Why We Need Heroes in Movies
Thomas Fuselier
Why do we need heroes?
Professor James Winters
While they may be very different from one another almost every movie must have some type of hero. Screen writers and movie directors must constantly develop these different types of heroes to please the many different attitudes and opinions of movie goers. Movie enthusiast all have different reasons for liking the movie heroes they do and it is up to the screen writers, actors, and directors to successfully please the movies target audience. Numerous studies have tried to reveal just exactly what people consider a hero to be. In a study discussed in the course packet the results show that terms such as intelligent, loving, and leader are some of the most commonly used descriptive words for a hero.(Course Packet pg7) In this essay I will discuss these different types of heroes portrayed on the silver screen and why it is necessary to have them. Keep in mind while reading the following that even though heroes come in many forms, they more often than not are presented as courageous, heroic, likeable, and believable. The essay will be broken down into the discussion of underdog heroes, superheroes, and everyman heroes. By explaining the need for these vastly different types of movie heroes it will become easy to understand why people find them appealing. Almost everyone has at some point or another felt held down by some form of oppression making it easy to understand why many movie enthusiast love underdog heroes. With that said it is important to understand that people like a hero that they can relate to. The majority of people are not perfect in every aspect of life and are more than happy to see the underdog come out victorious. Even though a hero is an underdog there is no one single definition of how an underdog hero is supposed to be, these heroes come in many different forms with very different characteristics that appeal to different audiences. For example, Movies such as Animal House depict
Why do we need heroes?
Professor James Winters
While they may be very different from one another almost every movie must have some type of hero. Screen writers and movie directors must constantly develop these different types of heroes to please the many different attitudes and opinions of movie goers. Movie enthusiast all have different reasons for liking the movie heroes they do and it is up to the screen writers, actors, and directors to successfully please the movies target audience. Numerous studies have tried to reveal just exactly what people consider a hero to be. In a study discussed in the course packet the results show that terms such as intelligent, loving, and leader are some of the most commonly used descriptive words for a hero.(Course Packet pg7) In this essay I will discuss these different types of heroes portrayed on the silver screen and why it is necessary to have them. Keep in mind while reading the following that even though heroes come in many forms, they more often than not are presented as courageous, heroic, likeable, and believable. The essay will be broken down into the discussion of underdog heroes, superheroes, and everyman heroes. By explaining the need for these vastly different types of movie heroes it will become easy to understand why people find them appealing. Almost everyone has at some point or another felt held down by some form of oppression making it easy to understand why many movie enthusiast love underdog heroes. With that said it is important to understand that people like a hero that they can relate to. The majority of people are not perfect in every aspect of life and are more than happy to see the underdog come out victorious. Even though a hero is an underdog there is no one single definition of how an underdog hero is supposed to be, these heroes come in many different forms with very different characteristics that appeal to different audiences. For example, Movies such as Animal House depict
Cited: "100 greatest movie heroes." Digital Dream Door. N.p., 11/30/08. Web. 17 Feb 2011. <http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_hero.html>. Course Packet,Pg.7 Chek, George. "Remember The Titans." A Great Movie. IMDB, 15/Mar/2003. Web. 17 Feb 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0210945/>.