Type Of Hero Research Articles

«Женский мир» в советском плакате 1910–1930-х годов: эволюция мифологических конструктов

<p>В статье анализируется репрезентация типологии женской образности в русском плакате 1900–1930-х годов в динамике массового сознания эпохи. Основные женские типы — «героический», «традиционный (деметрианский)» и «венерианский (роковой)» — изменяются и обновляются, формируясь в систему мифов-идеологем и репрезентуются в массовой культуре и искусстве. На обширном материале анализируются доминирующие в зависимости от русской историко-культурной ситуации типы и мифосемиотические основы их функционирования и репрезентации в плакатном искусстве.</p><p>Каждый из типов формируется системой идеологем, опирающихся на мифологические конструкты массовой культуры, что последовательно и упрощенно отражается в «плакатном» тексте как наиболее динамично отзывающемся на вызовы времени. «Традиционный (деметрианский)» тип, реализованный в традиционных ролях жены и матери, после революции теряет свои позиции на фоне актуализации «героического» типа и возвращается к 1930-м, олицетворяя вегетативную основу жизни и иллюстрируя поворот к стабильности, производству, созиданию. «Венерианский» тип не входит в официальный дискурс первого периода советской власти и проявляется как объект сатиры в годы нэп, однако с развитием системы производства и потребления ограниченно используется в рекламе товаров. «Героический» тип со сменой политического строя выходит на первый план, трансформируясь от аскетичного образа революционной героини к синтетическому образу советской женщины, сочетающей роли матери, героини труда и привлекательной женщины, заимствуя и сочетая определенные характеристики трех базовых типов.</p>

The New Type of Hero in Ayn Rand's Novels and Its Historical Roots

Abstract This article examines the new type of hero created by Ayn Rand and finds its roots in Chernyshevsky's “new human.” Rand's characters share such features as extremism, asceticism, escapism, and the desire to transform the world. Moreover, Rand's heroes exhibit the self-building and “wholeness” traits of the “superhuman” as found in myths and in Renaissance and Masonic ideas.

The Hybrid Hero: A Contagious Counterexample

Fictional heroes have been considered as moral exemplars and as entertaining and soothing characters. Their creators, however, do not work in a vacuum. Therefore, the emergence of heroic narratives is closely connected to a specific space and time context. In this article, I propose a heroic cycle which consist of three different heroic types creators use to cope with events in reality. This cycle consists of the classic hero, the flawed hero, and the contemporary (post 9/11) type of hero which will be defined and described as a hybrid hero. This hybrid hero became very popular in recent years and just as its counterpart, the franchised hero tries with a specific set of characteristics and moral frameworks, to provide a jouissance for audiences (Barthes, 1975). By doing so, these heroes try to sooth, entertain, or challenge their audiences. Both the hybrid and the franchised hero focus on the reception by audiences although their means and behavior differ on many levels. Although the research and development of the hybrid hero is still at its initial stage, this article elaborates on its construction and conceptualizations as fictional character and as moral challenger in today’s fiction. The hybrid hero challenges both audience and creators on empathic, moral, and narrative levels and is a contemporary symbiosis of heroic and villainous features. The text consists of two parts: first, background and contextualization and second, a description of a case study ( The Borgia Trilogy, a theatre performance which Van Tourhout created) to clarify the empathic and narrative features of hybrid heroes.

Hero Types, Roller Coasters, and Dark Zones

Hero Types, Roller Coasters, and Dark Zones

Caryl Phillips and the Heroic

This article explores the notion of the heroic in fictional and non-fictional work by Black British writer Caryl Phillips. Taking a point of departure in an ambivalent Caribbean longing for heroes, the piece discusses hero-theory and its usefulness for the types of heroes found in in Phillips’ writing. It focusses in particular on Crossing the River, The Atlantic Sound and A Distant Shore in its elaboration on what constitutes a Phillipsian heroic and how and where to locate these heroes. Traits such as dignity, courage, the clarity of no-saying and global ways of being and seeing emerge as heroic traits and are discussed with references also to some of Phillips’ essay from both A New World Order and Colour me English

