Wow, I’m bored (the infrequent teal deer post, now with bonus essay!)
I took my last final on Thursday night. I had Friday off from work. By Saturday afternoon, I was bored.
Oh, and I may be forced to hunt down my philosophy professor to demand the grade for my final…which I took online a week ago…which closed on Thursday…which is graded…and for which the motherfucking grade hasn’t been released yet…but I’m trying not to obsess.
Okay, I can’t bypass this - I want my grades. I’m betting 3 definite As (two of which I know I have - Lit and Geology - the pending one is Accounting), one likely A (Macroeconomics - I had enough extra credit going into the final to boost me a full letter grade, which I needed because there was shit on that test I swear never came up in class. Or lecture. Or the textbook.), and one if-I-clap-my-hands-hard-enough-Tinkerbell-lives-and-I-have-an-A A in Philosophy. Which is probably a B. Which I won’t know until I found out how I did on the final. See above and understand the obsessive cycle.
I did 16 credits this semester with a full time job and a *very* understanding honey. I promised myself that if I could pull this off, I could move up to 18 credits. Well, no matter how I do on the Philosophy final, I’m not going to fail the class. So, five classes, five passes, means I’m maxing out my credits for the next three semesters - 18 a pop. I want this done. I spent five years at CCSN getting my Associates; I’ll spend 4 getting two bachelors. That’s a long time to spend in college.
And yet, as worn out from doing this to myself again and again and again, now that it’s over, I’m bored. I don’t know what to do with myself when I have free time. I logged thirty hours in Tales of Symphonia over the weekend and had to stop because I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something…cerebral, I guess is the right word - something requiring my mind to move beyond the Zen and the Console state. So I took a look at my long overdue omniocular fic, added about 1,000 words to it, then realized I lost the plot and cannot find it again. I don’t want to work on my NaNo story - I’m at the point where things gets fucked up for everyone and it’s hard to write that…thought it was so great running the story, I care too much about the characters that I’ve been reliving this game with for the last year to put them through it right now. So I’ve been thinking about redoing one of my Lit essays.
The question:
We’ve discussed them extensively in class and on WebCampus, so now, which of the heroes (epic, or tragic) we’ve read about (Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Oedipus, Rama, Kumagai or Atsumori, Sohrab or Rostam, Beowulf, Gawain) comes closest to our contemporary concept of “heroic?” This answer will require you to define what you and your contemporaries consider “heroic,” if anything, as well as detail the ways in which the character you’ve chosen measures up to that definition and the ways the others fail to measure up. Many very clever people have claimed that we live in an anti-heroic age (not believing in heroes any more at all.)
When I wrote my response, one of my thoughts on what a contemporary hero was essentially boiled down into Batman. I wish I’d had the time to explore that line of thought…again why three essays in three days is commonly known as a bad idea. Now that it’s all over, I’d like to revisit the idea and explore it more fully.
So, nerds and geeks on my flist, I’d like your help. Anyone who can point me toward good, detailed sites on Batman, his history, his evolution, etc., your links would be greatly appreciated. As would anyone who can also tell me if I’m wasting my time with this exercise or (even better) help me find some solid links for academic links on heroic archetypes. Sorry, I don’t have any Campbell on my shelf.
Thanks in advance.
Despite the clever people who claim we no longer believe in heroes, the opposite is true; today, we have an excess of heroes. Today, there is a heroic ideal for almost every given situation. Pick a career and there is an underlying hero to draw upon as the ideal of the field. For every lifestyle, too, there is a hero. Every dream has a modern heroic myth to call its own. From Super Mom to Superman, from FDNY to Jesus, the modern hero exists in many places and under many names. But the archetypal myth that comes closest to them all is that of the vigilante. Popularized in fiction by characters like Batman and Jason Bourne, the vigilante as an meta-myth underlies many of today’s heroes, including Super Mom and 9/11 firefighters. While many of the epic heroes we’ve discussed this semester contain traces of this heroic type, the closest match to this myth from our reading is Odysseus.
