Holding Out For A Hero By Bonnie Tyler
At the mentioning of a hero, the majority of the time, the image that appears in people’s minds are usually male. A hero, according to the online definition, is: “a person, typically a man, who is admired or idealized for his courage outstanding achievements, or noble qualities”. As seen in the song, “Holding Out for a Hero” by Bonnie Tyler, she is seeking a man of the hour to save her from despair. Through the lyrics, the female gender is being oppressed by the image of a hero being male. By scanning briefly through the song, we can identify the lack of feminine figures through the various the significant individuals mentioned from mythology, comics, and fairy tales. Firstly, male heroes must always be seen as an almighty powerful ruler.
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Tyler refers to her hero as a ‘street-wise Hercules’, which had eliminated the thought of the hero being a female from the very beginning of the song.
Heroes in comics from popular publishers like DC Comics and Marvel are mostly male. These male characters portrayed as muscular and tall with physical and psychological abilities that manage to exceed any human. Though there are a few female characters in the DC and Marvel universe, they only consist of about 30% of every superhero that exists. “Racing on the thunder end rising with the heat. / It’s gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet.” (Stanza 21-22) As quoted above, Tyler seeks a superman and not a superwoman. During the 1900s, the time period that the song was composed and released, even after feminism had revolutionized, women were still seen as the weaker sex. Even though females had made a stand and participated in World War II, it seems that no matter what woman exists with superhuman abilities; they have no power compared to Batman, Superman, etc. This shows oppression of the female gender and how they are depicted always as the more feeble and delicate sex. It is possible that ‘superman’ is a generalized term for all superheroes, though because of the use of male pronouns throughout the song, the possibility of the hero being a heroine is
Tyler refers to her hero as a ‘street-wise Hercules’, which had eliminated the thought of the hero being a female from the very beginning of the song.
Heroes in comics from popular publishers like DC Comics and Marvel are mostly male. These male characters portrayed as muscular and tall with physical and psychological abilities that manage to exceed any human. Though there are a few female characters in the DC and Marvel universe, they only consist of about 30% of every superhero that exists. “Racing on the thunder end rising with the heat. / It’s gonna take a superman to sweep me off my feet.” (Stanza 21-22) As quoted above, Tyler seeks a superman and not a superwoman. During the 1900s, the time period that the song was composed and released, even after feminism had revolutionized, women were still seen as the weaker sex. Even though females had made a stand and participated in World War II, it seems that no matter what woman exists with superhuman abilities; they have no power compared to Batman, Superman, etc. This shows oppression of the female gender and how they are depicted always as the more feeble and delicate sex. It is possible that ‘superman’ is a generalized term for all superheroes, though because of the use of male pronouns throughout the song, the possibility of the hero being a heroine is