Consistency does not mean rigid or one-note; it just means that if a character is established in one episode as being, say, overly determined and focused, and in a later episode is suddenly full of wanderlust, that change has to be accounted for by some development that occurred in the story.
Character development in Sentai - Is it better than it used to be?
- Thread starter lazycoconut
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Consistency does not mean rigid or one-note; it just means that if a character is established in one episode as being, say, overly determined and focused, and in a later episode is suddenly full of wanderlust, that change has to be accounted for by some development that occurred in the story.
KouAidou
二番目の翻訳者
I didn't say that it did, I just said "people often confuse one for the other." And I'm trying to make the point that rigidly one-note characters (like many characters in recent sentai) are not inherently better than characters who have no single defining trait (like many characters in older sentai).
And in a strictly realistic sense, it is entirely possible for a person to go from overly determined and focused to being full of wanderlust without any major development in their character. I kinda go between those, myself.
Personally, I think that the characters in the older sentais are just as prone to one-note characterization as the recent ones. And besides, when the show is just starting, it's good to have that one-note, at least for me, as it gives me a hook for that character. Of course, if they don't build on that and flesh the character, that's bad, and there are examples of that sort of thing no matter which decade of sentai you're looking at.
Well, that's the difference between stories and real life; in a story, things happen for a reason and have a point to them, both of which must be accessible to the audience. People in real life don't have to bother about that.
KouAidou
二番目の翻訳者
I guess that's your call. I tend to get bugged by writing that wants to establish characters with a single obvious trait, rather than a "he's this sort of person" personality. In the case of something like Sentai where there's so many characters to introduce, I'd rather the characters start out feeling sort of generic and slowly get to know who they really are as the series progresses than have a bunch of gimmicks shoved in my face from day one. (Usually, anyway. Not always. I am so inconsistent!)
Obviously if a generic character is never fleshed out, it's just as bad characterization as a one-note character never acquiring other traits. But again, it's not "consistency vs. lack of consistency" that's the problem there, especially if you're defining consistency as how a character acts rather than who they are.
But I think even fictional characters can have a personality that, from day one, encompasses more than one trait or one sort of reaction to things. Someone who is very sweet but is capable of using that sweetness to be nasty and manipulative towards people she doesn't like; someone who is very driven but also has a romantic side. Someone who is all four of those things at once! Characterization can be done such that the more subtle traits can come out as the series progresses and feel organic without a single "event" happening to bring them out.
Which I guess is why I don't like "one note character who gradually gets fleshed out" as a writing technique... if the writer is trying to write Joe Bob as a driven guy with a romantic side, but you as an audience have it in your head that characters should have a single obvious trait until plot happens to make it otherwise, then what happens when "overly focused and determined" Joe Bob has an episode about his secret wanderlust? You'll automatically assume it's inconsistent characterization, even if it was part of his personality his whole time.
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Sentaifan'07 Xman
"Let's DRIVING!!!!!"
Interesting strong points, Kou.
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