The vigilante has many traits in common with other hero myths, such as the Cowboy and the Doctor, but some that are unique to it. First and foremost among the vigilante’s traits is rebellion against the status quo. The vigilante chooses not to play by the established rules of their greater culture and society, instead embracing the role of maverick or visionary. From the business world to the arts to the playground, everyone loves this form of rebellion - as long as they are successful. That is, in fact, one of the key facets of this myth: a lack of failure. A vigilante hero can have setbacks, but must rise above them to achieve his objectives. This, in fact is where Gilgamesh fails to match the vigilante template. In the end of his epic, he loses the plant that would have granted him eternal youth, a way to defeat death. The epic ends with Gilgamesh’s return to Uruk-Haven, without the magical fruit of his quest. This, too, is where Oedipus fails. While Oedipus is an exemplary tragic hero, he does not have the innate rebellion of the vigilante. Here, too, Beowulf and Gawain falter as vigilantes. Beowulf does not defy the Scandinavian society he is in; instead he epitomizes it as a hero worthy of that culture and is rewarded with wealth, power, and fame in the process. Gawain, a young Arthurian knight, is the picture of medieval gallantry and chivalry and works within that power structure. He is no Morgan le Fey, to work against Arthur.
In a similar vein to the vigilante’s rebellion, another trait of the vigilante, one almost exclusive to this particular heroic myth, is the vigilante’s way of following their own perceptions of right and wrong. As many of the popular fictional heroes today show, it is the vigilante’s willingness to court punishment in defiance of the established culture to be true to their own morals that makes them stand out on their own. It is this quality that disqualifies the Eastern heroes we’ve covered this semester - Sorhab and Rostam, Ramayana, Kumagai and Atsumori. Eastern culture’s inclusive nature invalidates the social defiance and rebellion necessary to be a vigilante hero. All three sets of heroes obeyed their cultural dictates as part of their heroism. For example, Rama allows his wife, Sita, to burn herself alive to prove her purity, not to him, but to everyone else. Kumagai has no desire to kill Atsumori, who reminded him of his son. He kills him anyway because that is what is expected of him and he believes that killing him with regret is kinder than letting another of the Genki army slay the boy. Atsumori, after a brief struggle, demands to die, as dictated by feudal Japanese culture for a captured warrior. The collectivist cultures that created these heroes have little in common with the modern myth of the vigilante.
The trait that the vigilante has in common with almost all hero myths is that of physical superiority. Few heroic myths are based on a hero that cannot physically win his battles if he (or she) so chooses. This is true for all of the heroes we’ve examined this semester. However, another trait of the vigilante is a sharp intellect. While that is a trait common to many of today’s heroes, it is not as common in the heroes we’ve examined this semester. Of all of the heroes we’ve encountered the only one who explicitly relied on cleverness was Odysseus. While other heroes were intelligent, none of them used that aspect of themselves as an integral part of their heroic experience, the way Odysseus does. In the selection of the Odyssey we read, while Odysseus was not always wise in his actions, he never chose brute force where cleverness would serve as well - and frequently, better. This, along with Odysseus’s willingness to do what is needed to success, even if it is unconventional - such as hiding underneath sheep to escape the Cyclopes - fits well with the maverick tendencies of the vigilante. And stealing the sheep to feed his men also fits in this vein. He is also a skilled warrior, something easy to seen as he leads the sacking of Ismarus at the beginning of Book 9 of the Odyssey. He even demonstrates a degree of rebellion in attempting to prevent Tiresias’s prophecy - and Poseidon’s curse - concerning his journey home. His belief that he would find a way to return to Ithaca never wavers. For all these traits, Odysseus is the best match for the modern day vigilante hero.
While there are many other modern heroic archetypes, most of them share traits with the vigilante, such as physical strength, high intelligence, and perseverance. This overlap of traits, combined with which this myth is retold in modern society, make it an ideal to showcase what a modern hero is. After examining the traits both unique to it and common to many modern heroes, none of the epic heroes match it better than Odysseus.
