The Systematic Destruction of Pop Culture Heroes

There have been many videos made, and articles written, about Kathleen Kennedy, Leslye Headland (former personal assistant to Harvey Weinstein) and their destruction of the Star Wars franchise. The one I've chosen to highlight notes one fact. As long as people have been telling stories, first around campfires, then in plays and novels, we have told stories about people, sometimes fantastic people, who stood up to adversity and became better than themselves. Stories meant to inspire us to be better.

In movies we had characters that we also looked up to. From Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) in The Maltese Falcon, to Zorro (the 1940 version is best) and Robin Hood and Geoffrey Thorpe from The Sea Hawk^‡, right down to Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones, or Wonder Woman. But today, all of the heroes have been destroyed.

Our heroes have been turned into bitter old men, who were never all that heroic in the first place. This isn't the anti-hero of the 1970s. Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Paul Kersey (of the Death Wish movies) had some heroic characteristics. This is the erasure of heroism.

The Girl Boss has destroyed female example of excellence in another way. "You are perfect, just the way you are," is not really a life lesson, no matter how much the narcissists in Hollywood try to force it to be one. Characters like Rose Sayer in The African Queen, or Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter, and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond (all played by Katherine Hepburn) showed us how to face adversity and keep striving to be better. Even Bunny Watson in Desk Set, a fairly dated comedy, had lessons to teach about what it important.

This is the Drinker's Chasers video We've Become A Culture Without Heroes.

‡ The Sea Hawk is one of my favorite Errol Flynn movies. If you haven't seen it, I can recommend it highly. Also Captain Blood isn't bad. Both are swashbuckling adventures on the high seas, with a bit of romance added to the The Sea Hawk.