Anti-hero Worship: The Emergence of the “Byronic hero” Archetype in the Nineteenth Century

Anti-hero Worship:The Emergence of the "Byronic hero" Archetype in the Nineteenth Century Cora Palfy (bio) Introduction The works of poet Lord Byron were a tour de force over the course of the nineteenth century—from the serial release of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812–1818), ever-famous poetry like Don Juan (1819), and his dramatic stage works, such as Manfred (1817), Byron can be noted as one of the most highly influential authors and artists of his time.1 Though Byronic style and traits were adopted by a variety of authors and poets throughout Europe, Byron's influence stretched beyond the literary. Berlioz, Brahms, Schumann, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Strauss, and other nineteenth-century composers also adopted Byronic plots or narrative elements and incorporated them into musical works.2 Aside from the polemical writing style and sensational authorial persona that mark his work as distinct, Byron also introduced a unique character type, the "Byronic hero." This novel hero manipulated standard behaviors and plot outcomes associated with earlier conceptions [End Page 161] of the "hero" archetype, creating an entirely new standard character that revolutionized literature and art.3 The archetypical twists necessary to produce a Byronic hero provide a prime opportunity to investigate Byron's influence on musical composition during the mid-nineteenth century. If the Byronic hero was initially a manipulation of standard narrative expectations and character types, how did composers adapt stock patterns and manipulate listener expectations in order to communicate a musical Byronic hero? This paper provides three case studies that demonstrate recurrent patterns of topical troping in Byronic music. My analyses reveal that pieces, such as Schumann's Manfred Overture, Op. 115, Tchaikovsky's "Manfred" Symphony, Op. 58, I, and Berlioz's Harold en Italie, Op. 16, I all contain military and ombra topics, formal deformations, and obsessively reiterated thematic gestures. The coalescence of these elements communicates the impression of the lovelorn, obsessive, and static Byronic hero. The presence of these features calls into question the representation and variety of musical heroes in the nineteenth century and the way in which topics can be manipulated to convey nuanced, specific character types. Heroism and its Adaptations in Music and Literature The "hero" archetype has been present in literature since the earliest mythologies. Psychoanalyst and ethnographer Joseph Campbell has noted that hero mythology is a cultural universal and that heroic journeys have been a part of these mythologies as symbolic representations of human psychological and biological development.4 Campbell's heroic "monomyth" articulates a common framework underlying the hero's journey—the hero undergoes a cycle of separation, initiation, and return.5 Separation entails both the introduction of a hero and his departure from home, initiation includes the hero's trials and tribulations, and finally, the hero victoriously returns with transcendent, enlightened knowledge.6 Campbell defines the hero thus, "The hero, therefore, is the man or woman who has been able to battle past his personal and [End Page 162] local historical limitations to the generally valid, normal human forms."7 Campbell's ideas of an individuated hero symbolically vanquishing the troubles of his era correspond well with the prominent traits of the many varieties of hero available in contemporary literature and film. Campbell's definition of hero in the universal monomyth, however, leaves much room for refinement and growth in these various genres. The diverse varieties of hero extant today stem from an explosion in and evolution of heroic literary types in the eighteenth century. Peter Thorslev's study on the Byronic hero surveys pre-Romantic and early Romantic distinctions between distinct hero types, each of which feeds into Byron's later archetype.8 Thorslev details three eighteenth-century hero types, the "Child of Nature, the Hero of Sensibility, and the Gothic Villain" and four Romantic hero types, the "Noble Outlaw… the Faust-figure, Cain and the Wandering Jew, and Satan-Prometheus."9 Each of these character types shares certain features, such as an understanding of a higher moral,10 noble spirit or elevated social role, and the role of accomplishing action or resolving conflicts throughout a plot. These peremptory heroic types laid the groundwork for the later Byronic hero. This hero, which today might...

