Jim D wrote:
"Marlowe, Spade, the Op, Archer, etc., do their jobs, keep
their promises, uphold their commitments, and, when this
steely resolve puts them in harm's way, they face danger
bravely. That's what heroes do."
I agree with your overall point about the nature and appeal
of heroism and the hope and dream (and doubt) within most of
us that we would be just as standup in a situation that
required it. However, I think it's kind of telling that your
heroic examples are all from a much earlier era. I stand by
my claim that a lot of recent hardboiled heroes are losers,
and they know it. It's hard to think of (early) Matt Scudder
as anything but. Maybe it just makes it more dramatic when a
drunk like
(again early) Scudder rises to the occasion and becomes
heroic, but I think it's because hardboiled is increasingly
addressing the psychopathology of the loner hero. I'm not
saying many go as far as, say, Marc Behm (Eye of the
Beholder) or Frank Miller (Dark Knight or Sin City), but I
think it's more and more obvious that a lot of these
characters such as Hap Collins, for instance, get into these
situations because their life is out of control and/or they
would rather deal with the problems of others than face their
own. This does not make them any less heroic, but I do think
there is now more recognition of the hero's tragic flaws. Of
course, now that I think of it, some of this would apply to
Spade, whose professionalism hides a screwed up private life
-- a partner he hated, the earleir Archer, whose wife he was
screwing, but now can't get rid of and falling in love with a
murderess.
Mark
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