In the movie, Unforgiven, William Munny is a reformed outlaw who takes on the role of the hero in the twisted landscape of Big Whiskey. The normal characterization of a hero portrays a character exempt from the temptation of evil, and shines as a light in the darkness for the society. However, within Unforgiven the movie perverts the idea of a hero, and shapes it to meet the personality of Will Munny. After countless years of rampage and lawlessness, Will turned in his evilness for a family life and the opportunity to raise children with his wife. However, his wife is taken by some illness and Munny was now left alone to care for his two children; struggling to survive. One day, a young man by the name of the Schofield Kid offers him a chance to journey off to kill two criminals, who cut up an “innocent” women, for a reward. Munny, who needs the money desperately grudgingly agrees to help, but …show more content…
Will risks his own well-being for his partners when the Sheriff, Little Bill, attacks him for carrying a gun into town, which is against the law. Will not only takes the beating for them, but he also purposefully lies about what they have on them, even after being badly beaten. This shows Will’s heroic traits in that he has no limits when it comes to defending his friends and the mission’s integrity; moreover, this also demonstrates the tyranny of the Sheriff over the town which is handled later on. Will also shows his heroism in a subtle yet significant way, after he had shot the first wanted man, he is still conscious and crying out for water to be brought to him. Will yells off to his entourage to get him a drink of water, showing that Will still has humanity and cares for the people within the society. These two examples show the important and vastly differently traits that will has compared to the sinful actions of everyone else in the
What is a Hero? A hero is a mythological or legendary figure often of godly descent endowed with great strength or ability or power (Merriam-Webster). A hero is also the one who displays great courage (Merriam-Webster). So there is no one way to characterize a hero, but one hero that is widely agreed upon of being extraordinary and is admired widely is the Homeric Hero. A Homeric Hero is a hero who processes strength, knowledge, power, courage, skill, and honor. In the film Hudsucker Proxy the Coen brothers create the character Norville Barnes represent the Homeric hero Odysseus. This suggests that the character had to go through a hero 's journey and obtains new relationships.
Stories of heroes have been a source of inspiration and awe for as long as people could tell them. We look to legends of great men and women who have accomplished grand tasks in hopes that we, too, may one day be as tremendous as them. Indeed, most of us do; albeit not in the way we imagine. Most of them slip by us unnoticed, overlooked, and will never be the protagonists of epic stories. So what exactly makes a hero? I believe a hero to be anyone who possesses the qualities of a hero: courageous, perseverant and compassionate – all of which Abraham Lincoln perfectly demonstrates.
Good Will Hunting is the graceful tale of a young gentleman’s struggle to find out where he belongs in the world, by first finding out who he himself is. In this film, Matt Damon takes on the role of a disturbed genius that has a keen understanding of the deepness of human character. The film is a voyage through the mind of Will Hunting as he is required to undergo psychotherapy as an alternative to serving jail time. With the assistance of a psychologist, played by Robin Williams, Will learns about himself and recognizes his individual worth in the world by comprehending what is most important to him in his own life. This motion picture serves as a source of superb example for film technique. Gus Van Sant’s directing ability joined with the writing skills of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, who also plays Will’s best buddy, Chuckie, is a vibrant mixture of technical features used to induce sentiment and compassion amongst the viewers of this heart-warming film. Characteristics of the color, angles, shots, camera movement, editing, and distortions are all each particularly noteworthy to the general composition of Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting.
Will Hunting epitomises a punk prodigy. The 20-year-old delinquent works as a janitor at MIT, solving impossible equations, meant for students, in his spare time. He is soon recruited by one of MIT’s professors and made to participate in a rehabilitation programme with the hope of being employed by the university. Rehabilitation is made challenging as Will is a troubled individual; having grown up in abusive environments and jumping from different foster homes.
“They may take away our lives, but they’ll never take away our freedom.” William Wallace is a scottish soldier very adamant about fighting for Scotland's freedom, and he cried the quote above among his soldier before going into battle. Throughout the movie Braveheart, directed by Mel Gibson, William Wallace, the main character, shows multiple different unique characteristics of heroic ability. There are two types of heroic characteristics displayed by William Wallace in this 1995, Academy Award winning film. The first one is Anglo-Saxon criteria, which consists of bravery, loyalty, generosity, and friendship. The other criteria Wallace demonstrates falls into the epic hero category, this consists of strength, ethnical sense, they need to have a goal or be on a quest, and they should be greatly glorified by the people. In Sir William Wallace’s case he presents all of these characteristic very well throughout the film.
A Shakespearean tragic hero may be defined as “an exceptional being of high degree” who contributes to his own degeneration and illustrates a personality flaw. The character of Shakespeare’s Macbeth is in all ways the perfect example of a tragic hero. His greatness and bravery in battle for his country ultimately leads him to be a great thane and eventually a powerful king, making his actions have a significant impact on a country. Macbeth’s ambition on becoming a king leads to an obsession to remain in his current position. His ambition comes to a point where he falls to the temptation of evil which leads to Macbeth’s inevitable downfall. At the beginning of the play, Macbeth is portrayed as a brave man whose performance in Scotland’s battle is celebrated.
