People don’t believe in heroes anymore

Give them back their heroes? Maybe we don’t demand them.

This might come across as a slightly unusual thing to say in light of the recent box office success to The Odyssey and the latest Spider-Man movie, but I don’t think hero mythology and “The Hero’s Journey” have the same impact they once did – even religion – and in this piece I aim to explore why.

A quick shout out to a scene from the original Mad Max which spawned the idea of this article. “They say people don't believe in heroes anymore. Well, damn them! You and me, Max, we're gonna give them back their heroes!”, the police captain says with great gusto. Considering a lot of people think the apocalypse is not to fair away, perhaps Mad Max is not a bad origin story haha. “Belief in what?”, takes place in a society that has fallen apart.

But do people still believe that, Mr Bowie? - Photo by Gabriel Bassino on Unsplash.

So, why I do think people don’t believe in heroes anymore? Briefly, and rather simply, modern people have changed, and quite significantly – both in what they know and what they demand. Education and interest in the classics – in philosophy and literature, but even in film and music – seems to be at an all-time low, at least generally speaking. Our current societal situation and future expectations, especially economically and politically, are quite uncertain and fragile, so, our collective morale and outlook is anxious and pessimistic (amongst other things).

Good and evil is not so black and white, some say we’ve almost developed a preference for the morally grey and the anti-hero, perhaps even the occasional inversion. We’ve also experienced a shift towards “everyday” heroes rather than God-like superhumans or deities – perhaps accelerated through the recent covid pandemic. This idea that doctors, nurses, people in the emergency services, teachers etc. are doing heroic deeds on a daily basis has become a more praiseworthy alternative than say, soldiers at war protecting their country.

The anti-war sentiment is growing amongst the population. Soldiers used to be seen and treated as heroes, now, not so much. In some case they weren’t treated as such back then, and we as a society still don’t necessarily treat them well enough returning from war; in making sure they get the support they need. I think it partially speaks to the changing views around war and pride in one’s country or heritage – what used to be heroic, now, is seen as being complicit in the American-Israeli war machine, in the West at least.

Another way of looking at heroism is to look at who we promote as a society or culture, what does it speak to?

I’ll only very briefly touch on it here, but the obsession over the last decade with the “culture wars” has done terrible (irreparable?) damage to us as a society. I still see a lot of it now, discussions on masculinity and femininity – and men and women more broadly – especially by people who don’t seem to have a good grasp what each really is, with some not even caring, they just want to assert whatever they want to. It saddens me greatly. We’ve, in some ways, largely become a joke of ourselves.

Heroes only work if we have a unifying goal or objective. Sadly, we’re very separated as a society and live very individualistic and tailored lives, which heroes cannot unify across (or at least are currently struggling with it). Maybe we don’t need them or no longer have a use for them. Maybe we only need cheap imitations for mild entertainment.

“People will pretend to not like grapes when their vines are too high for them to reach.”

I find we live in a cynical and nihilistic world, characterised by its shallowness. People want the 5-minute summary (which they now can get AI to do rather than themselves) instead of going to the source and beginning an educational experience. Today, what a lot of people consider emotionally or psychologically “deep” is not really that deep at all, just in comparison to the trivial times we’re currently in, it seems that way.

I’ve never seen such a disconnect between humans, their history and nature, as I do now. I feel it will take a heroic course-correction to overcome it.

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Photo by Denise Jans on Unsplash.