>>
> then Al said:
> Anyway, doesn't heroism transcend
culture?
>
> ***************************
> hmm... now that is a damn good question! i don't
know
> the answer to that. let me read up on carl jung
and
> get back to you. i'm kinda leaning toward your
definition
> of the hero as an archetype, but with the
additional
> stipulation that he's gotta carry some cultural
baggage.
> across the board, a hero is gonna be noble and do
good deeds
> and be brave, and i'm thinking he sorta lives by a
certain
> code of honor, but the definition of all these
things is
> malleable. clavell's _shogun_ comes to mind as far
as an
> example of cultural shock over the hero definition,
but
> that's sorta veering off-topic. on-topic, hardboiled
is all
> about redefining earlier hero definitions, isn't it?
the
> big thing about the hardboiled hero is that
"tarnished"
> element. he's been a bad boy, and he's not beyond
being
> a bad boy again, but he's still the hero.
>
> Al continues:
> Quite apart from which, is Rebus anybody's idea of a
hero?
>
> ***************************
>
I think the concept: "hero" is not exactly fixed. To most of
us (& I'm sure Hollywood bears much of the responsibility
here) a hero is brave & virtuous. The word comes to us
from the ancient Greeks & their concept of a hero did not
include virtue as a prerequisite. The heroes of Classical
myth & legend were often very flawed individuals - what
they did have in common was that they were larger than life
& often demi-gods
(immortal father, human mother, etc). A couple of examples
from THE ILIAD: Achilles - the greatest warrior of his time,
was a practising homosexual - he shares a tent with
Patrocolus & goes into a killing rage when his lover is
killed in battle by Hector, the Trojan champion. Achilles
kills Hector then desecrates his body. To the Classical
Greeks(& presumably the Heroic Age Hellenes of Homer),
sexual contact between 2 grown men was abhorrent (as opposed
to a grown man & a young boy, considered by the Classical
Greeks to be the highest form of love possible between
humans). Achilles' defilement of Hector's corpse was also
considered extremely poor etiquette. Despite these social
failings, Achilles is feted because of his greatness as a
warrior & the fact of being a "hero", someone greater
than ordinary mortals.Similarly, the great Odysseys is shown
at the beginning of THE ILIAD feigning madness in order to
dodge the draft - not something the Greeks would've
considered noble behaviour at all. The Classical Greeks had
no trouble accepting that heroes had significant human
failings, in fact, they could be what we consider to be evil
people. I suspect the notion that a hero must be virtuous is,
originally, a Christian concept. These days, with the power
of the media to change (& cheapen) the meanings of words,
anybody who survives a disaster & lives to tell the tale
to the media, or indeed any local person who wins a big time
sporting event, is automatically garlanded with the label
"hero", so I suspect the word is still changing meaning,
right before our eyes.
Rene
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