This topic begins with character growth, a character must start with a problem deep within and in the end the audience expects the character to actually grow, even if he didn’t accomplish his goal there needs to be an improvement and change throughout the course of action that he goes through.
Weakness
The concept of weakness is the main focus, as it is the best way to experience change and growth. As humans, when we are born we are the weakest animal, most animals when born immediatly start walking, or eating or actually doing something for their survival. A baby horse as soon as it’s out of his mother’s womb starts walking and running. They need it or they die. But as humans we are born extremelly vulnerable and need a lot of help, as well as a looooooot of time to grow. The result of that growth is to be less vulnerable and weak, less sensible maybe.
There are two types of weakness:
- Psycological – is a weakness that only affects the hero and no one else
- Moral – is a weakness that imorrally affects the characters surrounding the hero
A psycological weakness can evolve to be also a moral weakness, the two combined are what makes up for good character development.
A good story, a well developed story needs to meet a few topics:
- Make me care!
- Don’t give the answer to the audience, make them believe they are getting to a solution, when in fact, as a story teller, you are doing it for them
- Can you evoque wonder?
- Story telling is made of guidelines, not hard, strict rules
In this task we were asked to chose three movies that we enjoyed and break them down for story and character development, analyse how the main characters evolve, how the characters drive the story and to identify it’s similarities.
How to train your dragon
This is one of my favourite movies of all time, in the village of Berk in a remote island live vikings who are ofter attacked by dragons, who steal their food, burn the village and endanger people’s lives. They hunt the dragons and fight them off and that makes them stronger and proud of being viking, but Hiccup, the son of the village chief is a very awkward kid and too sensible, not strong enough to fight the dragons, so he uses his other abilities to build mechanical devices to help him do what he cannot do with his very little strength. His projects ussually backfire.
One day, in one of the dragon attacks in the village, Hiccup uses one of those devices to shoot down a Night Fury – one of the most dangerous and rarest dragons, there was very little information about him. So Hiccup shoots him down but no one believes him, so he searches for him on his own and finds him still tied with his net and is uncapable to kill the dragon, so he releases him.
His father Stoik is determined to find the dragons nest and enrrols Hiccup in a dragon fighting class where there are other kids including the girl he has a crush on, Astrid. Later on, Hiccup returns to the place where he found the dragon and finds him there, he couldn’t fly as the net had tore of part of his tail fin. Hiccup and the dragon become closer and he names him Toothless because of his retractable teeth and as he felt bad for hurting him he designs a prosthetic tail fin which allows the dragon to fly when he rides him, controling the prosthetic.
He learns a lot about dragon behavior and finds a way to dominate them without any harm and earns the class respect, but in his final exam he will have to kill a dragon. All his sudden success in the class makes Astrid jealous and suspicious and follows him to the forest and discovers his secret. Hiccup takes Astrid for a ride to show her that dragons are not so dangerous and she reminds him of his final exam. Right after this, Toothless enters some sort of hypnosis and takes them to the dragons nest where they discover that the dragons steal food for a superior and giant dragon called Red Death, who kills them if they don’t bring enough food.
With this discovery, Astrid wants to tell the people what they just found out and that the dragons steal food because their lives are in danger, but Hiccup decides that it is too dangerous for Toothless so they keep it a secret.
The next day, Hiccup has his final exam and tries to dominate the dragon with his abilities and knowledge about dragons but Stoik, Hiccup’s father angers the dragon into attacking, Toothless arrives to protect Hiccup and is captured by the vikings. Accidentally hiccup reveals to his father that Toothless took them to the nest and Stoik disowns him and takes toothless in the main ship to lead them to the nest. Hiccup is devastated and Astrid helps him regain his confidence, which then leads to his search for Hiccup along with the other kids from the class.
The vikings find the nest and break it open, causing the dragons to fly away but also awakening the Red Death that soon attacks the vikings, which they did not expect nor were prepared for. Right after this Hiccup and his friends show up riding the captive dragons of the village and distract Red Death, while Hiccup releases Toothless, almost drowning, but Stoik runs to their rescue, saving them and reconciling with his son. Hiccup and Toothless are able to kill the Red Death by shooting a fireball while he prepares to spit fire, but Hiccup gets injured, losing his lower left leg, when he wakes up, now in the village, Gobber the blacksmith designs him a prothetics and he is admired by everyone in Berk. Astrid kisses him and a new era begins, where dragons live among humans.
Character Breakdown
Hiccup
- In the beggining of the movie he is a very shy kid, doesn’t really trust his abilities and feels that his father looks at him with disapointment, he tries to prove his worth but always ends up failling.
- Hiccup starts evolving with the friendship with toothless and discovers a lot about dragons and that his people are wrong about them
- He aquires the respect of the viking people for suddendly being so good at dominating dragons
- Hiccup is pressured into killing a dragon and make his father proud but his secret is revealed when toothless comes to his rescue – toothless is jailed
- Hiccup is desowned by his father and no one believes him anymore
- Hiccup is devastated but Astrid helps him get his self confidence back and strength to save Toothless and the viking people
- Stoik saves Hiccup and Toothless from drowning
- Father and son make amends
- Toothless saves Hiccup from dying after defeating Red Death
- Hiccup loses his lower leg
- The viking people change their behavior towards dragons and accept them in their daily life – Hiccup has the respect of the people
Who drives the story?
