Background and aims of the report
Heroism and villainy is a common theme in every narrative plot. The idea of the hero, with the intimidating stature of a greek goddess, idolised by those he serves for, defeating the villain who’s prime incentive is to cause chaos and destruction makes any reader feel a sense of satisfaction. If you asked any boy, or any male for that matter despite their age who their hero is or was, they would most definitely say a fictional character that either wears a cape, can shoot webs from their wrist or have been seen in a classical marvel comic. We often see heroes with the morals and values that we like to see ourselves with, like helping others and making the community a better place, however can a hero have morals and values that challenge this stereotype? and that is the question I am going to answer in this report. Can we idolise someone who is a ruthless vigilante or a cold blooded killer? well history shows we can, most Australians would be familiar with the name Ned Kelly, Australia’s real life superhero. He wears a cape a mask, well some iron plates bolted together to form his infamous helmet. Who’s to say he isn’t a hero? he shares similar characteristics, the only exception is he was ruthless, broke the law and was a supposed killer, and this is to be seen in the Films “Batman the Dark Night” and “Wasted on the Young” with two unnerving, cold blooded psychopaths as heroes in Batman and Darren. I chose these two films specifically to show how heroes can often break stereotypes and can still be seen to be doing the right thing however immoral that may be.
Batman the Dark Knight
Background: Batman (Hero)
Batman, the hero of Gotham City and the vigilante of the people. M...
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...d, unsociable and keeps to himself, he is unsociable and an outcast in his school shown in scenes where he walks through school corridors by himself. Similar to Batman he doesn't have many friends and this links to his psychological dark side. After the incident at his step brothers party, in comparison to Batman he felt guilt about what happened in the beginning, then it turned to anger. His anger progressively gets more intense, it starts by having a go at Zack, to beating the life out of one of Zack’s mates, to smashing bottles over Brooke, and it finishes with Zack strapped in a chair with a machine that fires bullets connected to Zack’s peers. Darren is not very heroic, in fact he shows the characteristics of a villain, however he is admirable in terms of stopping at nothing to find out what happened to Xandrie and bring justice to those who deserve it.
Every generation has its own heroes that display, what they believe to be, ideal characteristics. While each is different in their own way, many of these role models share similar qualities. Most tend to have courage, strength, compassion, or another respected trait, but this is not necessarily why they win the adoration of their followers.
Everyone has their own perception on what defines a hero; some may argue that they exhibit characteristics such as honesty or courage, while others may think that heroes have special power. Our society may have changed the values in which we associate heroes with, but one thing seems to have never changed: the main character of the book turns out as the hero. In my analyst, Holden Caulfield, the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye, is put on trial as we see through our own eyes how Caulfield can not be considered a hero in modern society. In modern society, we would consider a hero as a role model, and someone who we would want to emulate.
As a society we value and admire heroes who represent the idealized version of ourselves whom we stride every day to become. This is why they are sometimes scrutinized, unless they are an anti-hero, of course. The anti-hero is also admired by some even if he utilizes unlawful methods to achieve his goal, because he represents the good in a corrupt world. But this is not always the case as it is seen in some Noir stories. In Noir stories, the anti-hero is supposed to be a modern knight. Transgressing society's corrupt rules in order to reaffirm for its male audience the need to act justly do rightly; however, the anti-hero through this false nobility and sexism reinforces the social problems that plague contemporary society.
When asking people about what characteristics they think of when they think of a hero the most common answers would be doing good deeds and not allowing evil to flourish. This is what we have been made to believe. One of the first images that come to mind when the word hero is mentioned is a superhero. An image of Batman or Superman is likely, one who is good natured and conquers evil as it appears. Just doing good deeds or not committing evil sins is not enough. First you would have to distinguish the difference between an evil and a good action. The line between good and evil is so thin that specific attributes and certain actions are constantly being exchanged back and forth. We cannot decide as a society what is good and what is evil. A modern day example would be when the United States made the decision to bomb Japan during World War II. For Americans celebration ensued as it was thought to be a decisive moment of victory. Those who were involved in t...
Perceptions of the superhero and supervillain are mainly based on subjective definitions of each concept. These observations often lead to a definitive dichotomy that precisely splits characters into two impermeable divisions. However, this stringent separation is unable to account for the characters that are not at the extreme ends of their respective side. Neither is this rift capable of classifying characters that flirt with both sides of the superhero-supervillain dichotomy. Therefore it is imperative to analyze the established criteria for both superhero and supervillain to derive a more adequate explanation. Most superheroes are not easily characterized, but rather fall somewhere between Superman, the bastion of moral purity, and Doctor Doom, the display of indubitable corruption. This solicits genesis of an entirely new notion about the differences between superheroes and supervillains. A more precise idea is that superheroes and supervillains are lined on a spectrum that spans from pure good to pure evil. Disparities between superheroes and supervillains are not black and white, but rather these characters are on a spectrum that radically changes based on individual cases.
An English proverb states, “ A hero is a man who is afraid to run away”. I agree with this proverb, because when you see a hero in a comic book, they have super cool back stories, are not afraid to fight, and stare danger in the face and not blink. They are not afraid of anything. That’s nice to look up to, but they are not real. Our definition of a hero is too much for one man to become, you can do something honorable, heroic, but you will never actually be a hero because it's too much, in real life. Heroes don’t just do it so they can get paid, or respect. What really determines whether someone is a hero is if they choose to do something about it in a bad situation. We have people that do heroic acts, for example, people putting their lives before others. Those people cannot be heroes because they get paid to do it, they are, firefighters, cops, and military, they get paid to help people, so they aren't considered a hero.
