Being a big fan of comics, I can relate more to the concept of “hero” in a fictionalized super-hero than the Greek or western interpretation of the concept. Growing up, super-heroes were men who upheld justice, were selfless, strong, intelligent, mysterious, and rescued those who needed help. They tried to lead two lives separately but always had the inner conflicts of one singular person. Some characters seem to have more of an inner struggle than an external nemesis. Being that this is my opinion, I think that the more recent term of “hero” is the superior one over the ancient Greek form.
Heroes are supposed to be a person who goes above and beyond the normal expectations of ethics, morale, compassion, integrity, and duty all the while not expecting to receive anything in return. I didn’t see that in the Greek stories or in any western I’ve ever watched or read.
In The Odyssey, Achilles wanted honor, valor, and his name …show more content…
Who has the bigger ego, can shoot a faster gun, outsmart the other, get away with the loot, or be a chauvinist. None of these characteristics seem heroic to me. Most of the time in these westerns, it isn’t even about catching a villain and bringing him to justice either because the one doing the bounty hunting is a villain himself. The cops and politicians are just as crooked, if not more so, then the men behind the bars.
Superheroes, though fictional, are what encompass the ideals I was raised up on of a hero; we label heroes those whom we admire, respect, envy, and wish to imitate. Heroes help define the limits of our ambitions. We usually admire and follow the heroes we choose based on what we would most like to mirror ourselves to be; things like courage, honor, and justice that we would like to define us. Sometime the realization that we could never be as high on the pedestal of admiration as our fictional heroes leads to cynicism based on the rationality about the limits of human
Heroes are supposed to be a person who goes above and beyond the normal expectations of ethics, morale, compassion, integrity, and duty all the while not expecting to receive anything in return. I didn’t see that in the Greek stories or in any western I’ve ever watched or read.
In The Odyssey, Achilles wanted honor, valor, and his name …show more content…
Who has the bigger ego, can shoot a faster gun, outsmart the other, get away with the loot, or be a chauvinist. None of these characteristics seem heroic to me. Most of the time in these westerns, it isn’t even about catching a villain and bringing him to justice either because the one doing the bounty hunting is a villain himself. The cops and politicians are just as crooked, if not more so, then the men behind the bars.
Superheroes, though fictional, are what encompass the ideals I was raised up on of a hero; we label heroes those whom we admire, respect, envy, and wish to imitate. Heroes help define the limits of our ambitions. We usually admire and follow the heroes we choose based on what we would most like to mirror ourselves to be; things like courage, honor, and justice that we would like to define us. Sometime the realization that we could never be as high on the pedestal of admiration as our fictional heroes leads to cynicism based on the rationality about the limits of human