This story is driven by Hiccup, as he begins as someone shy and disregarded, no one really believes him and he is affraid of most things. Trying to prove himself he is able to hit a Night Fury and cannot kill him, so they become friends. He improves his knowledge with dragons and sees them like no one else. When pressured to kill a dragon he tries to prove to everyone they’re not bad and the dragon attacks him, leading toothless to come to his rescue, and eventually jailed by vikings. He looses the people’s respect and is disowned by his father who then takes toothless to lead him to the dragons nest. Hiccup goes after them and almost drowns when saving toothless, his father saves them both and they reconcile.
In the end, they’re able to kill the giant dragon and hiccup loses his lower leg, when he wakes up, everyone had a dragon and had changed their minds about them. A new era begins and dragons and humans live together. Hiccup’s way of viewing the world changed the world around him and he never gave up proving everyone he didn’t have to be the same as everyone else, everyone has a skill and it doesn’t necessarilly mean is better or worse.
Onward
In a world once filled with mystical creatures, technology evolved and those creatures began to find magic obsolete and almost no one practised it anymore. In the city of New Mushroomton, nowadays, live two elf brothers, Ian and Barley Lightfoot, Ian being a very sensitive and shy younger brother and Barley being the confident and impulsive older brother, they live with their mother and their father died shortly after Ian was born. Laurel, their mother has a new boyfriend, a half centaur policeman whom the brothers dislike.
On Ian’s sixteenth birthday, Laurel gives her sons a present that their father left to open on Ian’s birthday: a magical staff, a rare Phoenix gem and a letter with a visitation spell which allowed them to ressurect their father for one day and give them the opportunity to meet him for a full day. Ian succeeds in casting the spell but the gem desintegrates and the spell isn’t finished which results in them having only the lower half of his father’s body.
The brothers go on an adventure to search for another gem to complete the spell on Barley’s van which he called guinevere. When their mother discovers their children went on a dangerous adventure she leaves to look for them.
Ian and Barley visit the Manticore’s tavern, that has become a family restaurant managed by a manticore with the name of Corey, while fighting over a map which lead them there Corey realises how boring her life is and drives the costumers away and accidentally sets the map on fire as well as the restaurant. Ian and Barley are left with one more clue to find the gem, a childrens menu map that points them to the Raven’s Point (a nearby mountain). When Laurel arrives to the restaurant, the children have departed and she befriends Corey which warns Laurel that the brothers search can trigger the awakening of a curse that can only be defeated by her sword, which they steal from a pawn shop.
When arriving at the mountain, Ian and Barley are followed by the police and a group of pixie motards but can luckely get away and follow the lead of ravens point – to follow the direction in which various raven statues point. Colt, Laurel’s boyfriend goes after them, calling reinforcements and when he is almost catching the brothers, Barley sacrifices Guinevere to stall the policeman. While following the ravens path they enter a cave and fight various threats during which Barley reveals to Ian that he refused to say goodbye to their father before he died. On the last obstacle from the cave they appear to be back at Ian’s highschool and he lashes out on Barley, leaving with his father’s lower body.
Ian rereads the list of things he wanted to do with his father and realises that his brother has always been his father figure and returns to make amends with his brother. Barley discovers that the gem they’ve been looking for is in a fountain across the street from the highschool and when he picks it up the curse Corey talked about is activated, a dragon made of pieces from the school and everything around it emerges and tries to recover the gem. The staff Ian needs to fight the dragon is away and he retrieves it though magic from a splint of magic wood stuck in his hand to continue the fight. Corey and Laurel arrive and defeat the dragon with Cprey’s sword , buying Ian time to to cast the visitation spell and fully reform his father’s body, Ian sends Barley to go and say a proper goodbye to his father. Laurel, with the help of Ian is able to kill the dragon and destroy it. When their father dissolves, Barley tells Ian that their father is proud of him and they hug.
Later on, Ian surprises Barley by painting his new van with his new abilities with magic, calling the van “Guinevere the second”. Corey reopens the restaurant now telling stories about past adventures, Corey and Laurel become friends and Ian and Barley develop a better relationship with Colt, who started to chase bad guys with his own foot. The world becomes more aware of magic and it is introduced in the modern society.
