modern hero

Over time, the term hero is no longer associated with god-like figures, instead heroes are known as exceptional men or woman who faced great trials and obstacles. Heroes can be found in myths, operas, fairy tales, and most stories. In fact, almost every film or piece of literature we encounter follows the heroes journey. If audiences already know how a story will unfold, excluding minor differences, why bother watching or reading them?

One of my favorite Disney stories is 'Beauty and the Beast' (next to 'Mulan' and 'Pocahontas', which as also pro-feminism and about women making their own choices. This movie is also much like Shrek as well.), it is different from many other films where the female lead is but a damsel in distress, waiting for her 'prince' to save her or to find love. The lead in this film is Belle, she is beautiful and smart, she goes her own way and rather than being absorbed in her societies popularity contests. Belle would much rather read a book than anything else; this sets a positive example for young viewers.

The first part of Belle's journey starts when her father fails to return from his inventors convention. Belle enters the mysterious woods alone to find him. The dark eerie colors, the clouds, the shadows and the forest all suggest evil and death, nonetheless, she pushes forward for his sake. She finds a huge castle where her father is being held. Belle saves him by fearlessly negotiating with the castle's owner, a beast, for a trade, her capture in exchange for his. She is her father's hero. Even in capture, Belle is stubborn and refuses to do much that is asked of her. When the beast barks, she barks back. A sign of a strong female or just a disobedient brat?

Belle attempts to flee the castle to go home and see her family, but not long after escaping, she is attacked by wolves. There doesn't seem to be much hope for her until the Beast shows up and chases away the wolves. He gets injured badly and becomes unconscious. Belle decides to save his life by taking him back to the castle. She could have left him there and went home, but she didn't. He saved her and now she is saving him. After this scene, Belle and Beast's relationship is much softer, feelings begin to form.

The character of the beast is very interesting, in the movie, he lives in a giant castle by himself, he has no family, and all his servants are afraid of him. He is a throughly unappreciated and unloved creature that is forced to live in his own self-loathing. In one scene, he is seen tearing up his own pictures from his past. After showing the audience the deep psychological pain he is in, we are able to empathize. The contrast between Beast and the typical hero in films or literature is astronomical; everything from appearance to behavior and even the colors used to portray him set him up for the audience to dislike him. Yet, in the end, we are on his side rooting for him when he fights Gaston.

In this film, Gaston is a lady's man, he is handsome, brave and popular, but because of his gigantic ego, he is made out to be the villain. Gaston pursues Belle to be his wife, BUT she wants nothing to do with him. The idea of having choices and opinions further supports the feminism in this movie.

Gaston finds out about the beast and how he had held Belle against her will for a time, he quickly forms a mob to storm the castle and kill the beast. Throughout this part of the movie, the audience has gotten to know the beast and understand his situation, therefore, when Gaston is doing this, we are on the beasts side. We want Gaston to fail. If the story was told differently, from Gaston's point of view, we would see a story of equal ups and downs, a story of a love unreturned. There is no doubt that we would see the roles of hero and villain completely reversed and be rooting for Gaston during this scene.

Traditionally, in stories, when the girl meets her 'Prince Charming', she immediately falls for him, and why wouldn't she? He's good-looking, brave and rich. This is most definitely not the case in 'Beauty and the Beast'. The Beast has to work hard to prove to Belle that he's worth her time. He needs to earn Belle's love in this story, it is not just given to him. In the end, she is able to heal him in a psychological way, and thus, in a physical way too. He is then transformed back into a man. In the end, she's the one that saves him, and not the other way around.

Antiheroes 2

“One Flew over the Cuckoos Nest” and “Cool Hand Luke” are parallels of the same film; Luke and McMurphy are both anti-hero loners who refuse to accept authority and the establishment. The films have typical villains too; nurse Ratched and the bosses play these roles. Both of our anti-heroes end up leading and transforming the group of men who are outcast and different. At the end of both movies, Luke and McMurphy tragically sacrifice themselves in final act of defiance and fight against evil. Of the two movies, I liked “Cool Hand Luke” more because of its humorous quality.

