Myths and heroes : are today’s heroes the same as the heroes from the past ?

POC – MYTHS AND HEROES

I will introduce the notion of Myths and Heroes. The myth is an explanatory and founding narrative, transmitted orally over generations (like an oral tradition). His story is often embodied by a hero, place or community. A hero can refer to a fictional or real character that has marked tradition, history, daily life. 

But we can ask ourselves if are today’s heroes the same as the heroes from the past ?

To answer this problem, I will rely on 3 documents that we studied in class which will allow me to illustrate my argument.

First, we can say that some heroes are not timeless. Some national icons who represented some values of a country are now replaced or forgotten. Like in the painting by Paul Starh, national icons like Columbia was represented in art like a symbol of the nation. Especially in the beggining of the 19th century, Columbia was visualized as a goddess female national personnification of the United States and of liberty itself. The image of the personified Columbia was never fixed, it changes a lot during the past years and it takes differents forms : she was sometimes wearing a white dress, or like in the painting a national costume with the flag of the USA. She was used during the WW1 but then, she was replaced by Lady Liberty, the woman of the Statue of Liberty. By 1950, the image was much diluted, seen as antiquated and is seldom seen today. She was along the way, replaced by another figure of the country : Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam by contrast remains the male symbol of America. Though commonly, Uncle Sam is more representative of the government of America than the people or the ideals that made America exceptional and unique.  But the national icons like Uncle Sam and Columbia are less attractive than before, especially after they were used for The Vietnam War (very controversial in USA) for example. People don’t believe in national icons like Uncle Sam and Columbia anymore.

However, some heroes are still the same from the past, but they are sometimes represented in different ways. In the 20th century, we are presented with a cowboy as a simple farmer raising horses. Through art, it only shows good pictures of the cowboy. Like we can see on the painting The slick Ear by Charles Marion, on this one we see the brutality, violence and power of the cowboy. It gives the impression of power and bravery even in difficult situations. He is considered as a hero because the cowboy is an American figure who has multiple faces. A cowboy is a rancher, someone who raises cattle but at the same time it could be a gunfighter, who rides his horse in the Wild West in search of adventures and rescues maidens and chasing bandits. He was a lot represented in the Hollywood movies so he was considered as a hero. Today, the cowboy as he was represented before, is still presents but as a modern cowboy. Like in the movie Blade Runner by Ridley Scott, the principal character is like a moder cowboy because he has similitaries with the cowboy : he is a loner, he has is own code of honour (Justice is superior than law, especially in a corrupted society) and his look is similar as the cowboy ( he is exhausted, shabby, neglected). A lot of modern movie shows these types of modern cowboys. So we can say that the cowboy is still a hero today like in the past but he has evolved with his time.

...