Sunset Shimmer and Her Redemption Arc in Rainbow Rocks
When the antagonist taking turns.
“I’ve changed!”
She exclaim as everyone still look past her. Redemption arc are one thing happen in every fiction. But, not all of them were well executed. It often feels rushed, as if to just proof that giving a second chance to this ‘character’ was just brushing off their past and mistakes.
Sunset Shimmer a female unicorn pony-turned-human, is one of the main character in My Little Pony Equestria Girls franchise. Before that she was the antagonist. Along her journey after the first movie, Sunset face along her weight of past. Perhaps, that’s what we would learn from her; about earning second chance, forgiving yourself, and learning to be a good friends.
Who’s Sunset Shimmer?
So, to make it brief; Sunset Shimmer first appears as the main antagonist in My Little Pony Equestria Girls. She steal Twilight Sparkle’s element of magic crown and ran away to other dimension through Crystal Mirror, where Twilight later followed her.
Sunset was once Princess Celestia’s student, but due to her greedy nature, she turned against her mentor and went to pursue her own path.
In this dimension, Sunset has been living for quite time as human. She builds her image as a ‘mean girl’ at school. She will do whatever it takes to stay on top especially on winning the title and the crown. This includes with spreading rumors, manipulating others, and humiliating Twilight.
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When she finally gets the crown, Sunset Shimmer transforms into a demon because of dark magic. In the end, Sunset is defeated by Twilight and her friends, leaving her in a miserable and humiliating state.
When everything starts to change
In the end of the first movie, Twilight offer Sunset for an attempt to learn friendship, a redemption. Following on the Rainbow Rocks, we can see that her journey was quite harsh, everyone still despise her, even her friends (mane 5) were unintentionally remind her past action. Sunset even struggles to forgive herself for who she used to be before. This whole movie shows how hard it can be to convince people that you already change when all they see in you is your past mistakes and actions. It also show how an action can have such consequences.
But, instead just doing nothing, Sunset try to fix that. She offers help, volunteers as guide for the new student, actively give solution and answer even if people brush it off immediately. Even with all the hatred stare, Sunset choose to not giving up. Like it mention before, she is the type of doing what she believes and whatever it takes to achieve that. In this case, it’s about earning her second chance. This makes her character more interesting to follow throughout the movie.
By the end of the Rainbow Rocks, everything finally pay off for her. Sunset Shimmer got her rewarding moment by helping to defeat The Dazzlings. This symbolizes her of overcoming her own struggles and getting accepted back by everyone.
Also not to add the encore short under the same name about song called ‘My Past is Not Today’ that reflects on how Sunset Shimmer is willing to move on from the past and change her ways.
Later in other franchise such as Friendship Game and Legend of Everfree, we can see how Sunset Shimmer’s character were grow into more reliable friend and leader. Her reunion with Princess Celestia in Forgotten Friendship also feels like an important moment of closure, showing just how much she has changed since the beginning.
So, is the redemption arc works?
Personally, Sunset Shimmer’s redemption arc feels a bit abrupt at the end Equestria Girls, but it’s handled much better in Rainbow Rocks.
Sunset’s journey — from being the main antagonist to becoming the main protagonist — was quite a heavy one. Because we got invited to see how she was treated unfairly, yet kept trying.
And after seeing all that, when Sunset Shimmer gets her happy ending, we feels happy. Because we’ve seen how hard she has worked for this.
Overall, her redemption arc might not…. let’s say: entirely perfect. It takes more time, more effort to show that she’s changed. but, it also pulled out some point on the execution that makes her an outstanding character.
So, Do you think Sunset Shimmer’s redemption was well-written enough? Let me know in the comments below!
