Analysis Of `` Creating The Myth `` By Linda Seger

A hero's place in society has remained relatively consistent since the very beginning of time. Throughout the years, people have seen many different versions of larger-than-life heroes, who have completed seemingly impossible tasks and persevered through immense adversity. The common denominator between all of these heroes has always been that each and every one of these beings has put his/her own life in danger and fought great battles in the pursuit of a better life for mankind as a whole.

A hero is universally seen as a selfless individual who puts the needs of others before themselves. Heroes usually hold the same values; honor, nobility, integrity, and strength. Now what happens when a person does not hold those heroic values? What if their motivations did not have good intentions? These are the questions that will be answered using the deconstruction critical lenses. “Today, it is much harder to detach the concept of heroism from morality; we only call heroes those whom we admire and wish to emulate.” (Lebarge web) The Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur has evolved into the modern trilogy of Batman which, when deconstructed, reveals how the selfish motivations of

As time goes on and new generations come about, many of the ideals of former generations seem to become irrelevant. Scott LaBarge, a professor of philosophy, elaborates on this idea and others in his essay. “Why Heroes Are Important” is LaBarge’s pursuit to persuade others of his idea of heroes in today’s society. He claims that many of our youth do not know what a proper hero is and that former generations should be educating them. LaBarge begins his persuasion by describing his personal experience and credibility; then, he briefly describes the history of heroes to tie in his opinion on the definition; finally, he uses Aristotle’s idea of Kairos to explain how his opinion proves true according to current events.

Since long ago, people carried an image of what it means to be a hero. It is evident in some great books one might even say. As in The Epic of Gilgamesh, Antigone, and The Iliad, heroism is displayed and exalted, but what does being a hero mean? Overarchingly, in regards to these works, the heroes earn their titles as heroes by notably doing what is right when the time is right, with humane purpose, and an everlasting message. However, Gilgamesh, Antigone, and Akhilleus, being different in their purposes, everlasting messages, type of heroism as whole, can not compare in regards to heroic status.

Throughout history the traditional heroic elements have changed because of our society. Although elements of a hero have changed there are also certain characteristics of a hero that stays the same, such as a hero’s character and courage. This can be seen through Beowulf , “ The Epic and the Epic Hero,”and the movie “The 13th Warrior.”

The term “hero” has many different interpretations for different individuals. In his speech “Heroes”, Tim O’Brien tells his audience how he views a hero and redefines the often dramatized term. He defines a hero as one who knows what a person needs and is willing to give that to them without question. O’Brien accomplishes sharing his argument of what a hero is through the use of appealing to Kairos, diction and syntax.

When one thinks of heroes, names such as Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa often come to mind. These people had done a lot of favors, courage, helps, and more of things for the people who needed them. The true definition of hero is a man of distinguished valor. Bravery, courage, intrepidity, boldness, daring, and prowess in war are a hero’s characteristics. However a hero is understood to be different to everyone. Upon closer examination, many different qualities than these become apparent. The definition of heroism changes with the context and time. Heroes of the past are not necessarily heroes of present time and vise versa. A person can be a hero for saving the life of one or of millions.

Superman, Wonder Woman, Spiderman—what do all these characters have in common? They are all products of the human aspiration to be saved. The word hero is passed around too much these days. A hero is not a football player that scores the game-winning touchdown or the goaltender who saves his team from a loss. A hero is usually an ordinary person that did extraordinary things. A true hero is really never a hero at all; at least not in their own mind. However, there are various cases today in which we see the exact opposites of these characters, the anti-heroes. The anti-hero is one who cannot be classified as a hero, for that said character lacks natural heroic qualities. However, the anti-hero cannot be described as a villain either.

Everybody has their own version of what a hero is supposed to look like and what they must do to act as a hero, but heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Heroes are defined by how they are able to help under certain circumstances. For instance, Martin Luther King Jr. fought for racial equality in the 60’s, Susan Brownell Anthony fought for the women's right to vote in the 1800’s, Christianity’s Jesus Christ fought to protect humanity for all their sins over 2000 years ago, Luke Skywalker fought the Galactic Empire to restore order for the entire universe a long time ago in a galaxy far far away, and Iron man who fought numerous villains to keep the public safe in popular media. The story of “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. shows how an anti-hero may be the best type of hero in a dystopian setting. This anti-hero is better known as

Historically American film have been centered on heroes. In Ray’s “The Thematic Paradigm” he states that heroes as have two preset archetypes with certain characteristics. These two archetypes are the family orientated “official hero” and the loner “outlaw hero.” In Segar’s “Creating the Myth” she states that heroes are made by the steps or events that they go through on their way to becoming a hero. This means that to Seger the heroes do not start out as heroes, but as normal people. However, Ray and Seger suggest different ways in which Americans relate to film heroes, they both agree heroes are popular through common experience and relatability.

    A theme that connects heroes is the sense of determinization and realization that they face sometime in life.  “But despair turned into determination, and Reeve’s will to live prevailed.”(Reeve, p.1). In the article, written about Christopher Reeve, he said that after his accident he was never the same. Moreover, we read that without the support from his wife he wouldn’t have been giving motivational speeches, writing books and raising money for spinal cord injury research. “... my own concept of heroism has changed radically over time.” (Stone, p.1). In the magazine article by Oliver Stone we read that after serving in the Vietnam war, he was forced to reexamine the nature of life and of heroism. Furthermore, it talks about how he saw that simple acts of heroism were overlooked and that most historical women got short shrifted. Therefore, we see that these

Heroes are prevalent in everyone’s life. Whether someone’s hero is a living person or a fabled character from a movie, everybody has come into contact with some sort of hero. In fact, the concept of heroes has existed for hundreds of years, dating all the way back to Ancient Greece. Over time, heroes have drastically changed. As society has evolved, our heroes have evolved with it. Their goals and motivations have changed to coincide with the views of modern society. Modern day heroes have less selfish motives, better qualities, and are portrayed differently than ancient heroes.

There are many heroes, but there are those who sit back and question what or who makes a hero in today’s society. It has never been a set standard for heroes. In this modern world, there are many types of heroes. In today’s media, there is a contrast between million dollar sports figures, glorified celebrities, and the normal people we call heroes. Some heroes receive no recognition and others receive hero status with ease. However, it has yet to be determined whether our meaning of heroes has changed due to this influence. We have known about the

Through my analyzation of these values, I have assessed the relevance of superheroes in cinema through the impact of American popular culture, the contrast of gender roles, and their impact on children. As a result, society should be gracious toward the immense popularity of superhero films, as they bolster American popular culture and positively impact children from a young age. Although the gender roles might be a bit skewed, many film companies are taking steps to include women in more empowering roles such as Wonder Woman in the DC cinematic universe. Therefore, superheroes in cinema tend to only create and preserve positive characteristics within society, which is glorious in the future of mankind. In closing, I end with the question, “Which superhero best depicts

We create superheroes not for just the sake of it but to make the point that we are the real superheroes as we have the capability of creating them. They are those who provide us with great example of virtues over vices and goodness over evil. An ideology of a superhero is worldwide known, it is known by people so much that the definition of an Anti Hero is swept under a carpet. If we talk about general people then they refer any character who is having a supernatural or superhuman ability and who stands for the good cause is a superhero. Today the ideology of an anti hero is created on such a way that it has become difficult to distinguish between the superheroes and the anti heroes.