Here Lies Arthur

[glenatron]

I'm always happy to pick up an arthurian retelling and among a box of books from my mum ( a mixture of returns to the library at our house and loans from the library at theirs ) I found Here Lies Arthur by Phillip Reeve. It's a very clever low Arthurian story, set in post-roman britain and centred around a young girl who is rescued by Myrddin and

Comments

[life_of_tom]

I think people want to believe in leaders, as ideals. We like the idea of someone who will redeem ourselves through their actions, and someone worth following. Arthur's story is almost god-like; he's brought up from seemingly humble beginnings, but eventually his true worth comes to light. At the end of his life, his downfall is brought about by the actions of others around him, including the betrayal by those close to him. He dies, but he will return to save us all. I've heard of some religious wacko cult who believe something like that.

We've thought things like this about our heroes before- Elvis will return to save music, Lawrence of Arabia didn't die in a motorcycle accident, he's just on a mission (naked stealth maneouvers, perhaps?), Drake's Drum will summon him in Britain's hour of need. I think that's one of coded messages that myth leaves to us, and the same message is contained within the phrase 'cometh the hour, cometh the man.' We look to leaders in difficult times, and will excuse their faults, even overlook them entirely, if they can make us believe in the potential within ourselves.

I think Obama's very much aware of this, or at least someone working for him is. I found it interesting that in some joke speech he made at a dinner (where McCain, to be fair, was actually far more funny than he was, but you don't really want someone funny in charge, do you? imagine the horror of America voted for Robin Williams, or such), he talked about being sent from Krypton by his father Jor-El to save earth. Of course, he doesn't believe he's perfect, or at least, I would hope not. But people like the idea of perfection rising up from the ranks of humanity, and will do a lot to fulfill that ideal.

In a lot of ways, I think a politician's job is to surf a wave, to create an image that will motivate those around them to be what they can, and to not do anything too bad to betray that image, which is something difficult in an age of media access. They also need to know that events will one day lead to their removal. I think the most wonderful check and balance was the man that the Romans would employ to sit next to a general at his Triumph, whispering 'remember, you are mortal.' I quite hope that there's someone like that in the Obama camp.

Oh, and Sword at Sunset is fantastic.

Well said

[life_of_tom]

Totally agree. Oh and don't worry, Obama has someone to say that. It just won't be that polite. Rahm Emanuel will say something more along the lines of: "Remember, bitch, you're f*£$ing immortal and I'll kill you if you forget it. Bitch."

[glenatron]

It is an interesting thread isn't it. I guess maybe someone like Mal in Firefly may be a good example of fictional leader in the way I'm thinking about it. I really should watch the rest of that.

Is it even possible to lead fairly a community as huge and diverse as ours? Can the sheer wisdom required exist? I don't know.

I do know that our leaders over the last decade haven't shown anything close to it and I think their belief that the message is more important than it's content, that you can lead simply by telling people what you think they want to hear, has been a contributing factor to that.