A New Type of Hero: the Role of the Anti-Hero in Contemporary Literature and Film
Wade Evans
Instructor Reynolds
English 300
19 November 2012
A New Type of Hero: The Role of the Anti-Hero in Contemporary Literature and Film
On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at a Cinemark in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. A gunman, known as James Holmes, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades, and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing twelve people and injuring fifty-eight others. This was the highest number of casualties in an American mass shooting. He was arrested minutes later outside of the movie theater. An ongoing debate exists to whether the movie influenced or caused the shooting. The growing popularity of the anti-hero in contemporary American mass media is a reflection of the change in morals, culture, and lifestyle that took place during the 20th and 21st centuries.
According to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, an anti-hero is “a protagonist…who does not the exhibit the qualities of the traditional hero” (21). The literary origination of both heroism and the anti-hero are addressed in the article “From Hero to Anti-Hero,” written by Dr. Rosette C. Lamont. Lamont explained that the concept of heroism began with the Greeks and was defined by divine intervention or when a god came to earth to do something. Originally, a hero was a man who accomplished a heralded task through being a god or with the help of a god. As Lamont states, “Archaic man did not believe any more than primitive man does in the autonomy his acts” (2).
The conceptual origin of the anti-hero also began in ancient Greek literature not too long after the traditional hero gained popularity. According to Lamont, Odysseus of Homer’s Odyssey is the first literary anti-hero. Not to be confused with a tragic hero, an anti-hero is different because the anti-hero is reborn without dying. Odysseus’s success is not self-destructive like famous Greek tragic heroes such as
Instructor Reynolds
English 300
19 November 2012
A New Type of Hero: The Role of the Anti-Hero in Contemporary Literature and Film
On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred at a Cinemark in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. A gunman, known as James Holmes, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades, and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing twelve people and injuring fifty-eight others. This was the highest number of casualties in an American mass shooting. He was arrested minutes later outside of the movie theater. An ongoing debate exists to whether the movie influenced or caused the shooting. The growing popularity of the anti-hero in contemporary American mass media is a reflection of the change in morals, culture, and lifestyle that took place during the 20th and 21st centuries.
According to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, an anti-hero is “a protagonist…who does not the exhibit the qualities of the traditional hero” (21). The literary origination of both heroism and the anti-hero are addressed in the article “From Hero to Anti-Hero,” written by Dr. Rosette C. Lamont. Lamont explained that the concept of heroism began with the Greeks and was defined by divine intervention or when a god came to earth to do something. Originally, a hero was a man who accomplished a heralded task through being a god or with the help of a god. As Lamont states, “Archaic man did not believe any more than primitive man does in the autonomy his acts” (2).
The conceptual origin of the anti-hero also began in ancient Greek literature not too long after the traditional hero gained popularity. According to Lamont, Odysseus of Homer’s Odyssey is the first literary anti-hero. Not to be confused with a tragic hero, an anti-hero is different because the anti-hero is reborn without dying. Odysseus’s success is not self-destructive like famous Greek tragic heroes such as
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