No, this blog post is not about the horribly half-baked TV drama series ‘Heroes’ that is doing the rounds nowadays damaging brains of otherwise decent human beings. And if it is not about that wretched show, I wonder why I am still writing about it!
This post is about the concept of a hero. What defining characteristics he should have. Different people have different ideas for a hero. I will discuss a few types of heroes below. Kindly excuse the fact that I am using the word ‘hero’ or ‘he’ here; the concepts of a hero that I provide here are gender neutral and equally applicable to female heroes.
One type is that of a superhero. Superman, Spiderman, Batman and nowadays those stupid warrior ‘men’ that dumb kids play with are all examples of people with superpowers. Since they use their superpowers for good, they become heroes. I find it way too convenient. I believe writers who create such superheroes make the job less challenging for themselves. It is not difficult for Superman to single-handedly fight the most villainous creatures because he is after all, Superman and hence it is not a challenge for the writer to think how he will do it – just make him fly, get him to lift buildings and people and whoa – problem solved! This is the reason I am never fond of superheroes and don’t bother to watch their movies/cartoons!
The other type is that of a struggling hero. The hero who struggles all his life to do good and only after a lot of self-sacrifice and pain does he attain his goal. He even dies in the end at times. A lot of people like such heroes – especially fans of Hindi movies from the 1940s to 1960s. No wonder Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Khanna were so popular during that time. They are also shown to be too emotional and idealistic. I personally do not even consider the characters they play as heroes. You can call them decent human beings and applaud them for getting through life and doing a greater good but it takes much more to be a hero.
An ideal hero according to me would be one devoid of any superpowers and yet someone who is on top of his game. A person who can make do with his regular human powers and yet do good for people without struggling, sacrificing or emoting a lot. Now this is a challenge for writers as to how to make a person who eliminates bad and does good without any superpowers and without a long, painful struggle. Such a hero inspires confidence and it is a treat when he attempts to flawlessly eliminate the bad. The best example here would be of James Bond – the ruthless killer, the master strategist, the stylish spy and the compulsive lover! Other examples would be Clint Eastwood from the Dirty Harry series, Amitabh Bachchan in Mr. Natwarlal, Arnold Swarchzernegger in Commando, etc. Of course, these characters too are presented with struggles but the difference here is they are shown to rip across them and not tide along with them like Rajendra Kumar would.
There are other types like anti-heroes, comical heroes and so on but I’ve listed the three main 3 types above and made it quite obvious which one is ideal according to me.
This post is about the concept of a hero. What defining characteristics he should have. Different people have different ideas for a hero. I will discuss a few types of heroes below. Kindly excuse the fact that I am using the word ‘hero’ or ‘he’ here; the concepts of a hero that I provide here are gender neutral and equally applicable to female heroes.
One type is that of a superhero. Superman, Spiderman, Batman and nowadays those stupid warrior ‘men’ that dumb kids play with are all examples of people with superpowers. Since they use their superpowers for good, they become heroes. I find it way too convenient. I believe writers who create such superheroes make the job less challenging for themselves. It is not difficult for Superman to single-handedly fight the most villainous creatures because he is after all, Superman and hence it is not a challenge for the writer to think how he will do it – just make him fly, get him to lift buildings and people and whoa – problem solved! This is the reason I am never fond of superheroes and don’t bother to watch their movies/cartoons!
The other type is that of a struggling hero. The hero who struggles all his life to do good and only after a lot of self-sacrifice and pain does he attain his goal. He even dies in the end at times. A lot of people like such heroes – especially fans of Hindi movies from the 1940s to 1960s. No wonder Raj Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Dilip Kumar, Manoj Kumar and Rajesh Khanna were so popular during that time. They are also shown to be too emotional and idealistic. I personally do not even consider the characters they play as heroes. You can call them decent human beings and applaud them for getting through life and doing a greater good but it takes much more to be a hero.
An ideal hero according to me would be one devoid of any superpowers and yet someone who is on top of his game. A person who can make do with his regular human powers and yet do good for people without struggling, sacrificing or emoting a lot. Now this is a challenge for writers as to how to make a person who eliminates bad and does good without any superpowers and without a long, painful struggle. Such a hero inspires confidence and it is a treat when he attempts to flawlessly eliminate the bad. The best example here would be of James Bond – the ruthless killer, the master strategist, the stylish spy and the compulsive lover! Other examples would be Clint Eastwood from the Dirty Harry series, Amitabh Bachchan in Mr. Natwarlal, Arnold Swarchzernegger in Commando, etc. Of course, these characters too are presented with struggles but the difference here is they are shown to rip across them and not tide along with them like Rajendra Kumar would.
There are other types like anti-heroes, comical heroes and so on but I’ve listed the three main 3 types above and made it quite obvious which one is ideal according to me.
