Critically discuss the view that writers, artists and film-makers have been unjustifiably pre-occupied with the concept of the hero in their representations of war Elizabeth Gardner – HUA-308 The term hero has been applied to characters for centuries and often means a strong and courageous figure who does something brave to help others in some way. Throughout history, the idea of the hero has been shaped and developed but it continues to go on. In most films and literature, there will be a protagonist who is shown as the hero. This idea of the hero has been developed from Homer’s works and continues today. Artists like Jacques-Louis David and Alexander Gardner, as well as film-makers like John Ford and Wolfgang Petersen. Society has lived through several wars and is therefore interested in its depictions and by presenting heroism, people allow themselves to believe that they too can be a hero. It is society that is unjustifiably preoccupied with the hero in their representations of war, and the artists and writers give society what they want in their works. War is more collective than individual, so although heroism is not always realistically represented, it is still showing what people must do to survive in the wars and this template was set out by Homer. The concept of heroism, and the template for which the attributes and plot have been followed throughout history, can arguably be traced to Homer. Homer’s Iliad (c. 762 B.C.) lays out a story of battles, warriors must fight to retain and win honour and nobility during the Trojan War. The warriors he depicts are “driven to action by a need for social validation: status, respect, honour in the eyes of other men.” 78 This can be seen in Hector’s farewell to Andromache when he says “[he’d] be disgraced, dreadfully shamed among Trojan men… if [he] should, like a coward, slink away from
78 Michael Clarke, ‘Manhood and Heroism,’ in The Cambridge companion to Homer , edited by Robert Fowler (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), p. 77
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