The media that surrounds us dictates our lives. It
influences how we dress, what we buy, what we eat, and how we think. In a
culture which is increasingly becoming driven by the media, many rely on the
media to create an identity. The “hero” has always been a concept in stories
and in times of duress, they come to the rescue. The tragedies of 9/11 rocked
the United States psyche after one of the largest terrorist attacks on US soil.
The media after this assault grabbed the “hero” identity and created a
whirlwind of creation around this idea. From television shows, to movies, to
actual people, the media in the 21st century uses this identity to
help rebuild the American psyche. Many of the superhero films that were created
in the latter part of the first decade presents heroes that the masses would
like to turn to when times are troubled. Sure, most people when the watch the
shows and movies don’t think about these ideas on a conscience level, but they
are present nonetheless. Batman and Captain America are two of the most
well-known superheroes who had movies recently made and they both parallel the
American society and are used to promote this “hero” characteristic. And the
fictitious patriot Jack Bauer fights against all odds in a “do or die”
situation in order to save the country. Even amongst all these extraordinary
identities, there is still a place for men and women like Pat Tillman, a person
in real life who fights for what they believe in and try to protect their
country. In a society where people want a definite answer for everything, the
idea of a hero is in flux. It changes in order to suit the needs of a
generation and is now more than ever driven by the media.
The term “hero” has many interpretations in the 21st century. A young child in elementary school may say that his father is his
hero, or many New Yorkers would say that any fireman or a police officer who
helped out in the wake of the tragic collapse of the Twin Towers is the true
hero. Some take the idea to a fictional level and say that comic book
superheroes are worthy of the title. The media in today's modern society has a
tremendous effect on how society as a whole thinks and sees the world. Ever
since the World Trade Centers were destroyed by a terrorist attack, the “hero”
identity has been constantly pulled by movies, television shows, and even
ordinary people to define an idea that is never set in stone. In the aftermath
of the first large scale terrorist attack on American soil, the American psyche
was scarred. The media in the following decade has contributed to the
reconstruction of the American psyche through fictitious heroes and
highlighting the acts of valor of real life heroes.
The idea of a “superhero” originated in the late 1930’s
and has been presented to the masses in many forms since its original inception
in a comic book in 1938. Since then, there have been superheroes used in
novels, comics, television shows, and movies. The idea of a person who has
inhuman capabilities and fights for a certain set of ideals has been popular
among the American public, especially in times of distress and uncertainty. Points
in time when superheroes have become very popular include; after World War II;
after/during the Vietnam War; the Cold War; and most recently, the collapse of
the World Trade Centers.
In the past decade, the number of movies about
superheroes has skyrocketed and propelled the genre into new heights. With this
surge of available media, there have been many links that lead to the notion of
escapism from present tragedies, parallels to current politics, and a
recreation of the traditional hero. As Wheeler Dixon said, “we’re looking for
someone to save us” (qtd. in Coyle).
One of the most recent additions to the superhero movie
genre is Captain America: The First
Avenger. The movie is set in 1942 and the main protagonist, Steve Rogers,
wants to fight for the United States Army, but is denied because of his medical
conditions. But then a scientist performs a genetically enhancing experiment on
him which increases his strength, health, and physical appearance so that he
becomes a “super soldier”. He is then used as propaganda and goes into the
fight in order to save his comrades and the United States. The media uses Captain America: The First Avenger to help
contribute to the rebuilding of the American psyche. It reminds the public of a
time when America was nearly unstoppable, there was still public trust in the
government, and was emerging as the largest superpower in the world. This movie
highlights reasons why one might be proud to be an American and the power the
country has as a whole when everyone joins together for a common cause. Through
this movie, the media attempts to create a positive feeling about the nation
and draw attention to the strength of the heroes who fight to protect her each
and every day. This recent arrival to the genre has continued on the success of
previous movies produced in the previous decade.
One of the most successful superhero movies since the
9/11 tragedies is Christopher Nolan’s The
Dark Knight. This is considered one of the best live-action hero movies of
all time and has set new standards within the genre. In this movie,
Batman/Bruce Wayne uses his abilities to fight organized crime with the help of
Police Commissioner James Gordon and District Attorney Harvey Dent. The
antagonist, the Joker, is a terrorist who will do anything in order to create
mass panic, chaos, and hysteria.
In Ron Briley’s article, “The Dark Knight: An Allegory of America in the Age of Bush”,
numerous parallels are drawn between the movie and the Bush administration. The
comparisons of the Joker to Osama Bin Laden, the representation of innocence,
representation of heroes, and the presentation of ideas which may be hard for
the public to grasp, such as torture, are presented to the masses via the movie
thanks to the media. The Joker in the movie is a terrorist whose only desire is
to create anarchical chaos among Gotham City. He believes that his ideas are correct
and everyone else should share them. This is displayed when he places
explosives aboard two ships and the power to destroy the opposite ship are in
the hands of the passengers, and they are told that if neither detonates the
explosives than both will blow up. He expects one of the ships to go down, but
in the end neither the ship of ordinary citizens nor the ship of convicts uses
the remote detonator. Just like many terrorists, the Joker believes that
everyone should agree with his ideas.
