what makes a hero
So guys, I wanted to ask you something. Are heroes only considered heroes if they go through the hero's journey? My teacher said that's not exactly true. Whats your guys' thoughts on it?
March 30, 2015
what makes a hero
So guys, I wanted to ask you something. Are heroes only considered heroes if they go through the hero's journey? My teacher said that's not exactly true. Whats your guys' thoughts on it?
11 Comments • Newest first
Heroes are people who share chunks of meat with everyone
[quote=TheKingslayer]Plain and simple, you're a hero if you help, save or inspire others. A hero is someone others look up to.[/quote]
Christopher Columbus was the opposite of all that yet it is considered a hero by many (stupid) people
Victors write history, and "heroes" are not the exception
According to Oxford
1. A person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities:
2. (also hero sandwich)
North American another term for submarine sandwich.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koJlIGDImiU
a hero is a burger
a hero is just a man that knows he is free
A hero is someone who sets aside their life to help save or look after the life someone else in particular if that person is undertaking something dangerous or something that would greatly impact their lives in a negative way. Another way to put is by saying that a hero is someone that makes their own life more difficult to help others.
A hero is a sandwich
Plain and simple, you're a hero if you help, save or inspire others. A hero is someone others look up to.
The Hero's Journey was never meant to be taken as a formula to hero-ness. People have used it as one (Star Wars, Harry Potter, etc) but that was never actually its intention. It was an anthropological study of a recurring phenomenon across different cultures, not a writing guide.
So I'd say you can kind of think of it like a Venn diagram. Some hero stories follow the journey. But that does not mean that all hero stories follow the journey. I recently watched Man of Steel, and I would say that the Superman depicted in that movie did not follow the journey. There was no call, no revelation, no descent, no epiphany. Superman just always existed while the world around him changed.
A "hero" is typically defined as someone who approaches or succeeds at identifying themselves with an immediate culture's "prime example" of a human being (or as Nietzsche put it, the "Ubermensch" or "Overman" ).
"The hero's journey" is merely one standpoint on how to define a hero within an immediate culture, which is why your teacher (correctly) stated that it wasn't "exactly" true.
In simpler terms; the concept of a "hero" is purely subjective to the individual/community at hand. That's all.