Today's Heroes - Ryan Olson

I have learned a lot about 19th Century Heroes during the course of our class. But I have been well-versed in modern day heroes since I was a young kid reading my Uncle Paul's crazy comic book collection. I took a particular liking to The Flash because of his power of super speed. Growing up I always wanted to be the fastest kid, and for a long time I was. Working out and running became a constant in my life through the sports that I participated in - speed just seemed to come natural to me. However, I have broken/fractured both feet in one way or another and thus my speed has decreased. So now more than ever I look back to The Flash as a remembrance of what I was and the desire to one day be as quick as I used to be.

Heroes nowadays have that kind of hold on the viewers/readers. They engage the reader's attention and imagination. Readers strive to emulate their favorite heroes - whether they be superheroes like The Flash or ordinary ones like Sherlock Holmes. Everybody wants to super and we look to those heroes to find the parts of ourselves that we feel aren't that super. You have people who are weak wanting to possess super strength, or those that find themselves unattractive wishing they had the power to shape shift so they could turn beautiful. It sounds very narcissitic and selfish to wish to embody these powers, but it happens nonetheless.

We need to have those heroes in our lives to look up to in order for ourselves to feel complete. Take the story lines of most superheroes. They come about to help people, the people are scared of the superhero so they tell them to go away and turn against them, and then when the people realize that the superheroes were there to protect they want them back. That is how we are as a society. We depend upon our favorite heroes in order to have a sense of purpose and meaning in life. When they go away we feel like there is something missing because they are no longer around to keep our hopes and dreams alive.

That is the ultimate goal of every superhero/hero. To be accepted and wanted.

Sound familiar?