Heroes
Hero: One who struggles and sacrifices for the betterment of another.
How's that for a simple definition of a hero. We're all interested to some degree in heroes. Lead characters in books, movies, video games, and TV are all usually heroes to some extent of the word. We have heroes in the everyday world, but I want to focus on heroes of myth, old or new.
Being a comic book reader, I've seen many types of heroes, and I think I know what makes a good hero as a result of that. That's how I came to the definition I gave. It's the sacrifice part that makes heroes a little hazy. Quite simply, to sacrifice, one has to give up something. Of course, with the struggle, that's not going to be easy to do.
To make things easy, I like to say that an audience relates to a hero that bleeds. The blood can be literal of figurative, but the hero has to struggle through their sacrifice to truly reach heroic proportions. Take Batman, he had to study for most of his life various arts and disciplines just to fight a nightly battle against crime; he had to give up his real life and his childhood so he could fulfil this goal. Spider-man suffers constantly because anything that goes well for him, has to go wrong in part to his duties as a superhero.
People love Batman and Spider-man. People are apathetic to Superman. Why? Superman is too damn powerful to suffer for very long. Superman is so powerful, so endurant, he can take anything his enemies dish out and come back for more. Scars aren't found on Superman's body. Batman probably has dozens of scars.
What does Superman sacrifice to be a hero? A normal life? Not really, he's married to Lois Lane and is a successful reporter. Being Superman lets him do his job better than other reporters. Lois could get hurt, but Superman is always there just in time to save her if she's in any danger.
What scars does Superman have? Physically, none. How about emotional? His life is good, really good. There isn't a constant reason why it's bad to be Superman.
In short, you can't do lasting damage, physically or mentally, to Superman. He'll always recover. Gods of established, recognized religions don't get off so easy. Why does Superman? Because most people don't care enough to do something about it.
Power may corrupt absolutely, but if it doesn't, it makes a wall around the figure. A wall of this form, with this kind of power, can only be a wall separating Superman from the audience. We just don't care. Infallability is boring. We want to see heroes who suffer and are changed by their battles. We don't get that from Superman, so all we get is infallability.
All we get is apathy.
How's that for a simple definition of a hero. We're all interested to some degree in heroes. Lead characters in books, movies, video games, and TV are all usually heroes to some extent of the word. We have heroes in the everyday world, but I want to focus on heroes of myth, old or new.
Being a comic book reader, I've seen many types of heroes, and I think I know what makes a good hero as a result of that. That's how I came to the definition I gave. It's the sacrifice part that makes heroes a little hazy. Quite simply, to sacrifice, one has to give up something. Of course, with the struggle, that's not going to be easy to do.
To make things easy, I like to say that an audience relates to a hero that bleeds. The blood can be literal of figurative, but the hero has to struggle through their sacrifice to truly reach heroic proportions. Take Batman, he had to study for most of his life various arts and disciplines just to fight a nightly battle against crime; he had to give up his real life and his childhood so he could fulfil this goal. Spider-man suffers constantly because anything that goes well for him, has to go wrong in part to his duties as a superhero.
People love Batman and Spider-man. People are apathetic to Superman. Why? Superman is too damn powerful to suffer for very long. Superman is so powerful, so endurant, he can take anything his enemies dish out and come back for more. Scars aren't found on Superman's body. Batman probably has dozens of scars.
What does Superman sacrifice to be a hero? A normal life? Not really, he's married to Lois Lane and is a successful reporter. Being Superman lets him do his job better than other reporters. Lois could get hurt, but Superman is always there just in time to save her if she's in any danger.
What scars does Superman have? Physically, none. How about emotional? His life is good, really good. There isn't a constant reason why it's bad to be Superman.
In short, you can't do lasting damage, physically or mentally, to Superman. He'll always recover. Gods of established, recognized religions don't get off so easy. Why does Superman? Because most people don't care enough to do something about it.
Power may corrupt absolutely, but if it doesn't, it makes a wall around the figure. A wall of this form, with this kind of power, can only be a wall separating Superman from the audience. We just don't care. Infallability is boring. We want to see heroes who suffer and are changed by their battles. We don't get that from Superman, so all we get is infallability.
All we get is apathy.
posted by LEN! at 2:04 AM
1 Comments:
Couldn't have put it better myself.
-Oscar
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