Does the modern society admire and follow appropriate heroes or contemporary heroes are only shallow persons with the attractive appearance? To answer this question, it is important to focus on defining a hero in the modern world. Today, people do not need their heroes to fight with evil gods and perform the feat, but they need someone to follow when the real life seems to be cruel (Dubose 916).
Many people view a hero as a man who has no fears, whose qualities are prominent, and whose virtues are remarkable. This person is strong physically and mentally, and he is ready to sacrifice his life to other people (Alexander 2).
The modern hero should be discussed as a person who has the same attributes and proclaiming the same values, but who uses the other means to achieve his goals. A hero can be defined as a person who is just and self-sacrificing because he can serve his life for protecting the principles of justice in the world; however, this hero needs to focus on patience and tolerance rather than on force and fight.
One of the main attributes in heroes is their feeling and understanding of justice. Heroes are often chosen by the audience for protecting the people’s interests. When the society cannot oppose the unfairness and oppression, they choose heroes who can protect their values and interests.
According to Mike Dubose, a researcher specializing in American Culture Studies, heroes reflect other people’s fears and make their “quest for justice”, ensuring that every barrier can be overcome successfully (Dubose 925). In this context, heroes become the reflections of the society’s hopes and expectations. Those virtues that are attributed to heroes by the public are expected to be the main social values during the certain period of time.
Real heroes are self-sacrificing, and the social status can mean nothing for them. The problem of the social status is discussed by Quinonez in his book Bodega Dreams. The characters of this book act like heroes, while opposing the life challenges daily, but their status is not high enough to speak about them as heroes from the traditional perspective (Quinonez 178).
The public prefers to find heroes among famous people, but not all of them are prominent to be regarded as heroes. The intention to serve and protect the other people is not typical for ordinary people in spite of their status in the society.
People admire heroes’ actions and judgments because these men are often tolerate and virtuous. Such virtues as patience and wisdom are typical for mature heroes. In his essay “The Train from Hate”, Franklin discusses the example of such a patient female hero who succeeded in teaching her children how to live according to such values as respect, integrity, and fairness; how to view the life situations with wisdom; how treat oneself with dignity; and how to be tolerant toward other people.
Thus, Franklin cites the words of a woman who became a hero for her children and taught them how to consider the racial separation. Franklin notes in the essay, “Under no circumstances, she said, should I be upset or distressed because someone sought to demean me. It took too much energy to hate or even to fight intolerance with one’s emotions” (Franklin 224). These words can change the man’s life more significantly than any other words spoken by authorities and prominent people.
It is important to state that heroes reflect the values of the society in which they appear and act, attracting the attention of the public or serving the other people’s needs. The image of Hard Rock from Knight’s poem “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane” is illustrative in terms of demonstrating how actions of a hero, even if he is not accepted, can influence the vision of other people.
When ordinary people only dream about changing something in their perception and behaviors, the heroes change and motivate other people to follow them, as is it is reflected in the words by Knight’s character, “We dreamed of doing but could not bring ourselves to do, / The fears of years, like a biting whip, / Had cut deep bloody grooves / Across our backs” (Knight 194). Heroes are usually respected because of their firm position and worldview, according to which there is no place for injustice, discrimination, and pain.
However, there is also an opinion that modern heroes are those celebrities who are familiar almost to everyone because modern generations live in the era of media impacts. The image of celebrities is often associated with the idea of triumph, and this image is usually misinterpreted with the focus on classical heroes’ feats.
Following Alexander, a researcher from Fordham University, a celebrity is not a hero because he is “distinguished by his lack of identifiable qualities”, and he is “a fabrication” (Alexander 6). If people hear about the courage of a person who saved the life of another person or protected someone from the danger, this person become treated like a hero because of demonstrated sacrifice, virtue, and fearlessness.
This hero can also become the media person, but this popularity is reasonable. In cases when celebrities are treated as heroes only because they are famous, it is almost impossible to speak about the true heroism. In contrast to celebrities, heroes do not need the public’s admiration.
Heroes in the modern society can be discussed as persons who are expected to embody all virtues that are meaningful for people at the certain stage of the social development. Therefore, real heroes are not always fearless and powerful, and they can also be just, patient, and self-sacrificing.
If a person wants to be treated like a hero, he or she should ask a question for reflection on what origins of this desire can be. The reason is that real heroes do not strive for publicity and fame because they choose to suffer for someone instead of being promoted with the help of the media.
Works Cited
Alexander, Cuthbert. “Community Journalism: Hope for a Society without Heroes.” Proceedings of the Media Ecology Association 6.1 (2005): 1-9. Print.
Dubose, Mike. “Holding Out for a Hero: Reaganism, Comic Book Vigilantes, and Captain America.” The Journal of Popular Culture 40.6 (2007): 915-935. Print.
Franklin, John Hope. “The Train from Hate.” Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Ed. Missy James and Alan Merickel. New York: Longman, 2013. 223-224. Print.
Knight, Etheridge. “Hard Rock Returns to Prison from the Hospital for the Criminal Insane.” Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Ed. Missy James and Alan Merickel. New York: Longman, 2013. 194. Print.
Quinonez, Ernesto, “Bodega Dreams.” Reading Literature and Writing Argument. Ed. Missy James and Alan Merickel. New York: Longman, 2013. 178-180. Print.