The rise and fall of fascist superpowers

Viewed in their original context, comic book superheroes express the paradox that democratic utopianism can be defended only through anti-democratic means. Superheroes were conceived in response to fascism, achieved massive popularity with the expansion of a fascist-fighting war, and began to wane not at the close of that war but at the earliest signs of victory. The rise and fall of fascism does not coincidentally parallel the arc of the Golden Age character; the ideology informs the hero type’s conception, market surge, and eventual renunciation. After the fall of Nazi Germany, Communism proved an inadequately dire threat to justify the figure’s continuation, and those few superheroes who survived the industry’s Wertham-led, anti-fascist purging in the mid-fifties did so because they had been divorced from their authoritative violence. The historical relationship between Golden Age heroes and fascism was distanced in the early sixties when Silver Age creators reproduced the formulas apart from their originating context. While superheroes are not exclusively a fascist phenomenon, and while their enduring popularity is a product of myriad factors, their origins remain imbedded in the genre and continue to define the hero type.

Readers' Advisory: There Seem to be More SEALs in Romance Fiction than in the US Navy, and if so, Why Does it Matter?

Few of us are lucky enough to write about what we love. In particular, what we love to read and why it’s so popular. But, Mary K. Chelton was able to do just that. We, the readers of this column are able to dive right into this article and read Chelton’s thoughts on a book genre dear to her: Navy SEALs. Why we do love our military men? What is it with the strong, handsome type that often need “fixing” by intelligent, beautiful ladies in need of love that has our readers so transfixed? Chelton provides excellent insight into a genre that she, too, loves to read. In her own words, Chelton states that this article suggests reasons for popularity of military romance, from the type of hero and appeal factors to familiar story lines and authors. Whether you’re a readers’ advisor familiar with this reading trend, or new to the genre, this article is a great introduction or “go to” resource in your everyday RA world.—Editor

A Comparative Study on the Stages of Myths Where Nature Appears Sympathetic in Greek & Persian Myths

During a mythical quest, a typical hero undergoes certain ordeals to achieve the heroic goal which sets him/her on the path of adventure in the first place. Facing the difficulties, the narrator offers help not only through the internal powers of the hero’s soul but also through a variety of external forces (natural/supernatural). In Greek and Persian mythology, heroes sometimes receive help from nature as a source of independent power which can bring about changes. The current study aims to hold out a few cases of natural changes in legendary quests that take ordinary natural phenomena out of their path affecting the quest results. Joseph Campbell’s list of stages of a myth is to be used for juxtaposing the natural phenomena in the myths in order to decide about the part of the legend where nature leaves a mark. The result of the study is expected to categorize different types of heroes that appear in Greek and Persian myths. Furthermore, the relationship between heroes and nature will be examined; as the Persian hero receives the natural interference during the ongoing stages of their quest as help, while the Greek hero receives the effect of nature after their death. All these are supposed to reveal the reward mechanism and how it reflects on the type of measures taken by nature. Keywords : Archetypes, Mythical Hero, Structure of Myths, Reward, Persian Hero, Greek Hero

From classical Greece to science fiction: Heroic aesthetics and the popularity of the Eagle pilot Alan Carter in Space: 1999

Abstract This article analyses the success of a support character in comparison to the stars in the 1970s television series Space: 1999 (1975–1977), in light of the permeation of Greek classical aesthetic codes in on-screen representation of heroes. Although the name of the actor impersonating the chief Eagle pilot Alan Carter was not even in the opening credits of the show and his character, like most support characters of Space: 1999, had but a few lines per episode, this series won actor Nick Tate international attention and his character quickly became among the favourites of the show, especially in the realm of science fiction fandom. While he is in the frame without actually doing any action, Carter oftentimes adopts a posture known as contrapposto, a pose characteristic of the idealized heroic body. This pose had been deliberately used in the early days of Hollywood to enhance the cultic status of some stars, and because of its cultural identification with a heroic type and its erotic potential, Carter was recognized as a hero more than the rest of the support characters on the show. Moreover, Carter’s persona in the scripts is that of an engaging, faithful, trustworthy fellow, which completes the picture of the ideal of manliness in Greek philosophy, that of spiritual goodness (agathon) reflected in physical beauty (kallos), placing Carter among the most popular characters with the audience of Space: 1999.