Heroes are often described as physically attractive, strong, intelligent figures with a flair for grand gestures,and an eloquent knack for stringing words together. The fundamental aspects of what defines a hero are conveniently glazed over. People forget that heroes often lead lives of quiet determination. When they have an idea, a goal they want to accomplish, they ignite a spark within themselves that burns into an uncontrollable blaze, which that can only be tamed by success. The fabricated image of a hero has been so deeply rooted into society that the quiet heroes in literature, such as Jefferson from A Lesson Before Dying, are often forgotten, or the misdeeds of cowards such as Frankenstein are overlooked. Jefferson is the literary foil for Victor Frankenstein, because he has strongly built morals that enable him to become a hero, whereas Victor Frankenstein is a weak willed and indecisive character. A hero is defined by their ability to go through with a task despite the obstacles that lie in their way, along with their courage and ultimately, they accept any responsibility that may befall them.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of a hero is “a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities.” In Heart of Darkness, Joseph Conrad explores the way greed and jealousy seize the goodness in a man’s heart, as well as the possibility of them becoming a courageous character. In his novel, Conrad displays that although Marlow and Kurtz are perceived as heroes due to their moral and noble attributes, they are unable to become true heroes. Their lust towards power and control over land and ivory ultimately expands the desire and expansion of darkness in the hearts of people who once had good intentions.
The film “Good Will Hunting” follows the story of Will Hunting (Matt Damon) a self-taught genius who works at one of the most prestigious technology schools; MIT, as a janitor. Will is an orphan with a criminal record of Assault, grand theft auto, assaulting a police officer, etc. Will solves a complex math problem, which leads to him being discovered by professor Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgard) as a genius. Professor Lambeau makes a deal with the judge when Will is incarcerated to be on parole under Lambeau’s supervision and Will is ordered to see a therapist once a week. Will Outsmarts many of the therapists, which forces Lambeau to go to his last resort, college friend and psychology teacher Sean Macguire (Robin Williams).
The word hero can easily be defined as: dictionary.com defines a hero as a man of distinguishes courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities. Hero originates from the Greek word hḗrōes. Therefore the meaning of the word itself has been influenced from Greek, the way the meaning of the word has been influenced has come from Greek literature, for example: The Odyssey by Homer. This paper will argue how the ancient concept of heroism has influenced the American culture and what it means to be a hero. While explaining the influence, I will compare and contrast the ideas of what characteristics both ancient heroes and modern heroes possess.
On June 6, 1943, in Greenbow, Alabama, an unexpected hero was born with a crooked spine and strong legs. Forrest Gump is not an expected conventional hero, however his accolades and accomplishments suggest otherwise. A hero is someone who inspires and instills good morals upon others by their courageous and outstanding acts. Forrest demonstrates these characteristics multiple times during his heroic journey. Whether it be diplomatic pingpong, fighting in the Vietnam War, becoming a local football legend at the University of Alabama or donating money to a deceased friend’s family, Forrest influenced many people with his unselfish and charitable acts. Joseph Campbell’s monomyth consists of the following stages: taking place in an ordinary world, a call to adventure, refusal of said call, meeting with a mentor, crossing the threshold, trials and tribulations, an approach to the final challenge, an ordeal, a reward, the journey back, a purification or resurrection into the normal world and a return home with the capabilities to alter the world in which he lives. Many heroes follow this journey and Forrest Gump is no exception.
Will Salas, played by Justin Timberlake, is a twenty-eight year old poor factory worker that lives in the ghetto of Dayton with his mother Rachel. The wealthy live in a place called New Greenwich, which Will boasts to his mother about all the time saying they will live there one day. One night after working Will goes into a bar with his friend Borel and notices a man that seems to be getting a lot of attention. The man is well groomed and dressed wearing a nice suit. After getting a closer glance of the man and his arm Will can see the that he is wealthy in time. To Will it is obvious that the man is not from Dayton and is instead from New Greenwich.
Altruism is a form of selfless behavior that benefits others without benefiting the self. Even more extreme than altruism is heroism which is a form of altruism that requires a tremendous amount of sacrifice. In general, heroism (1) involves some type of quest , (2) some form of actual or anticipated sacrifice or risk, (3) can be passive or active, (4) can be one time or recurrent (Franco, 2011).
The word hero is tossed around on a daily basis, whether on the news, in books, or in movies, we hear it all the time. Its common usage begs the question, what exactly is a hero? Are there traits and characteristics one must possess to be classified as heroic? Our interpretation of a hero is ever-changing, constantly influenced by the stories told by the dominant culture, which acts as an invisible hand. Back in the earlier days of storytelling, heroes were more easily identifiable. Things like appearance and character tropes made it easy to distinguish heroes and villains. Nowadays, the depiction of heroes and villains are sometimes blurred, some heroes look like villains, and some villains look and act like heroes. Thus, these days,
As he slowly opened up to Sean, he didn’t realize he was slowly destroying the authority figure in his mind at the same time. The pain and blind obedience to his foster parents,though, was essentially replaced by Sean Maguire himself. Even though obedience is still taking place, the replacement was absolutely necessary because it change Will’s rebellious ways. When Will thought he had Sean all figured out by a painting he drew, his authoritarian conscious was still present. Later though, Sean completely destroyed Will’s rebellious action by revealing he knew nothing about love, art, or true happiness. He only knew what he has read in books. This was the start of Will destroying said authority figure in his mind. After the scene, Will began to open up to Sean and allowed him to teach and heal him. The healing process did heal his authoritarian conscious, but it only continued Will’s blind obedience. While he stopped obeying the inner authority in his head, Will simultaneously began obeying Sean himself. The obedience towards Sean becomes clear more towards the end of the film. The final presence of Will’s authoritarian conscience is the moment before the emotional scene when Sean tells Will, “it's not your fault” (Gus Van Sant Good Will Hunting). At this moment, Will’s obedience to his foster parents is completely gone and he no longer seeks approval or fears their disappointment. Although the obedience shifts over to Sean, Will is no longer a rebellious character fueled with anger and fear. In this case, Will is “proud of doing a good job, obeying the experimenter (Sean) under difficult circumstances” (Milgram 702). The rebel within Will is gone and his accomplishments that arrive from obeying Sean turn his life around and he is proud of it. Although the obedience figure of Sean isn’t due to evil, the obedient figure is still there, but in a