Translation: there’s no character arc.

>>>not every protagonist needs a character arc or a hero?s journey. And not every story needs a theme or a message. Far more essential is good strong conflict involving interesting characters.

But does it necessarily follow that an arc makes a character uninteresting? I would say: it depends.

I do not slavishly adhere to the paradigm of the “hero’s journey”. In fact, I think the the pop interpretation of the source writings (principally Jung and Campbell) is defective.

I don’t believe that the protagonist must always have a character arc. Sometimes, it can be a supporting character who changes. And, yes, sometimes there can be no character arc.

Last night I viewed a wonderful European film about a mother and a son and their very conflicted relationship. There wasn’t much action. There is a minor character arc in the first half — but by the end of the story the two have reverted to their initial character state. They learned no thematic lessons, accomplished no objective goal. In that story, that creative choice worked; I was very moved by the denouement.

In my unwritten book of rules, it takes more creative chops to pull off a believable character arc than it does an action packed plot. (Like you, I suspect), I have gagged at character arcs patched into stories for no other reason than blind adherence to this or that paradigm.

That said, my personal preference tilts toward stories with credible character arcs.