Oh, and I may be forced to hunt down my philosophy professor to demand the grade for my final…which I took online a week ago…which closed on Thursday…which is graded…and for which the motherfucking grade hasn’t been released yet…but I’m trying not to obsess.
Okay, I can’t bypass this - I want my grades. I’m betting 3 definite As (two of which I know I have - Lit and Geology - the pending one is Accounting), one likely A (Macroeconomics - I had enough extra credit going into the final to boost me a full letter grade, which I needed because there was shit on that test I swear never came up in class. Or lecture. Or the textbook.), and one if-I-clap-my-hands-hard-enough-Tinkerbell-lives-and-I-have-an-A A in Philosophy. Which is probably a B. Which I won’t know until I found out how I did on the final. See above and understand the obsessive cycle.
I did 16 credits this semester with a full time job and a *very* understanding honey. I promised myself that if I could pull this off, I could move up to 18 credits. Well, no matter how I do on the Philosophy final, I’m not going to fail the class. So, five classes, five passes, means I’m maxing out my credits for the next three semesters - 18 a pop. I want this done. I spent five years at CCSN getting my Associates; I’ll spend 4 getting two bachelors. That’s a long time to spend in college.
And yet, as worn out from doing this to myself again and again and again, now that it’s over, I’m bored. I don’t know what to do with myself when I have free time. I logged thirty hours in Tales of Symphonia over the weekend and had to stop because I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do something…cerebral, I guess is the right word - something requiring my mind to move beyond the Zen and the Console state. So I took a look at my long overdue omniocular fic, added about 1,000 words to it, then realized I lost the plot and cannot find it again. I don’t want to work on my NaNo story - I’m at the point where things gets fucked up for everyone and it’s hard to write that…thought it was so great running the story, I care too much about the characters that I’ve been reliving this game with for the last year to put them through it right now. So I’ve been thinking about redoing one of my Lit essays.
The question:
We’ve discussed them extensively in class and on WebCampus, so now, which of the heroes (epic, or tragic) we’ve read about (Gilgamesh, Odysseus, Oedipus, Rama, Kumagai or Atsumori, Sohrab or Rostam, Beowulf, Gawain) comes closest to our contemporary concept of “heroic?” This answer will require you to define what you and your contemporaries consider “heroic,” if anything, as well as detail the ways in which the character you’ve chosen measures up to that definition and the ways the others fail to measure up. Many very clever people have claimed that we live in an anti-heroic age (not believing in heroes any more at all.)
When I wrote my response, one of my thoughts on what a contemporary hero was essentially boiled down into Batman. I wish I’d had the time to explore that line of thought…again why three essays in three days is commonly known as a bad idea. Now that it’s all over, I’d like to revisit the idea and explore it more fully.
So, nerds and geeks on my flist, I’d like your help. Anyone who can point me toward good, detailed sites on Batman, his history, his evolution, etc., your links would be greatly appreciated. As would anyone who can also tell me if I’m wasting my time with this exercise or (even better) help me find some solid links for academic links on heroic archetypes. Sorry, I don’t have any Campbell on my shelf.
Thanks in advance.
Despite the clever people who claim we no longer believe in heroes, the opposite is true; today, we have an excess of heroes. Today, there is a heroic ideal for almost every given situation. Pick a career and there is an underlying hero to draw upon as the ideal of the field. For every lifestyle, too, there is a hero. Every dream has a modern heroic myth to call its own. From Super Mom to Superman, from FDNY to Jesus, the modern hero exists in many places and under many names. But the archetypal myth that comes closest to them all is that of the vigilante. Popularized in fiction by characters like Batman and Jason Bourne, the vigilante as an meta-myth underlies many of today’s heroes, including Super Mom and 9/11 firefighters. While many of the epic heroes we’ve discussed this semester contain traces of this heroic type, the closest match to this myth from our reading is Odysseus.
