Why Redemption Stories Work

I'm a big fan of redemption stories. From books to film, there's nothing better than seeing a terrible person become someone I like. But why do stories like these have such a strong attraction? Here's three examples that highlight why I think they're so popular.


The Characters Overcome Themselves

Vader Attacks Jedi on Kessel

It may be a little bit schadenfreude (pleasure from other's pain), but we like watching others overcome adversity.

One of my all time favorite redemption stories is Star Wars. Sure the whole saga has rebels and Imperials battling for supremacy, but the only character who has to make the decision between right and wrong is Anakin Skywalker. Even if George Lucas decided unconsciously, he chose well when he set the framework for Star Wars on the redemption story of Darth Vader. With the entire galaxy mirroring the choices of one man, the stakes are dangerously high.

But the choice has already been made, right? Darth Vader is a bad guy.

Yes, but what fun is that? If you like tragedies, then maybe you're okay leaving it there. But most people, myself included, prefer to hope for something better. We want the bad guy to either get beaten (the hero wins) or have the villain see the error of his ways and stop the insanity he's set in motion. And how amazing is a story when both happen?

Vader, behind the mask, actually feels sorry for what he's done. The price he paid to become the Dark Lord was higher than he expected and reversing that choice will literally tear an empire apart and destroy him. But he'll make that choice because he has to.

They Show That Those Who Fall Are Just Like Us

Macbeth's Regret

In his book, Story, using the tale of Macbeth, Robert McKee shows what actually makes characters more likeable. In Act 2, Scene 2, Macbeth has given into his wife's urging and killed the king in order to promote himself. But instead of being happy over his life to come, he can only think about what he's done. 

I'll go no more:
I am afraid to think what I have done;
Look on it again I dare not.
... 
Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will rather
The multitudinous seas in incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

Macbeth feels remorse and guilt for what he's done. Have you ever felt remorse or guilt? Of course you have! When we fail, we have to pick ourselves back up and try again. Of course, I'm not saying our sins are at Macbeth's level, but we like to see someone fall and get back up again because we've fallen and had to get back up again too. 

They Provide Hope

Max Bringing Charlie Back From the Edge

One of my current favorite redemption movies is Real Steel (oddly enough, it's another story where the son brings his father back from the edge). Even from the beginning, we like down-and-out loser, Charlie. He's a hard working ex-boxer, who is witty and funny. But he also rushes in to things far too quickly. He's arrogant, self-centered, and has lost everything in the world of robot boxing.

Enter Max, the likeable kid who's thrown into Charlie's world and see's his dad for what he is, a hustler and consummate bull-crap artist. But Max has all of Charlie's good habits, without the cynicism that comes from his father's experience.

Instantly, we hope Charlie can pull himself together for Max's sake. That hope keeps you going through one try/fail cycle after another. But when it finally does pay off, the rush from the emotional payoff is pure gold. And that is why redemption stories will always be popular. Because the elation we feel from seeing someone overcome themselves and arrive at a better place.

The Final Frame
So what are some of your favorite redemption stories and why? Are there aspects of redemption stories that you hate?

Real Steel and Chinatown

I'll admit it. I'm a sucker for redemption stories. And really, who isn't?

Having missed the summer blockbuster rush (Captain America, X-Men: First Class, Green Lantern, Transformers 3, Kung Fu Panda 2), I was excited for the late arrival of Real Steel. My wife and I finally managed to corner a few hours for a normal date night and snuck off to a late show. I chose Real Steel for the killer trailer/sci-fi elements. She chose it for Hugh Jackman (hey, I'm man enough to admit he's sexy).

[Click to watch the trailer on YouTube]

It's the story of a down and out boxer fighting a meaningless existence in the not so distant world of robot boxing. But it's not just his redemption that had me begging for more. There's also the story of his son, who just lost his mother and has no father. And Atom: a Gen Two sparring bot so worthless he doesn't even qualify as garbage. Throw in the romantic plot line of a woman who believes in a man that's lost his way and Real Steel had me cheering and crying. (Yeah. I cry in movies. But with the dark theater and my face in the popcorn bucket no one can see.)


I've been studying story structure recently and loved this one. The only reason I can see it garnered the PG-13 was maybe for robot violence, but the swears I caught were of the hell and damn variety, of which there was only one or two. Overall, I thought the acting was awesome, the animation/special effects were incredibly well done, and the story was very well written.

But emotionally, I was completely high coming out of that theater. I wanted more. I wanted to read the book. Buy the soundtrack. Get a figure of Atom for my desk. I'm going to be thinking about it for days. And isn't that what we like most about good stories? That we can chew on them for days and weeks at a time? Maybe it was just the IMAX experience, but I doubt it.

So if you have a chance, see Real Steel and let me know what you think.

[Click to watch the trailer on YouTube]

My other film recommendation is Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson. Its an older flick that came out in 1974. It's rated R for violence and brief nudity. It was discussed heavily in Robert McKee's book, Story: Substance, Structure, Style and the Principles of Screenwriting.

Chinatown is a well written detective story with a killer cast (Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway are amazingly young). While the story kept me guessing, I have to say the quality of the writing and the actor's abilities to pull it off were what made the movie. There is so much sub-text that goes unsaid that you really have to watch the actors body language and expressions to get all of it. It was so good that I had to watch it a couple times just to see the emotional reactions on their faces.


So if you want to see a good look at dialog and sub-text, give Chinatown a try.


Oh, and one more thing about Chinatown...

*** Spoiler Alert *** Spoiler Alert ***

I can't believe the bad guy gets away with it! It's one of those movies that completely leaves you stunned at the end because it just has such a rough ending.