Everyone dreams of being a hero however the path is narrow. The mantle of responsibility is important aspects and the presence of the heroic traits must be shown in some form. However, there will always be outliers and deemed delusional who attempt to be heroes. In Watchmen, Moore creates an omnipotent hero who lacks humanity in the portrayal of the Dr. Manhattan as a psychopathic anti-hero.
Dear Zachary is a heart-wrenching documentary made by filmmaker Kurt Kuenne. Originally intended as a tribute for the deceased Andrew Bagby’s unborn son, Zachary, the purpose changes drastically when Shirley Turner, Andrew’s ex-girlfriend and killer (and Zachary’s mother), kills Zachary in a tragic murder-suicide. Believing that Shirley Turner should never have had custody of Zachary and that poorly made bail laws led to Zachary’s death, Kuenne alters his documentary to have a more argumentative message. Kurt Kuenne’s argument in his documentary Dear Zachary is that bail laws for those charged with a serious crime need to be reformed in order to protect people – especially any children – who may fall under the custody of the accused criminal.
When I think of society’s modern heroes today the fictional characters of Batman and Spiderman come to mind because they protect the lives of the people in the communities from the bad guys. In the epic Beowulf, the main character is thought of as a hero because he makes the reader feel he is a larger than life character than those of human characteristics. However, Dante’s main character makes the reader feel his emotional roll a coaster and sensitivity as in everyman towards the sinner in the depths of The Inferno. It is interesting how modern heroes show much of the same qualities as
Heroism is defined as an act of courage and an act of selflessness. They reflect the highest levels of morality in society. Heroes have embodied the morality codes of civilizations throughout the ages. When heroes display courage, observers often identify with that courage. The refusal to take the easy way out and the ability to act in spite of fear, is what makes a person a hero. This is the way everyone wishes to react in the midst of a crisis. As witnessed in literature and real life, mankind needs heroes to provide an inspirational role model, an escape from the mundane, and a guide for morality.
The release of Gordon Hollingshead and Alan Crosland’s The Jazz Singer in 1927 marked the new age of synchronised sound in cinema. The feature film was a huge success at the box office and it ushered in the era David Bordwell describes as ‘Classical Hollywood Cinema’; Bordwell and two other film theorists (Janet Staiger and Kristin Thompson) conducted a formalist analysis of 100 randomly selected Hollywood films from the years 1917 to 1960 in order to fully define this movement. Their results yielded that most Hollywood made films during that era were centred on, or followed, specific blueprints that formed the finished product. Through this analysis of Hollywood films the theorists were able to establish stylised conventions and modes of production under which a classic Hollywood film was fashioned (Foster, 2008), the film Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) directed by Peter Jackson will be used as a case study to demonstrate these specific conventions.
Have you ever thought about what qualities make a hero? Many people would define a hero as a cartoon character for example Superman or Batman or Someone that fly’s into burning building, fights evil and always rescues the world. They would also have super powers like super strength, also have the ability to fly. Others consider a hero as someone that acts of bravery as heroism. And, those who have performed truly amazing acts in the face of grave danger. Some consider firefighter, law enforcement, military and civil right activist our everyday heroes. What we all know is that every hero need to have qualities like bravery, determination, be willing to sacrifice, and self-confidence to be able to achieve their purpose and to be consider a hero.
For a time, the main characters in a story, poem, or narrative were easily classified as either being a hero or a villain. A hero would be easy to identify by the traits he'd possess, such as bravery, honesty, selflessness, trustworthiness, courage, leadership, and more. The villain would be easy to identify as well, possessing traits such as maliciousness, deceitfulness, immorality, dark, wishing harm upon others, and more. But what if the character lacked the natural heroic qualities but wasn't a villain either? What if the person displayed personality flaws that would traditionally be associated with a villain, but has heroic intentions? These questions were finally answered with the emergence of the anti-hero in literature.
Kidnapping not only happens in the United States, it happens worldwide. There are some children who are found and there are some who has been missing for years to come. The call was a great way to let young adults know the severity of being kidnapped and it lets dispatchers know how severe a person being kidnapped really is. The call was a movie made in the year of 2013 starring Halle Berry and Morris Chestnut. Halle Berry and Morris chestnut work together to make this film become a great life lesson and also create suspense. During the last 32 years, NCMEC’s national toll-free hotline, 1-800-THE-LOST® (1-800-843-5678), has received more than 4.3 million calls. NCMEC has circulated billions of photos of missing children, assisted
The Lone Ranger, Zorro, Batman, Superman are some of the characters that we stereotypically constitute as heroes. They are known to fight with courage without fear of death. They destroy the enemy within a blink of an eye. They fight using their own body strength, superpower, or some kind of weapon. They come to the rescue miraculously and leave without a trace. They are mysterious. We are unable to identify who they are underneath the masks and disguises. Yet, we praise them and ignore the real heroes that surround us regularly, ordinarily. “All of us …like to believe that in a moral emergency we will behave like the heroes of our youth, bravely and forthrightly, without thought of personal loss or discredit” (O’Brien 39). In other words, we are quite oblivious to the ordinary people of the world that are, in fact, the true heroes.