Dumb heroes and heroines

[wombat_socho]

ursulav contemplates literature and its lack of stupid people among the ranks of heroes and heroines. Her task is complicated by misunderstanding the Bertie Wooster stories, in which Bertie supplies the POV but the real hero is invariably Jeeves. I mean, Wodehouse had this down to a formula: Bertie has a problem, usually inflicted by one of his annoying

Comments

[harvey_rrit]

Movies, not so much.

[wombat_socho]

Are they genuinely dumb heroes, or just average people stuck with the Idiot Ball by the all-powerful scriptwriter?

[harvey_rrit]

By the WHAT?

Know why fiction sells? It's better than real life. This is because fiction is controlled by a writer, while real life only has a Director.

This is also why real life has too many explosions and a lame plot, and the star is the Director's girlfriend's illegitimate son.

[wombat_socho]

Boy, you're bound and determined to ruin all my delusions, aren't you?

Also, proof to the contrary: Harlan Ellison. Did he EVER write anything that was better than real life? A lot of things WORSE, but I can't recall anything better, at least not off the top of my head. Oh wait, I forgot that episode of Star Wars he wrote. [/Penny Arcade reference]

[haikujaguar]

I would read a hero who is not as smart as the characters around them, if they were more good. Good as in big-hearted, true, kind, gentle, noble... happy and joyful and grateful.

In my experience, intelligence is not often linked with these things.

[wombat_socho]

You could make a case for Ivan Denisovich Shukhov (from One Day In The Life Of Ivan Denisovich) falling into that category. Hell, for a zek in the GULAG, he's practically saintly.

Re-stupid heros

[blindfury1]

Hi,
Followed you over from a post on Deathquaker’s blog.
Society does like dumb heroes, as long as their stupidity gives them singular incite…Forest Gump…etc. That’s why R.D.J.’s character in Tropic thunder says “Never go full retard.” Guess we like our stupid with a shot of brilliance.

Re: Re-stupid heros

[wombat_socho]

I don't know that Forrest Gump is actually stupid. He certainly acts wiser than a lot of the other characters in the movie, to say nothing of being more kind and generous besides.