The didactic dimension of mythological figures in Greek literature and scholia

The paper discusses the types of heroes and anti-heroes established in literature by ancient Greek culture. In order to provide a full treatment of the subject, which in its diachronic aspect is very broad, the field of research has been limited. As a result, the present paper analyzes examples of mythological figures in the epic poems of Homer in juxtaposition with those found in Euripidean drama. The two authors have been chosen in view of the fact that their works are model representations of the values of their times as well as of the noticeable differences between them in evaluating the same mythological figures.

Bittersweet China: New Discourses of Hardship and Social Organisation

This paper argues that new interpretations of “eating bitterness” ([Formula: see text], chiku) have firmly entered the landscape of China's social organisation. Whereas the bitterness eaten by heroic types in China's revolutionary past was directed towards serving others, now the aim of eating bitterness is self-awareness. Furthermore, bitterness-eating, which once pertained to rural-urban migrant workers as opposed to discourses of urban “quality” ([Formula: see text], suzhi), has now also been taken up by the urban middle classes. A new cultural distinction, therefore, adds dignity to migrant workers while potentially marginalising a wide range of unproductive people, both urban and rural. This distinction ultimately mitigates risk to the Chinese regime because the regime makes sure to reward those who eat bitterness. This paper is based on ethnographic data gathered in Anshan, from the rural areas surrounding Chengdu, and our analysis of a TV show about a peasant boy who becomes a Special Forces soldier.

A Femme Fatale of Whom ‘No One Spoke Ill’: Judith's Moral Muddle and Her Personification of Yahweh

Judith's behavior in the Assyrian camp has perplexed commentators for centuries. Even if the circumstances of war can justify the killing of an incursive enemy, Judith's deceit, seduction, and assassination of Holofernes are excessive. Previous scholars have tried to exculpate Judith in various ways, but none of these ways has proven satisfactory, nor have scholars appreciated the full extent of the problem. This article begins by highlighting all of Judith's unseemly actions, some of which have been overlooked by exegetes. After surveying and evaluating the main theories offered in defense of Judith's integrity, this article argues that Judith functions as a unique type of hero. Her role in the story is not exemplary but symbolic, reminding Israel of Yahweh's saving power even though he remains a Deus absconditus. Through her speech, her use of deceit and lethal force, and the type of praise she receives, Judith is depicted in the same manner as Israel's Divine Warrior, rescuing her people on the fortieth day of their distress. This characterization communicates an important message to the book's audience. God's providence has not waned but is paradoxically manifest by one of Israel's most marginalized members: a reclusive widow.

The underside of the undershirt: Australian masculine identity and representations of the undershirt in the ‘Chesty Bond’ comic-strip advertisements

Abstract This article considers the male undershirt within discourses of distinctive Australian national dress styles, bush wear and swimwear. Through the case study of Chesty Bonds advertisements, this article will argue that the undershirt became a symbol of strength, virility, heroicism and mateship during the 1940s and 1950s. In aligning the Chesty Bond character with iconic Australian heroic types the surf lifesaver and the bushman advertisers were able to draw on mythologies of masculine cultural identity to promote the undershirt as a staple of the hegemonic male wardrobe. Through an analysis of the Chesty Bond comic-strip advertisements, I will argue that the athletic undershirt contributed to discourses of national identity in which the white male was dominant, and women and non-Anglo-Celtic men were marginalized, seen as being outside the Australian archetype.

