Re-defining the Character Arc through Berger and Luckmann's The Social Construction of Reality.

This article focuses on redefining the cinematic Character Arc, a key structure in Western film narratives that depicts a protagonist's psychological transformation. Critiquing the prevalent "value-judgement approach," which frames character change as correcting a fixed "fatal flaw" based on external moral standards, the article proposes a new model grounded in Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann's sociological concept of "The Social Construction of Reality." Here, the Character Arc is understood as the protagonist's evolving subjective reality— their personal mental model—moving into greater or lesser alignment with the objective reality of the story world's social norms and demands. This redefinition accounts for the relativity of values within different narrative contexts, explains character change through plausible psychological processes, and highlights the dialectical interaction between internal psychology and external plot environment, offering a more comprehensive framework for analyzing and constructing film narratives.