There Goes My Hero
Why We Like Heroes
“A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself” (Joseph Campbell). This idea of the greater and the hero has been a fascination of mine for some time. What is our obsession with the hero? The savior of the world? We like to fantasize that we have extraordinary powers and defeat terrible foes. The particular fascinating thing about this is our distinction between good and evil.
We like to think good and evil are black and white. That if we steal we must be evil or if we kill we must be evil. That good is the opposite of these evils. However, good and evil are not as black and white as we make them out to be.
A perfect example of this is Rorschach from Watchmen. Although you wouldn’t necessarily call him a “super” hero, he still is a hero. However, what we call good doesn’t align with his philosophical imperative. To him, he’s a necessary evil. That he must clean the garbage from the street because no one else will. Even to the point where he cuffed a man to a pipe gave him a hacksaw and set his house on fire. To him, it was a means to an end.
However, someone just like Rorschach is not considered a hero. Dexter is a serial killer and kills killers. He kills people to settle an urge inside of him. He still meets the same standard as Rorschach but he isn’t considered a hero. People are appalled by him. So why is it that we will condone the actions of a hero but denounce someone who isn’t? This is why the distinction of good vs. evil is so trivial. If we don’t hold the same standards from person to person then obviously we are not consistent. If Batman were to start catching bad guys, would we see him as evil? Better yet would we see Spider-man as a menace?
The best way to show that good and evil are the same is to look at the Civil War. Both sides thought they were the good guys. Both thought they were fighting for what was right. Yet when we look back on history we say the south was evil and the north was good. Why? Because the victor gets to rewrite history. It’s like the old saying: there are three sides to every story, my truth, your truth, and the truth.
So we have to ask ourselves, is the Green Goblin evil or is it Spider-man that is evil. After all, we straddle this line between what is right and what is wrong so often if we stop to think we might find ourselves in a mid-life crisis. So if someone kills someone does that make them evil. If you’re a Hobbesian probably not, if you believe in Christian philosophy then probably yes. So what is good and what is evil all comes down to someone’s philosophical view.
So if good and evil are the same, what constitutes a hero. What makes someone heroic and other villains. Surely there must be some reason we call firefighters heroes but CEO’s villains. The one deciding factor that separates heroes from villains is their care for humanity. Heroes save others at the expense of themselves and villains hurt others for personal gain. That’s why Spider-man is considered a hero but the Green Goblin is not. Better yet why Rorschach is considered a hero but Dexter is not. Rorschach kills to save people, Dexter kills to kill.
Another great example of this distinction is from the show “Heroes.” Hiro Nakamura can bend time and uses it to save people and kill Sylar, the villain. Sylar is a guy who kills people to steal their power. The difference between the two is that all Hiro wanted to do was bestow safety and happiness to everyone, Whereas Sylar wanted endless power. So what defines a hero is his belief in humanity.
This raises a particular problem. If a hero is measured by his humanity, how do you prevent him from losing faith? Heroes, as we stated above, are not good or evil. So if we take away a hero’s humanity what happens. This is something DC has played with for generations. The idea that a superhero, Superman, could go rogue and destroy humanity was something the DC universe feared. It’s exactly the reason Batman developed a way to take down every justice league member. Humanity is important. It’s what keeps people, people. Dr. Manhattan had lost faith in humanity and was ready to let Ozymandias destroy it. He lost his humanity and thus thought of himself as greater than.
The truth is that there is nothing we can do to prevent the loss of one’s faith. As long as they see themselves as human or one of us, then they will continue to have humanity. However, if they feel separate and isolated they will lose faith. That’s exactly how serial killers behave. They lose faith in humanity and develop this narcissism that everyone else is inferior. So if a hero loses faith what happens. To put it in the words of the watchmen, who watches the watchmen.
So now that we know what a hero is, why do we fantasize about them? Why do we enjoy watching their adventures? Why do we resonate with heroes so much and not villains? According to Dr. Scott T. Allison, there are five reasons we like heroes so much. The first reason is that heroism invokes emotional elevation. This emotion makes you feel warm and expanded. It has a sense of security. It’s the admiration of a beautiful act. The second is that it heals psychic wounds. It calms the mind to see or hear heroism. Also, having heroic stories or people makes people feel safe and secure. Next, heroes nourish our connections. One question you can ask anyone is what their favorite hero is. This not only can be a great conversation starter but garnishes a relationship of understanding. Next, heroes show us how to change our lives for the better. Spider-man tells us that great power comes with great responsibility and that the best use of power is used to help others. Lastly, heroes turn us into heroes ourselves. The elevation emotion makes us want to be better people. Also, seeing admiral acts makes us want to do admiral acts.
So our reasoning for liking heroes has nothing to do with their goodness or badness but rather what we consider heroism. We learn something from these stories and use them as a guideline to improve ourselves. Thus, our obsession stems from a feeling of betterment. Not a feeling of goodness. This is why a hero’s humanity is important too. If a hero loses their humanity then this image of greatness and uplifted ness fails and causes more emotional grief that anyone helped by this image will fall ill to negativeness. After all, if a hero who gives their life to something bigger suddenly starts being selfish, then we will want to be selfish as well
