sort of situation where a woman has made a mistake (in choice of marriage partner or in sexual sin), gets out of that situation (e.g. the scoundrel dies) and sees herself as unworthy of a different, superior man, and the man sort of forces her to come around and agree to marry him. This happens in a few Anthony Trollope stories.
A related topic that I think is interesting is how conversion arcs and redemption arcs relate to each other. Crime and Punishment probably wouldn't have been as compelling if Raskolnikov had had the intellectual commitments he had at the beginning and undergone the change he underwent throughout the novel, but hadn't murdered anyone; but could a conversion story ever be as compelling as a redemption story, and what would that take?
OK Eve, I loved thinking about this question, and while I love redemption arcs, I can't think of many favorites that utilize it, beyond the Zuko example. My friends would definitely say Kylo Ren. But I think Space Sweepers, the South Korean movie, is a great one, because these band of selfish misfits sacrifice to save a little girl. And another example would be the Denzel Washington movie Flight. And a really, really good 1941 film with Joan Crawford called A Woman's Face has a beautiful redemption arc for a woman!!
Repeating the one everyone is saying here: Zuko.
Darth Vader at the end of ROTJ.
Mordin Solus in the Mass Effect trilogy. (An interesting example in that it’s not coded as a redemption arc until the very end, and for a lot of it he actively resists the idea that there’s anything in need of repentance. Also interesting in that there are subtle hints that his redemption arc is Christian or at least involves some concept of grace.)
I can think of several that aren’t *quite* redemption arcs, but they are adjacent to them in a way that might provoke interesting discussion. Jean Valjean in Les Mis (not a redemption *arc* really because it happens so early on, but lots of tension with Valjean over whether such an arc is possible). Mr Rochester in Jane Eyre (who is punished for his misdeeds in a way but still gets what he wants and it’s not totally clear he learned anything?)
Thanks for the concept! I hadn’t thought about it much before. Clint Eastwood’s character in Gran Turino was an amazing example.
Hm, some good redemption arcs:
-Yes to Zuko
-Rosamund Hodge's protagonist in Crimson Bound
-I have not read A Tale of Two Cities, but....
-The Space Between Worlds (loved this book)
This was a big theme of Burning Roses by S.L. Huang. but it wasn't to my taste