Myths and heroes : Why do people need heroes and how can these heroes sometimes turned into antiheroes?

To speak about the notion of Myths and heroes, we could start from the English poet and author John Tolkien’s definition “I believe that legends and myths are largely made of truth”, and say that a myth is a story that may or may not be true. Myths are built around history, religions, the creation of the world and heroes of course. As they have an important symbolic power, they survive from one generation to another, through centuries, retold, rearranged and tossed about events.

Let us now define what a hero is. A hero is a person who is admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. A hero can be the origin of a myth, the main character of a novel, a film with supernatural powers, and a fictitious hero. But the hero can also be a modern-day hero, an icon from fashion, music a person who has performed a heroic act, a sportsman, a politician or a human rights defender or simply someone we consider as a role model, someone we respect, a member of our family for example.

To explain this notion I would try to answer the question Why do people need heroes and how can these heroes sometimes turned into antiheroes?

We can start saying that people need super heroes to escape from reality, to forget their stress, the pressure they have at home or at work. These heroes with supernatural powers which allow them to turn the world into a dreamlike world where everything is possible, where any problem can be solved as by magic, have become the 21st century people’s best friends. In the document “Why are superhero movies so popular?” taken from the site wiseggek.com in March 2015, the journalist draws our attention to the fact that superhero movies have known a revival because anybody can find what they are looking for in that genre, a way to escape from reality, an opportunity to live vicarious lives, or just to have fun.

But people can also find heroes in real life.  People who can be their neighbors, their colleagues at work and who become heroes because in a particular situation they show courage, or they sacrifice themselves to rescue other people.To illustrate this idea we cannot forget to mention the firemen in America who became national heroes and even international heroes as they faced death with bravery on September 9, 2001 and rescued many people. Other men or women become heroes because they perform superbly in a game; they create music, or a fashion. Steve Jobs was a hero as he was an example of achievement and determination. He was hard working and ambitious. He was a self made man who started from nothing and who became a powerful and incomparable. He succeeded in creating an empire

These examples show that people need heroes to face a difficulty like a terrorist attack. The firemen brought a kind of relief to powerless spectators of the 9/11 disaster. They take the risks they couldn’t take themselves. People need heroes to accomplish actions they are unable to accomplish themselves.

On the other hand even when heroes turned into anti heroes, they remain popular and the focus of conversations. Our society needs heroes, but anti heroes as well.  When a hero becomes an anti hero, he or she shows that men are vulnerable, that heroes are not necessarily perfect, and that they can have shortcomings as real human beings.

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