Where Did Character Development Go?

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Clarissa

November 15, 2013

N says he is getting tired of Breaking Bad because we are in the middle of season 3 already but there has been absolutely no character development. The protagonist has not changed the tiniest little bit.

I told him that this isn’t a Bildungsroman (or, rather, its alternative for middle-aged people, the novel of awakening) but a situational comedy. People get into funny situations and scramble to get out of them.

We never see any character development in movies or TV shows any longer because the concept of a human being as a work in progress, as a project of life-long development has been substituted by the idea of people being “hard-wired” a certain way from birth and hence unlikely to experience any major change. This sad form of determinism finds its inspiration in insipid musings of evo psych peddlers and is especially pleasing to those who are terrified of any threat to any status quo. If we agree that the only explanation for human behavior is “well, that’s just how s/he is”, then it follows that every injustice or wrong we encounter can be dismissed with “well, that’s just how things are. There is nothing one can do about it.”

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19 responses to “Where Did Character Development Go?”

titfortat

November 16, 2013

Watch Dexter. 🙂

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ladyleahjane

November 16, 2013

I think that there’s some semblance in this culture of wanting to be a work in progress or improving on yourself, but the fundamental flaw in it is that Americans (And Canadians!) often think that you can achieve this by purchasing it somehow. 🙂

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 16, 2013
  
  I read this comment after I wrote my most recent post. Great minds. 🙂
  
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cliff arroyo

November 16, 2013

I’d need to watch more of BB (past the pilot) and/or know some tv shows or movies that you consider to have character development to make more intelligent comments so I’ll just bumble along as usual.

I also get fed up with rigid determinism, that portrays humans as caught in an eternal staging of No Exit or that serves to justify a current status quo (especially one that many are unhappy with or which cannot be justified on ethical or moral grounds).
On the other hand, there are patterns to human behavior (both universally and in the context of specific cultures) and the longer you hang around and the more you pay attention to them the stronger they seem.
That is, human beings have the basic ability to respond and act in novel ways, but most of the time most of them…. don’t.
I’d call myself a probablist (except that it already exists as a word that’s slightly different).

Anyhoo, I’m thinking of ‘quality’ TV in recent years that I like

Sopranos – The overriding theme of the show is that positive change is possible but it’s really hard and most people aren’t motivated enough to stick with it and so they fall back into what’s familiar to them no matter how hateful or harmful. Negative change is easier, and Tony, in the long final season is so unsettled by the thought of change that he turns into a monster (even more than before).

Mad Men – Again, change is hard, really hard. Circumstances change (as seen in the major decor change from the third to fourth seasons and in the arcs of many of the characters) but people’s fundamental identities don’t.
The slick NY ad executive metamorphs back into the hick he was born as when drunk or traumatized. I’m torn about the new season. The last season ended with one of the most unexpected (and oddly moving) attempts at change I’ve seen and I don’t want to be disappointed (yet his past history doesn’t make one optimistic).

Orange is the New Black – I haven’t finished the first season so I’m not sure if the changes in Piper are being brought out by prison or whether prison is revealing her true nature (her bathroom speech in episode 10 suggests the latter). The closest to change so far seems to be Sophia who might be undergoing a spiritual transition to accompany her physical changes (telling her wife to move on emotionally was a very big deal).

True Blood – Psyche! Enjoyable junk but characterization? ha ha ha!

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 16, 2013
  
  We tried watching Sopranos once but we didn’t understand what was going on at all. It was the first episode of season 3 or 4 and it was the weirdest thing. Nothing was happening at all. The FBI was sitting in front of the character’s hours waiting for something. We waited too but finally gave up.
  
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  1. cliff arroyo
    
    November 16, 2013
    
    My first episode was the first of season 2 and it managed to totally draw me in (the opening song-montage was amazing though non-Americans might not get it all) and it introduced Janice who managed to be completely irritating and tragic and hilarious simultaneously (many fans hated, hated, _hated_ the character but she was one my favorites from the beginning just because she was such a mess).
    
    And do Mad Men (starting at the very beginning and realizing it takes a few episodes to really get going).
    
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musteryou

November 16, 2013

It’s especially strange when one makes a point of emphasizing change, for example: “Yesterday I was a yellow iceberg and then I turned orange and it seems like I am becoming red.” People respond with: “Okay, so you are very confused. You seem to be saying you are yellow and orange and red. I don’t get it. How can we have an iceberg that is three colors at the same time? Or do you just think you are more special than the rest of us?”

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1. Kathleen
  
  November 16, 2013
  
  Musteryou – Right on! You’ve nailed it – this is exactly how people respond. And it’s so frustrating!
  
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  1. musteryou
    
    November 16, 2013
    
    Yes, and they think they’ve nailed me, too, but it’s the opposite because to make an assumption that I am unclear about who I am, or that I remain the child I was at 15 is to immerse oneself in a giant and unrealistic fantasy. Suppose I turned out to be me myself at 45, how would you handle it then?
    
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Stringer Bell

November 16, 2013

I won’t get tired of repeating this: You need to watch ‘The Wire’. Probably the greatest TV show of all time, and I don’t say that lightly.

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Ol.

November 16, 2013

Watch. The. Wire. Now!

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David Bellamy

November 16, 2013

I watched The Lone Ranger last night. It got terrible reviews, but I loved it. It was amazingly subtle. and there was indeed character development. What I will say about it is: Imagine what would happen if Toni Morrison teamed up with Mel Brooks to make a James Bond-like film for American sensibilities.

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Hattie

November 16, 2013

I’m reading that new book about Charlie Manson by Jeff Guinn.
Turn off your TV and read it.
I don’t know why people expect to learn anything from movies and TV.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 16, 2013
  
  If I read any more than I already do, letters will start coming out of my ears. 🙂 🙂
  
  A new book on Charlie Manson sounds very tempting, though.
  
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twicerandomly

November 16, 2013

I think it’s OK to spend 45 minutes a day unproductively.
Lately I’ve been watching Nashville, and although I have a few criticisms of it, there are some things it does very well. The main character, a woman in her forties, has a sex life, which is not treated as a joke. It seems so often that we are supposed to assume that middle aged women have a sex life, but it is not something that anyone would be interested in knowing about. As she is a singer, she goes on tour and leaves her children to be looked after by their father. No guilt, no suggestion that a good mother would stay home, no jokes about the father being incompetent. When they separate, they both put aside their hurt and anger to make sure the children have a good relationship with the other parent. And so on. Unobtrusively feminist.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 16, 2013
  
  It really sounds like television is leaving at least some of the most obnoxious stereotypes behind. I still remember the time when Allie McBeal was the most popular show on TV and that wasn’t such a long time ago.
  
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hkatz

November 16, 2013

“substituted by the idea of people being “hard-wired” a certain way from birth and hence unlikely to experience any major change.”

Is this a new idea? The language of computer hard-wiring and evopsych may be new, but it’s being applied to old ideas – people born to ‘bad’ parents have ‘bad blood’ themselves and will stay that way, people born into a certain race or gender or socioeconomic class all possess certain properties of mind and character that are impervious to change, etc. It just seems like old ideas get recycled in new forms, using scientific-sounding language without a real understanding of the science. (For instance, ‘genetic’ doesn’t mean ‘impervious to change…’)

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  November 16, 2013
  
  I don’t know how new it is in North America but for me, coming from a different culture, this is a very jarring approach. And it’s precisely this pseudo-scientific aura that the whole thing has that annoys me so much.
  
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Patrick Allen Foster

November 17, 2013

If you want character development in Breaking Bad, pay attention to Jesse Pinkman.

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