Modyfikacje wzorów socjalizacyjnych w rodzinie w czasach nałogowych konsumentów

Na skutek przemian cywilizacyjno-kulturowych w ostatnich kilkudziesięciu latach w polskich rodzinach pojawiły się zmiany sposobów kształtowania rzeczywistości życia rodzinnego. Dzisiejszy zinfantylizowany kapitalizm konsumpcyjny bardziej podsyca, niż stara się gasić nastroje niejednoznaczności i elastyczności większości norm i wzorów, gdyż dzięki temu może maksymalizować sprzedaż-konsumpcję, na której się opiera, i promuje nowy typ bohatera – nałogowego konsumenta. Z tego też między innymi powodu procesy socjalizacji zaczynają współcześnie charakteryzować się cechami nowej (teraz pożądanej) niepomyślnej socjalizacji. W ramach socjalizacji pierwotnej nieudolnie realizowane modele życia rodzinnego wprowadzają zawirowania socjalizacyjno-wychowawcze skutecznie wykorzystywane przez dzieci, które zamiast uczyć się przestrzegania reguł, uczą się ich obchodzenia – przeważnie manipulacyjnego dryfowania pomiędzy różnymi wersjami tego samego lub różnych światów – gry własną, jeszcze kształtującą się tożsamością. Ta zdolność z kolei staje się kluczową dla współczesnych socjalizacji wtórnych, które aby móc podsycać cechy nałogowego konsumenta, oczekują możliwości płynnego przemieszczania się pomiędzy różnymi tożsamościami. Prezentowany artykuł jest próbą diagnozy zmian, które w trochę niezauważalny na co dzień sposób, wprowadziły istotne nowe jakości w rodzinie – podstawowej przestrzeni naszego życia.

Текст і сучасність. Життєва позиція “право на життя”

In the article the importance and feasibility of the text analysis in terms of right to life life position, pro-life position in particular. The main research methods are observation and comparison. The importance of research on this issue in Ukraine is due to the influence of the right to life position in almost all areas of modern science: philosophy, culture, sociology, ethics, bioethics in particular, psychology and more.The topicality of the research consists in: the need of the definition of a „person” and its reflection in modern texts; the need of examining new literary phenomenon - life-affirming / life-denying literature – in system, genre and style aspect; the need to identify new genre modifications, genres interactions, literary genres, different national literatures and texts, forming genre systems in literary discourse of the XXI century.The author examines the state of research and analysis of the text from the perspective of the right to life position in Ukraine and abroad. The article shows that there is little research in the field of literature and scientific analysis of the text in terms of the right to life position in Ukraine. The author presents the basic terms and concepts. For example, pro-life, pro-choice, pro-lifers, pro-choicers, right to life, right to die, abortion, post-abortion syndrome (PAS), infanticide, euthanasia, suicide, death penalty and so on.In conclusion, the author believes that such scientific analysis is promising, because it gives the opportunity to discover new literary phenomena of the XXI century. For example, life-affirming / life-denying text, type of hero / anti-hero of such texts, language changes in the vocabulary, grammatical construction, syntax, semantics of the life-affirming / life-denying text; interpretation of life-affirming / life-denying text.

“Taking This from This and That from That”: Examining RZA and Quentin Tarantino’s Use of Pastiche

“Taking This from This and That from That”: Examining RZA and Quentin Tarantino’s Use of Pastiche

Héroes y espacios. Del mar abierto a la ciudad cerrada

This article means to analyse the relationship between different types of heroes and the framework in which their stories take place, both elements having become one of the bases of our filmic collective imagination. By means of a specific discourse analysis, we will contrast open, natural spaces with urban, enclosed ones in order to see how the characters’ transformations are directly associated to these changes, and how relevant they are in their personalities’ development. Thus, space appears not only as a mere background or scenery, or as a medium to provide a unique atmosphere to a story that must happen both “once upon a time” and “once upon a place”. Spaces acquire story value and are absolutely essential because after all, they are as important as the leading characters.

Between the Ice Floes: Imaging Gender, Fear and Safety in Antarctic Literature for Young Adults

Ever since first imagined as a site of adventure, discovery and conquest, Antarctica, the southernmost continent, has continued to act as a powerful geographical metaphor for physical, mental and emotional transformation and transubstantiation. The discursive representation of its desolate, ice-bound landscape and its iconic creatures in image and text is a familiar one. The transmedial representation of the heroic explorer walking out into the white unknown in search of international fame and glory, and ultimate death, is even more a familiar. Antarctic adventure narratives for young adult readers have routinely centred on the male hero as the continent's sole mythic figure. The gendering of the ice, and society's growing concern with environmental sustainability, and the ethics of ecological ownership and resource depletion has resulted in a reframing of this gendered determinism. As a consequence this sub-genre of adventure literature is shifting to accommodate this new environmental perspective. The outcome is a strategic rearranging of heroic types and ironic critique of the passions and utopian ideals informing early narratives of Antarctic exploration and discovery.

