Character Development Example #6

In the movie "Soul Surfer" the main character is a pro surfer. Surfing is her life. She gets injured in a surfing accident that takes one of her arms off. After this she gives up on surfing and is very depressed. Her dad does not want her to give up on surfing and keeps trying to convince her to get back into it. In the meantime she goes down to Thailand after a tsunami to help out the needy children. She sees all the suffering and the families that have been torn apart. Even though these children have lost their homes and some have lost family members, they are still happy that people are there to help and looking at the positive side of things. During this experience she learns that maybe what happened to her is not so bad. This scene is the turning point for the character. It gives her renewed confidence and hope. When she returns back home she has a new determination to go back into surfing. She has some difficulty going back into surfing due to the fact that she only has one arm to work with. Her dad manages to build her a bar on the bottom of her board to keep her from falling off and drowning. She goes into the last competition of the tournament and although the buzzer is called just after she starts riding the biggest wave of the tournament she rides it anyway. This scene shows us that she is a very strong individual who is determined to prove to people who doubted her that she can still surf and is still the best. From this, all handicapped people learn that if you put you mind to something you can do anything. The writer of the show gets you tied to the character by bringing out the true tragedy of what happened and how she managed to change her perspective.