Cool Hand Luke is the nickname given to Luke after bluffing his way into winning a poker game, even though he had a worthless hand. He tells the other prisoners that "Nothing can be a real cool hand." Luke is unique, we know this from the start because of the obscene charges he is arrested for, those being: "maliciously destroyin' municipal property while under the influence". During his journey, he faces many challenges, adventures and tests; Luke wins the respect of the other prisoners and in the end is idolized by them. The most memorable and humorous scene is when he ate 50 hard-boiled eggs in one hour (A scene that I will definitely remember for the rest of my life). This next to impossible task emphasizes the heroic qualities and vast potential that Luke possesses. In another case he is fighting another prisoner and is beaten to the ground many times but nonetheless, continues to stand up. In a way, Luke could be called the winner of this fight because of his perseverance and attitude; these two things are the most important parts of what makes a hero.

Throughout the movie, Luke escapes three times, each time he is tracked down and brought back and disciplined by prison guards using cruel and brutal methods. On the third attempt to escape, he is shot by an officer. The film ends with prisoners reminiscing over the awe of Luke’s legend at the prison and his infectious unbroken smile.

An anti-hero is a troubled individual with many faults; his heroic qualities are hidden below the surface. He is portrayed in a way the audience can be empathetic; this is often because anti-heroes walk among us, with the same strengths and weaknesses rather than on a glorified pedestal.

Classic Fairytale Archetypes

The movie Pan's Labyrinth sparked my attention, being a Spanish movie, you really need to pay attention to details and follow along with the captions. It takes place in Spain, 1940, both in the real world and a fantasy world. The main character, Ophelia, is a young proto-feminist hero who becomes a scapegoat for the sake of others.

As she progresses through the stages of a hero's journey, (Departure, initiation, road of trials, etc), she becomes more knowledgeable, she changes mentally and emotionally. By the end of the film, Ophelia is an entirely new person.

In the beginning, she leaves her hometown and moves in with her new step-father and pregnant mother. She soon meets a mysterious faun who calls her to an adventurous and dangerous quest to prove her identity; although reluctant, she accepts. She is naive and inexperienced but the faun acts as a mentor and a guide. He tells her "I've had so many names... Old names that only the wind and the trees can pronounce. I am the mountain, the forest and the earth. I am... I am a faun. Your most humble servant." In mythology, wind represents life, trees represent knowledge, mountains can represent ambition or goals, the earth is a solid foundation while the forest can mean fear or in some cases, evil. The mixed and almost hypocritical archetypes that the faun's name holds lead the viewer to question his role in the film.

Ophelia is armed with magical devices to help her with the various tasks that will test her strength, resourcefulness and endurance. The final task is to defy her mentor when he asks her to spill the blood of an innocent (in this case, her baby brother), she refuses and instead, her own blood is split when protecting the innocent child. Do you feel as though this spiritual mentor helped Ophelia discover herself or only made things much worse?

Personally, I loved the way the ending was thought-provoking and could either be interpreted as a genuine fantastical tale, or merely a little girl escaping into her own story book based world to avoid the horrors of war and reality during that time.

This movie reminds me of other stories such as Narnia and Bridge to Terabithia or even The House on Mango Street because of the time they were set and the similar aged lead characters. The theme of resolving outside influences and making decisions for oneself is evident in both the films and novels of these stories. This movie is one of very few where a girl is the hero, but even here she ends up dead in the end.

Antiheros

Immediately after taking about different heroic archetypes, I asked myself how many heroes (or antiheroes) a single story or work could have, I came to the conclusion that it could very well be infinite. It is but a matter of opinion. For example, who are the heroes in J.R.R. Tolkien's 'Lord of the Rings'? Who did Tolkien see as the heroes?


I once heard someone say that Gollum/ Smeagol is the antihero of the story, that "he was unwittingly Middle-earths savior". In a story about the seemingly endless fight between good and evil, Gollum is a character that doesn't really have a side in this battle, his fight is internal. He is a misunderstood, pitiable swamp creature with qualities and motives that of a villain; but who also helped Frodo on his journey and is the one who ultimately destroyed the ring. Because it was not his intention to rid of the ring, is this action at all heroic or is it merely an act of greed?