Naoko Yamada’s Film, A Silent Voice and the Redemption Arc

Abstract

Literature takes form in a multitude of mediums. It conveys human experience through narrative elements, whether it takes the form of prose, poetry, drama, or film. The theme of redemption is one of the recurring human conditions depicted for centuries in both literary and visual texts. A Silent Voice, a Japanese-animated film directed by Naoko Yamada, exhibits the theme of redemption. This study investigates the characters' transformation from their faulty disposition to atonement. The assumption of this study is supported by Meike Bal's Theory of Narrative and Carl Jung's Archetypal Criticism. This study incorporates the discourse analysis approach of the qualitative method. The salient findings of the paper illustrate the significance of the characters' motivations, the characters' types, and the settings to the tendency of the characters to transform throughout the narrative. Familial and platonic relationships and backstory are the main drives of the characters' transformation. While the Jungian archetypes, the jester and the ruler, are the most frequent types of characters that undergo redemption. Lastly, the environmental and individual elements of the settings mainly influence the characters' change. This paper recommends further investigation of other tendencies of character transformation in the film. It is further recommended for literary researchers to study redemption as a literary theme and to study films as a literary medium.