Sorry I missed everyone last week, I was on vacation! Over the weekend I saw Gran Torino. It was amazing, but it totally wasn’t what I was expecting. From the previews, I thought it was going to be about an older man who took it upon himself to become a champion of his neighborhood by warding off thugs and gangs. In the end, it’s what the hero of this movie did, but he definitely wasn’t a typical hero and in the beginning I wasn’t even sure I liked this scary, bitter guy. Walt Kowalski is a (recently widowed) Korean war vet. He’s grouchy and more than a little racist. He didn’t want to champion anyone and he sure as hell didn’t want to be a hero to his immigrant neighbors.***Spoiler Alert***
If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want it spoiled don’t read any further.
Without going into too much detail, through a series of events, Walt ends up befriending the neighbor boy (Thao), his sister (Sue), and their Hmong family. Sue sees something good in him and pretty much ignores his racist sentiments. Through this, an odd bond forms between them and by the end of the movie he makes an incredible choice. He knew that Thao would never have a chance to survive the neighborhood with a certain Hmong gang around so he literally sacrificed his life and they were sent to prison. They murdered him in front of witnesses—people who would have been too scared to talk to the police before—but because of what he’d done for the neighborhood, that code of silence was broken. Even though Walt wasn’t a typical hero, he had many layers that were peeled back in each scene. Still, his core attitude didn’t change and I appreciated that b/c PC characters can get boring and if you change a character too much, it becomes unrealistic.
Currently I’m plotting out a story where the heroine is the antithesis of what a heroine should be. I was worried about developing her character but after seeing that movie I’m going to keep moving in the same direction. She won’t be the most likeable woman in the beginning but I hope to pull back all her layers to reveal what makes her tick.
I’ve been trying to think of characters in books who start out as villains but end up as heroes and I’m drawing a complete blank. Anyone have any recommendations? Do you like reading about villains turned into heroes/heroines? What makes a character unredeemable?
6 comments:
Ack! Gran Torino is sitting on my coffee table watching to be watched, so I couldn't read this!
I like that turnabout in a story, but I can't think of one at the moment, either. Sorry! It's not an easy task to start with an unlikeable character and make them a hero.
Katie, check out Joey Hill's books, A Mermaid's Kiss and A Witch's Beauty. She did a marvelous job of redeeming a heroine I wasn't altogether convinced was redeemable enough to carry her own book.
Thanks for the movie recommendation. I need to pick that one up. (Like I have time to watch movies...*sigh*)
Ooooh! Great post topic, Katie. Off the top of my head I'd have to say the most stunning example I've read of a villain becoming a hero is the character of Angus Thermopyle in Stephen Donaldson's The Gap series (SciFi).
When we first encounter Angus he's an illegal--pretty much scum of the earth. He steals, he murders and worse, he sells his fellow humans to the aliens to be genetically mutated. When a young female police cadet ends up in his clutches, he rapes her, abuses her and gives her a zone implant so he can control her.
He's set-up for a crime he didn't actually commit and used as political scapegoat. He's also "welded" turned into a cyborg and programmed to do some terrible things. He actually manages to break his programming and even though he has the power to inflict even more damage now, he chooses to put himself at risk and he does redeem himself.
And I do believe it's purely through the skill of the author that I actually end up on Angus's side, rooting for him.
He's not the only one, BTW. In fact, throughout this entire series, all the lead characters evolve from villains to heroes and vice versa. It is, quite frankly, mind-blowing!
So I say go for it, Katie! I love reading stories that venture outside "the box"!
Liane - I'll definitely check her out, especially since it's a heroine who needs to be redeemed.
Maree - that sounds really interesting! For me, the whole rape thing would make him pretty much un redeemable. It's my one hot button. I still might check out the series though :)
I really liked Gran Torino. Some of the racist language made me cringe, but I did think Eastwood's character made the ultimate sacrifice for Thao.
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