Amadís, Superhero

Amadís, Superhero Michael Harney The term superhero generally refers to a kind of fictional character originating in the first half of the twentieth century, at first chiefly in comic books and pulp fiction, then later expanding into the many different media of the present-day culture industry. Cultural and media critics debate the ancestry of the type, namely which heroes of the ancient, medieval, or non-Western worlds might be seen as precursors or analogues of the modern superhero. What follows is not meant to decide the question of which folkloric or literary personage is the first superhero or which of the emerging national literatures arrived first at the superhero tourney. My intention, rather, is to demonstrate that the eponymous protagonist of the most famous Spanish chivalric romance must be considered an early example of this pop-cultural type. The chivalric romance in question is Amadís de Gaula, written in its extant form by Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo (princeps edition, 1508). Comparing its protagonist with a composite profile of modern superheroes reveals significant thematic and structural analogies between knight-errantry and superheroism. [End Page 291] Superheroes share many attributes with folkloric (the Cid, Robin Hood), literary (the Cid, Roland), legendary (Achilles, Odysseus), or mythic figures (Greek or Norse gods). The superhero can be classed as a sub-type of the traditional or folkloric hero defined by Lord Raglan’s well-known scoring system for heroes (141–217; see also Joseph Campbell 3–25).1 The quintessential component of the superhero’s profile is superhuman power. This type of hero is stronger, quicker, and more agile than ordinary men. He or she is possessed of preternatural courage, stamina, resistance to pain, and fighting skills. These superpowers may derive from actual superhuman origins (e.g., Superman, the scion of a superior extraterrestrial race), or they may amount to a de facto invulnerability (the case of Tarzan and Batman). Demigods such as Hercules and Achilles, sons of mixed marriages between gods and humans, are traditional and folkloric precedents for Superman and his present-day analogues. Odysseus, Roland, and the Cid, epic heroes of human parentage but preternatural strength and prowess, are, to some degree, influential precedents of the human type of superhero. The wealth and resources of such heroes as Batman and Iron Man, while conferring enormous advantages, do not change the essential humanity of the characters. This differentiates them from such characters as Superman or Spider Man, whose physical superiority makes them different from ordinary men. Superheroes present other variations. These have prompted division into subsets or provoked disagreement as to membership in the superheroic confraternity. Critics argue, for example, whether the so-called masked avenger, of which Zorro is probably the best known modern example, is a superhero or a similar but distinct type: a brave, dedicated, and supremely [End Page 292] gifted swordsman, but not superhuman enough to match the profile. Another discernible division is that between loners, of whom Tarzan is a prominent example, and those who, by contrast, have sidekicks (e.g., Batman and Robin, Xena and Gabrielle). Yet another variation is represented by superheroes who work with teams of friends or collaborators (e.g., the X-Men, the Justice League, Buffy and her Scoobies, the Watchmen).2 The list could be extended to include other traits. Superheroes, for instance, often have a headquarters or secluded residence. They often make use of special kinds of weaponry or equipment that allow them to confront adversaries who are usually possessed of their own special powers, weapons, and equipment. Sometimes, the superhero’s equipment (e.g., Green Lantern’s ring; Iron Man’s mechanized armor) confers abilities that are tantamount to superpowers. Double identity is another common trait. The superhero typically has an everyday persona, often seemingly harmless or nondescript, and a secret identity. When performing superheroic deeds, he often wears a distinctive costume. Another frequent feature is the mentor, teacher or ally who both advises and assists the superhero in time of need. In addition, superheroes generally have formidable arch-adversaries –super-villains– who represent a serious threat to the superhero and his or her cause. Another essential trait of the superhero is that he or she...