Don’t tell me my heroes are flawed. There’s already so much wrong with the world—I don’t want to look for shadows under the streetlight. I want to believe the best of people—is that so wrong? I know they’re not perfect, but I don’t want to say it aloud. Or if it they are flawed, let it be a flaw that makes their achievements more remarkable, because they overcame it. Let Batman be proud, that he may humbly take the fall for Harvey Dent. Let the Doctor be angry, because he cares for his friends. Let Boromir be greedy, because he defended Frodo from the Orcs. But don’t tell me that Superman never picks up his dirty socks, that Harry Potter has messy handwriting, because then they wouldn’t be heroes.
They’d be people:
just like me.
I agree!!!!!
ReplyDeleteJust a thought to throw into the discussion: doesn't allowing our heroes to be human provide them with a greater capacity to be heroes? If the Doctor has ordinary flaws like the rest of us, it makes all the more remarkable his feats of mercy. Because - he's real. If he wears smelly shirts, can't keep his hats straight, if he is colorblind or has a propensity to stutter... he is still the Doctor. Eclectic, Time-lord, and beyond us. A hero. Out to save the universe.
ReplyDeleteIf heroes have to smell like cologne and have perfect handwriting, then they don't have much to be heroic about. They're just fantasies. But if they are flawed, warm, incapable, clumsy, ridiculous: they are heroes. Because the Fates were not stacked on their behalf. They are facing all the odds that any man could face, and they are heroes because they make a choice that any man could make BUT MOST DON'T. Isn't that more powerful than 'cleaned-up' heroes with no sweat, no blood, and no dirty socks rolling around under their beds?
Yes, Gwendolyn, I see your point, but I think a lot of people take things too far. For a real-life example, there's this ad
Deletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLiBen8pa-A
I think it shows what I was trying to say--we try to proclaim that there's nothing special about others, that we're just like the best--the top athletes in any sport, and they just make it sound like a normal day. I know the Olympic athletes are out of my league in sports--not that they're better people, or that I'd want to trade places with them, but I know I could never do what they do. And I'm okay with that.
We have the same problem with heroes. Today, a lot of people claim to want heroes that they can identify with--more than that, can image being. And for those with limited imaginations, that means a high-school girl in love with the hottest guy, a woman taking revenge on her enemies, etc...but if you look at older books, that's not what happens. Even with Frodo (who is a fairly average individual to us), most of us couldn't carry a great burden like that and not surrender to its evil...but this is starting to be another post and I should stop typing. You have my email if we want to hash this out further.
Conversely, tell me my villains are human.
ReplyDeleteI never thought of that...but yeah, don't try to excuse villainy by a bad upbringing. A lot of Whovians are guilty about this regarding the Master.
DeleteA backstory absolutely doesn't excuse evil. But it helps us to understand how close we are. That's what I like, and I don't think there's anything wrong with feeling sorry for the villain. Many heroes do.
Delete-Lostariel