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DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?

What effect does character changing have on the audience?

28 JUN 2026

Show Notes

Stu, Chas and Mel finally begin their long-awaited journey into CHARACTER ARCS. In this “primer” episode, we try find some learnings and analytical lenses that we can then apply in future breakdowns.

In this episode, we explore differences between a character learning something and a character fundamentally changing, how to dramatise that, and how the show teaches the audience to perceive that transformation (whether positively or negatively).

Throughout the discussion, we skate over A NEW HOPE, BLUE MOON, BREAKING BAD, BETTER CALL SAUL, the French real-time thriller FULL TIME, A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS, THE GREEN KNIGHT, ALL OF US STRANGERS, PREDATOR BADLANDS, FIELD OF DREAMS, MEG 2, and Stu’s receding hairline.

Ultimately, this discussion synthesises into a series of questions to ask of a story and the main point-of-view character living through that story:

  • Does the audience enter the story with an expectation that characters will change?
  • How does the story teach the audience to expect characters to change or not?
  • Do the characters change? Is it experiential change or internal value change? How is that dramatised?
  • Is the character aware that they changed? How do they feel about that change? Does that matter?
  • How does the story want the audience to feel about that change? If different to the character’s perception, how does the story pull that off?
  • How does the story world punish or reward the change?
  • What are the values explored by the arc? How does this relate to the theme?
  • How is contrast vs affinity/unity portrayed through the characters’ journey? Order vs disorder vs inertia
  • What is the emotional event created between the character and audience as a result of the journey? Does the character end up more intimate or distant from the audience?

In upcoming episodes, we intend to apply these lenses to stories with STEADFAST/RESILIENT arcs, POSITIVE arcs, NEGATIVE arcs and - potentially - a “WTF is this?!” arc.

Please check out our homework discussion on Patreon. And if you want to vote on the stories we’re gonna breakdown, sign up!

"Even calling it an arc is a misnomer, right? Because an arc, we think of that as shaped like a rainbow. And most of it is actually a character rollercoaster. No matter whether they change or not, whether it’s for the good or the worst, it’s usually like there’s corkscrews, there’s loop-de-loops, there’s backtracking."

— Mel Killingsworth  |  DZ-128: What even is a Character Arc?

Like this episode? Discuss with our Patrons on Patreon. Or on Reddit!

Thanks to our Patrons, especially Khrob, Theis, Sandra, Jesse, Randy, Paulo, Thomas, Jennifer, Malay, Alexandre & Natalie and Lily.

As always: SPOILERS ABOUND and all copyright material used under fair use for educational purposes.

Resources

Transcript

Read the transcript for this episode.

Chapters

  • 00:00:00 – Cold Open
  • 00:00:17 – Character Arcs: A Primer on What We're Really Asking
  • 00:03:13 – › Three layers of an arc: character, self-perception, audience
  • 00:07:04 – › The four-quadrant map: change, no change, better, worse
  • 00:10:15 – › Why calling it an arc is already a misnomer
  • 00:13:35 – What We Each Want to Learn from This Series
  • 00:19:56 – › Whether emotional authenticity is becoming more valuable than spectacle
  • 00:23:37 – › Why stories let us safely inhabit experiences outside our own
  • 00:30:04 – The Deep Question: Can Characters Actually Change?
  • 00:35:49 – › Contrast and affinity as the design logic of transformation
  • 00:41:40 – › The rock metaphor: external forces versus intrinsic change
  • 00:46:43 – › Order, disorder, and inertia as the spectrum of arc types
  • 00:50:29 – Three Layers of Judgment: Character, World, and Audience
  • 00:56:45 – › How the filmmaker positions the audience relative to the character
  • 01:00:01 – › Do audiences enter stories expecting change at all?
  • 01:06:09 – › Mapping the inner journey against plot beats
  • 01:09:28 – › Why low points exist to make the climax feel earned
  • 01:12:09 – Key Learnings & Wrap Up
  • 01:26:47 – Thanks to Our Patreons!

Films

Shows

KEY IDEAS

Three Layers Of Character Arc

"There are two layers to the character's arc, or three really, which is what happens to the character: do they change? Or not change? For the better or worse? What is the character's experience of that or belief of that? Do they believe they've changed for better or for worse? And then the third is what is the audience perspective on that? So a character can change, that's the first kind of filter: have they changedm have they not? Then there's the judgment layer from the character which is: do I believe this is for the better or for the worse? And then there's our perception of that."

— Stu Willis (00:11:11) · Character Arcs · Emotional Impact

Change As Movement, Not Just Outcome

"It is the movement that releases emotion. That's part of my theory. It is seeing the character go from A to B. That is actually the releasing of the emotion, not the B, whatever B is."

— Stu Willis (00:42:24) · Emotional Impact · Emotional Event

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