American innocence is one of the largest motifs that are
portrayed throughout the whole movie. The two large discussions that are the
most prevalent throughout the movie are whether people should be able to work
outside the law in order to accomplish their goals or if it is necessary to
work within the system. Initially, Dent is doing everything in his power to
fight crime within the system, but he eventually loses faith once the Joker’s
terrorism gets the best of him. Dent tries his best to use his position as the
District Attorney to fight the organized crime syndicates of Gotham City in
court. But once Dent and his love Rachel were both abducted by the Joker and
only Dent was saved after the police were unable to gather any information
about both their whereabouts his faith in the system began to diminish. Rachel
was killed and Dent only survived with massive burns to his body. He then
believes that the only way to fight terrorism is by unconventional means. Once
he learns of corruption within the police department, he then went to settle
the matter himself and murders those who were corrupt. His innocence is
shattered by the Joker’s terrorism just as the American public’s was after
9/11. The media uses the hero Batman to show all the complex struggles between
morality and working to fight crime. Batman realizes that he will not be able
to fight the Joker with traditional, legal tactics. He resorts to torture to
try and glean information from the Joker, similar to how the Bush
administration uses torture to find out information; he uses all the citizen's
cell phones in order to create a massive surveillance of the entire city even
though it is a complete invasion of privacy. Batman recognizes the need for the
protection of innocence and doesn't reveal some of his illegal methods to
fighting crime to the public and even sacrifices himself in order to preserve
the public’s view of Dent being a moral, upstanding crime fighter. This
corresponds to real life because most of the public just wants to know that
they are safe without knowing how they got to that point.
The Dark Knight takes numerous political
motifs and presents them to the audience in a way which more people will
understand. Although the movie is fictional, the parallels to real life
examples are omnipresent. The hero that the media presents in this movie is
that of a vigilante who doesn't have any extraordinary powers, but rather an
ordinary citizen (albeit with massive wealth) who takes crime fighting into his
own hands and tries to serve the public with any means necessary. The idea of innocence
as portrayed by the media in the movie shows the dilemmas that the government
and law enforcement officials struggle with on a daily basis in order to
protect the population of the United States of America. The media's continual
presentation of the hero has penetrated weekly television series airing on
major networks.
A
television show which contains a person without powers acting as a hero is the
popular Fox show, 24 and its hero,
Jack Bauer. Jack Bauer is part of a fictitious organization called the Counter
Terrorism Unit. Rather than parallels to superheroes, it is possible to
consider him in the same genre as older American heroes, such as Davey Crockett
and Daniel Boone in a modern version of a western. He is a lone person fighting
terror in order to protect his country and those he loves. This is the media
giving a modern take on the old western genre with the hero against a group of
outlaws. A person who acted like Jack Bauer in real life wouldn’t be possible,
due to the various illegal tactics he employs to fight the terrorists and the
fact that it is extremely improbable that one man can succeed in bringing down
terrorist while an entire nation cannot. The media uses the medium of
television to present a person who only cares about stopping the terrorist, no
matter what he has to do. This presents the idea of how far should the
government go in order to stop terrorism. This struggle between the confines law
and the desire to prevent terrorism riddles politics and has no clear answer
whatsoever.
The
media uses fictitious heroes to present ideas to the public which may be
difficult to understand when directly stated. These heroes provide an
impossible example for people to strive to embody, especially when dealing with
matters that are illegal, extremely dangerous, and not physically possible.
Pat
Tillman embodies the idea of a true American hero fighting for what he believed
in and the media used his story as a tool of showing heroism. Tillman gave up
his career as a professional football player after the 9/11 attacks and
enlisted in the military as an Army Ranger and was subsequently killed in
action in 2004. He gave up a promising career as an athlete in order to protect
his country and he has been memorialized ever since by Tillman's former team,
the Arizona Cardinals, his alma mater, Arizona State University, and he even
has a USO center in Afghanistan named after him. The media gave him a lot of
attention many other soldiers who had died in combat didn't receive because the
public prefers to grab onto the idea of an extraordinary person who is
different in a positive manner. Tillman's story was publicized on major news
networks as well as sports shows thus giving high public recognition to
Tillman's personal story. The media grabbed the persona of a man who gave up a
promising life to protect his fellow citizen and used it to illustrate that
heroes can come from anywhere.
All
those brave men and women who were involved with the 9/11 attacks are now
considered by most to be heroes. The person who rescues a pet from a tree for a
young child will be viewed as a hero no matter their race, gender, religion, or
beauty. The news shows are labeling anyone who does something appearing
extraordinary as a hero and justly so. Often times these people are just doing
their job and it is exactly what needs to be done.
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