Alon, don't be mislead into believing all main characters are supposed to change. There are those who are steadfast who don't, but cause others to change around them. The Fugitive is a good example: Dr. Richard Kimble doesn't change, but we surely wouldn't think Agent Gerard to be the POV of the story. William Wallace is another good example of a main character who doesn't change, but has an impact on Robert the Bruce who ultimately becomes Braveheart. These are concepts that I think Dramatica does a pretty good job explaining, but True Grit, from that perspective, comes off as meaningless. I like how John's interpretation of the ending gives the film meaning that's not apparent in some other analysis forms.

There are other mythological elements in the story, too, Mattie's journey is a kind of "cast out of heaven" initiating event, and she seems largely unchanged in the "traveling angel" tradition (i.e. Peter Falk mysteries as the shambling detective), but similarly, while the "angel" in this structure remains superficially unchanged, the angel's change is in the discovery that human nature is more complex than the absolute morality of black and white, good and evil. She starts with an opinion of disgust with the morally bankrupt lawman she hires to be her avenging angel, but evolves to have admiration and love for him as he too is evolved by the events and his own reactions to the other characters. Yes, Rooster goes through the more classic reformation from drunken reprobate to a man of true character but the Coen brothers take the time to give all of their characters nuance and depth of a rounded character, not unlike how Dickens gives the seemingly nondescript name of "the aged P" to Wemmick's father in "Great Expectations", yet the detail of his needing help at church to don his gloves causes this passing portrait to penetrate into fully sculpted individual in our memories. The story is about Cogburn's transformation, too, but it blends in the self-discovery of a "road picture" overlaid on the "who-done-it" of the crime mystery and revenge tragedy. One of the main reasons that "these is no formula for a hit movie" is that fact that the great ones blend and transcend, which is one of the main elements that makes them great.

Sincerely,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson

Great breakdown as always, however one thing bothered me the whole movie and kept me from really getting emotionally involved, the girl doesn't change at all . She starts as a courages person and ends up exactly the same. The ones that do change are her two friends. It kind'a made me think the hero was supposed to be the marshal and that if the story was told from his p.o.v then it would be a lot better.
What do you think?