The vigilante has many traits in common with other hero myths, such as the Cowboy and the Doctor, but some that are unique to it. First and foremost among the vigilante’s traits is rebellion against the status quo. The vigilante chooses not to play by the established rules of their greater culture and society, instead embracing the role of maverick or visionary. From the business world to the arts to the playground, everyone loves this form of rebellion - as long as they are successful. That is, in fact, one of the key facets of this myth: a lack of failure. A vigilante hero can have setbacks, but must rise above them to achieve his objectives. This, in fact is where Gilgamesh fails to match the vigilante template. In the end of his epic, he loses the plant that would have granted him eternal youth, a way to defeat death. The epic ends with Gilgamesh’s return to Uruk-Haven, without the magical fruit of his quest. This, too, is where Oedipus fails. While Oedipus is an exemplary tragic hero, he does not have the innate rebellion of the vigilante. Here, too, Beowulf and Gawain falter as vigilantes. Beowulf does not defy the Scandinavian society he is in; instead he epitomizes it as a hero worthy of that culture and is rewarded with wealth, power, and fame in the process. Gawain, a young Arthurian knight, is the picture of medieval gallantry and chivalry and works within that power structure. He is no Morgan le Fey, to work against Arthur.
In a similar vein to the vigilante’s rebellion, another trait of the vigilante, one almost exclusive to this particular heroic myth, is the vigilante’s way of following their own perceptions of right and wrong. As many of the popular fictional heroes today show, it is the vigilante’s willingness to court punishment in defiance of the established culture to be true to their own morals that makes them stand out on their own. It is this quality that disqualifies the Eastern heroes we’ve covered this semester - Sorhab and Rostam, Ramayana, Kumagai and Atsumori. Eastern culture’s inclusive nature invalidates the social defiance and rebellion necessary to be a vigilante hero. All three sets of heroes obeyed their cultural dictates as part of their heroism. For example, Rama allows his wife, Sita, to burn herself alive to prove her purity, not to him, but to everyone else. Kumagai has no desire to kill Atsumori, who reminded him of his son. He kills him anyway because that is what is expected of him and he believes that killing him with regret is kinder than letting another of the Genki army slay the boy. Atsumori, after a brief struggle, demands to die, as dictated by feudal Japanese culture for a captured warrior. The collectivist cultures that created these heroes have little in common with the modern myth of the vigilante.
The trait that the vigilante has in common with almost all hero myths is that of physical superiority. Few heroic myths are based on a hero that cannot physically win his battles if he (or she) so chooses. This is true for all of the heroes we’ve examined this semester. However, another trait of the vigilante is a sharp intellect. While that is a trait common to many of today’s heroes, it is not as common in the heroes we’ve examined this semester. Of all of the heroes we’ve encountered the only one who explicitly relied on cleverness was Odysseus. While other heroes were intelligent, none of them used that aspect of themselves as an integral part of their heroic experience, the way Odysseus does. In the selection of the Odyssey we read, while Odysseus was not always wise in his actions, he never chose brute force where cleverness would serve as well - and frequently, better. This, along with Odysseus’s willingness to do what is needed to success, even if it is unconventional - such as hiding underneath sheep to escape the Cyclopes - fits well with the maverick tendencies of the vigilante. And stealing the sheep to feed his men also fits in this vein. He is also a skilled warrior, something easy to seen as he leads the sacking of Ismarus at the beginning of Book 9 of the Odyssey. He even demonstrates a degree of rebellion in attempting to prevent Tiresias’s prophecy - and Poseidon’s curse - concerning his journey home. His belief that he would find a way to return to Ithaca never wavers. For all these traits, Odysseus is the best match for the modern day vigilante hero.
While there are many other modern heroic archetypes, most of them share traits with the vigilante, such as physical strength, high intelligence, and perseverance. This overlap of traits, combined with which this myth is retold in modern society, make it an ideal to showcase what a modern hero is. After examining the traits both unique to it and common to many modern heroes, none of the epic heroes match it better than Odysseus.