SPOILERS!
Who doesn't love a good villain or anti hero? Sometimes we find ourselves more drawn to a well crafted bad guy than to the protagonist we're meant to be identifying with, and when those characters are forced into an uneasy alliance it results in some of the most satisfying stories. The answer to this slightly uncomfortable tendency to find the villain engaging is the redemptive character arc. A good redemption arc can often enrich or even trump the main plot. But what exactly qualifies as redemption? What's the difference in narrative terms between reader forgiveness, suffering and atonement? This week the dragons take a look at anti heroes who try to make amends. Under the microscope in this episode - Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Boys and many more.
Please be aware that as Jules and Madeleine are looking at complete character arcs, this episode will include spoilers for Unveiled, The Boys and The Harmatia Cycle.
Title music: Ecstasy by Smiling Cynic
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 194: Creaky Floorboards & Locked Doors - Learning Tension and Suspense from Gothic Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 193: Tragic Heroes and Unexpected Children - More Tropes We Love in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 192: Fitted Breastplates & Feminine Mystique - Sexist Absurdities in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 191: It's Harder that You Think - Writing Sex Scenes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 190: Art and Artifice - What Jane Austen has to say to a Modern Readership
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 189: Last One Alive - Final Girl Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 188: I'm Not Gay, I'm Just Evil - The Queer Coded Villain Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 187: Designer Flu & Superhumans - The Conspiracy Theory Trope in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 186: Going Through Changes - Shapeshifters in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 184: Auguries and Omens - Bird Symbolism in Myth and Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 183: The Future We Deserve? - Learning Hope From Science Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 182: Full Immersion Fantasy - the Appeal of RPG
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 181: Of Their Time - the Changing Faces of Diversity and Prejudice in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 180: 10,000 - A Celebration of Dissecting Dragons
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 179: Truth, Lies & the Big Misunderstanding - Honesty and Deception Tropes in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 178: Of Course, This Means War - Narrative Conflict in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 177: Of Good and Evil - Depictions of Morality in Speculative Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 176: Fact vs Fiction - Blending the Real with the Fantastical in Historical Fiction
Dissecting Dragons: Episode 175: Winter is Here - End of Thrones
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Lit Society: Books and Drama
Ex Libris
Write The Book: Conversations on Craft
Gulliver’s Travels
Great Expectations
Fresh Air
Myths and Legends