We define a hero as someone who does a selfless act in aid of someone else without expecting a reward or personal gain. Our image of a hero in this country is someone who is flawless and has high moral standards to follow. He/she has to be physically photogenic, strong, and charismatic in order to believe the lie we’ve created. This illusion was made by us in order to inspire us to do the right thing and make the world a better place to live. The truth is in any developed country we live in a dog eat dog world consumed by our needs and wants. When people who have the characteristics of a hero like MLK Jr. or mother Teresa who rise up to the plate and try to benefit humanity are only to being taken for granted. When we hear about the heroic deeds of soldiers who are fighting the war in Iraq or a police officer who takes a bullet for a little girl we tend to pat them on the back and tell them they did a good job. Yet if it were to be anyone who went to the extreme like saved innocent lives from a car bombing and the person was just some normal guy he would be ignored by the media in favor for someone more interesting.
In the movie “Hero” John Bubber who has the characteristics of being a hero takes credit for the heroic deed that he did not do. He did because he wanted a place to stay and has nowhere else to go since he’s homeless. Gail the news reporter who couldn’t remember who really saved her immediately accepted him for his smile and his good nature. What’s worse is that the TV station she works for channel 4 heavily marketed his image and turned him into a nation’s hero over night. He was even a Vietnam vet who managed to save his fellow comrades from being killed. Whenever someone does a heroic deed we tend to focus on that person particular past to see if that person has done other credible things to awe and inspire us. If a former police officer or a former war vet helped a ‘white’ girl from a well she fell into they are considered to be the nation’s hero. After all they have a resume of service that the media can exploit their life story for ratings. If it were an average Joe like a hotdog vendor down on his luck and about to be homeless soon the credit will be given to the rescuers who showed up after the hotdog vendor saved the ‘white’ little girl. Since the hotdog vendor doesn’t have a laundry list of heroic deeds nor follow the characteristics of the hero this country made up. Like Bernie Laplante, he is purposely the opposite of what we idealistically think of a hero. Bernie is a crook and like us only looks out for himself, yet whenever there is a crisis he will rise to the challenge. Bernie saved the passengers from the burning plane out of guilt for the little boy who thinks his father is still trapped inside.
Bernie tries to tell everyone the heroic deed he did and no one believed him. Even when Gail finds out the truth she still refuses to accept that she owes her life to Bernie and thinks he’s trying to frame John Bubber for the credit cards he stole from her. There is another scene in the movie where John Bubber is taken out on a date with Gail to a fancy restaurant. The people there constantly congratulated him for the heroic deed they thought to believe he did. Even one person thanked him and said that if they were in a situation the same as him, he wouldn’t have done it. This couldn’t be sadder then the truth since we live in a society that mostly cater to its needs and wants. What we failed to realized is that there is a Superman/woman within us all we just choose to ignore it when the time calls for it. We fill ourselves with self doubt and excuses to the point where we refuse to give the damsel in distress help. Hoping for someone like John Bubber would be there to fix their problem for us. The key scene of the movie is where Bernie asks the bartender if he would believe that Bernie was the one who saved those passengers. The bartender replied no and he wouldn’t either for it’s not in their nature to do so furthering my point that people filled themselves with self doubt and excuses we come up with to worry our own businesses and not the needs of others.
Anyone can be a hero just not what our media’s definition to exploit and milk for ratings. The TV station milked John Bubber for the fame he had with the public. Sure John Bubber lied so he can have a place to sleep for the night, while others would argue he inspired people to do the right thing. Sure he inspired people to do the right thing, but eventually what’s keeping people to lose that motivation and go back to their natural behavior? Of course Bernie convinces John to continue the lie and continue to inspire people since he’s photogenic. Yet the truth will eventually come out. When it does people won’t take it lightly while others would say I knew that guy was a phony. Until then he’ll just use his fame to convince people to do the right thing and some would follow him. While others would just say “well he told them to do it so someone out there is taking care of that issue for me”. There is a hero with in all of us we just choose to ignore it and rely on someone else to answer the call for us. When someone tries to do a heroic deed like ending the oppression of a war torn nation or find a cure for aids. The media will shower them with attention until they find something else that will distract us from what they did. Eventually their contributions to humanity would be taken for granted and forgotten in a few short generations.
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