BAC ORAL ANGLAIS : myths et heros

I am going to talk about the notion of myths and heroes. First of all, here is the definition of a myth and a hero. A myth is a traditional story related to a country’s culture and history. A hero is someone who inspires people thanks to his noble qualities and his heoric action.

Now let us about some British characters because they are entirely part of English society.

We can ask ourselves what British characters tell us about britishness. Has an answer to this question, we talked about James Bond, Wallace and Gromit and Johnny English, in our class.

First we're going to talk about some characteristics of britishness. Then, we will see some of the most famous British characters who represent this britishness.

Britishness is the myth of being British. It's what binds the British and forms the basis of their identity.

For us, foreigners, the british are people who drink a lot of tea, have typical buildings (like Big Ben and Tower bridgs) and vehicles (like double-decker buses and their taxis). They have the Queen, they love and admire her.

But the biggest aspect of britishness is their typical sense of humour and their eccentricity.

Moreover (de plus), their not afraid of what other people think : they even like the parodies of them (Wallace and Gromit).

They are also strong because Britain is a nation who emerged with wars.

Consequently, British characters embody all those characteristics. Look at them.

A good british is very courageous. He might be an adventurer with principles like Joseph Conrad in the document "Men who follow the sea". He's loyal to his country and that reveals what it is like to be british.

Britain ofen won their wars and Joseph Conrad symbolises the typically British characters.

British people have a strange sense of humour but mainly they're often described as eccentric. The document “A B(r)it different” explains us that through eccentricity they express their independence because of the contrast we can see between man's clothes ans hairstyle. British people have a double-side personality. There is a gap between what they look like and what they are. Eccentricity is considered like an asset and a mild form of rebellion against authority.

We've studied one of the most famous British characters through the trailer of Johnny English. The expression “classic with a twist” can apply here: Johnny English is inspired from James Bond but with the humour of Mister Bean.

To finish, most of the British characters can tell us about Britishness: from James Bond to Johnny English including Mr Bean and Harry Potter. And those characters show us british people are very proud of what they are. They think they are very smart and have a specific sense of humour.

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