Character Breakdown
Ian
- Ian is a very shy and awkward kid who never met his father as he died shortly after he was born
- His brother is the complete oposite from him, enthusiasatic, impulsive and a fanatic for role playing games
- When they recieve the present their father left for when they were both 16 Ian has finally the chance to meet his father and spend one day with him. His hope rises
- He accidentally succeeds in casting the spell but the gem dissolves and his father is only half full
- Ian and Barley go on an adventure to find another gem and have their father back
- They meet Corey who then sends them to ravens point
- Colt arrives to take them home but they are able to run away
- They go through numerous threats and Barley reveals he refused to say goodbye to his father before he died
- They end up at Ian’s highschool and he gets really mad at Barley but soon realises he is the father he never had
- They discover the magic gem and are able to have their whole father back
- Ian sends Barley to say goodbye to their father while Ian holds off the curse
- Barley is the only one to be with his father and tells Ian how proud their father was of him
- Ian is different as he now has an answer he was looking for his whole life – who was he and who was his father – he had it all the whole time
Who drives the story?
This story is driven by Ian and Barley father, Willem, he is the key and purpose thoughout the whole plot. As soon as the brothers discover that they have the chance to meet their father one more time everything evolves around it. Ian having so little confidence in himself and not knowing who he is and Barley having the sour feeling of refusing to say goodbye to his father before he died. In the end, Ian realises that his father figure is his brother and gives up his only chance to meet his father just so Barley could have the chance to say goodbye. He realises the answers he was looking for his whole life were right in front of him – Ian turns to magic after the whole thing and the world starts vewing it not as an obsolete practice, but something that’s part of their culture.
Despicable Me
A supervilain named Gru is extremelly angry when an unknown supervilain steals the Great Pyramid of Giza, with the help of Dr. Nefario, his scientist partner in crime and his minions Gru decides to steal the moon by shrinking it. Ofcourse, this being an expensive procedure Gru requests to The Bank of Evil for a loan, that is immeadiatly denied unless he had the shrinking ray as a guaranty of his success in the mission. When Gru discovers who his rival is, he openly declares “war”.
Gru and the minions steal the shrink ray but are soon surprised by Vector who steals it from them. In an attempt to recover the shrink ray Gru tries to enter Vector’s fort but is unsuccessfull and notices three orfan girls who can enter easily as they are selling cookies. Gru disguises and adopts the girls, Margo, Edith and Agnes, planning to use them to infiltrate Vector’s base. The girls are stubborn and Gru strugles to nurture them, as he doesn’t know how to do it.
Eventually, Gru is able to steal back the shrink ray and plans to abandon the girls at a theme park, where instead of abandoning them he starts bonding with them. When Gru contacts The Bank of Evil, mr. Perkins refuses to give him the loan and the girls offer him their little amount of money from their piggy banks, inspired, Gru and the minions start selling some things gru stole over the years and are able to build a spacecraft without the need of any loan. The plan is to steal the moon on the day it is closer to earth which is the same day as the girls ballet recital, but Dr. Nefario, affraid that it would ruin the plan calls the orphanage and the girls are taken back. Mr. Perkins tips of Vector of Gru’s possession of the shrik ray and pressures him to take action.
Gru succeeds in his mission to steal the moon and rushes back to earth to the recital and soon realises that Vector took them captive and wants the moon in exchange for the girls. Gru gives up the moon, but Vector doesn’t fullfill his part of the deal and runs away with the girls and the moon. Meanwhile, Dr. Nefario discovers that the shrink ray has a side effect, the bigger the shrinked object is the faster it goes back to it’s original form. With this, Gru, the minions and Dr. Nefario rescue the girls in the middle of a air trip and soon the moon starts growing and orbits back to it’s place taking vector with it.
Later on, Gru readopts the girls, writting them a bedtime story based on his own experience with them, the girls perform the recital to Gru, Dr. Nefario, the minions and Gru’s mother until a minion changes the music to a modern dance party.
Character Breakdown
Gru
- Gru is a very selfish man and only cares about himself and in being the best vilain that ever lived
- He is very upset that a better vilain stole the Great Pyramid of Giza
- He wants to steal the moon, but needs the shrink ray gun to get the loan from The Bank of Evil
- He cannot enter Vector’s fort and comes up with a plan – to adopt 3 girls who sell cookies, use them to enter the fort and steal the shrink ray
- He disguises and adopts the girls and is able to steal the shrink ray gun
- He has trouble nursing the girls
- The Bank of Evil refuses to loan him the money for his evil plan, and everyone around him wants to help, which inspires him and the minions to gather materials and sell some thing in order to build a spacecraft to go to the moon
- The day he has to steal the moon is the same day of the girls ballet recital and Dr. Nefario sends the girls back to the orphanage to avoid any distractions
- Gru steals the moon and rushes back to earth to the recital
- When he gets there, it had already finished and discovers Vector has them
- He trades the moon for the girls but vector runs away with both
- He discovers the shrink ray is only temporary and the bigger the shrinked object the faster it is to get back to it’s original size, so they go and rescue the girls
- The moon gets back to it’s original size and place and Vector goes with it
- Gru readopts the girls and now reads them bedtime stories created by him
Who drives the story?
This story is driven by the girls, as everything Gru does from the moment he adopts them is whether to do things against them, as he didn’t like them nor want them, but as soon as Gru started to spend more time with them, they drive the story. Gru starts having a purpose and changes his way with everything around him.