4-3 Hero/Celebrity

A Hero or heroine is the name given to characters that exhibit courage in the face of danger in order to benefit the greater good; these actions are viewed as acts of heroism. Heroes can be viewed in many facets of our popular culture today. From real life events, to stories played out in movies and books heroes and the heroism myth is a prevalent storyline that continues to this day. Often times in culture people tend to emulate or idolize those who display heroism. It is also common for people in our culture to idolize or emulate celebrities. It is important for us to be able to differentiate between the two, and also be able to identify the different reasons why heroes and celebrities are often looked at as role models.

A celebrity is someone who is in the public eye that is to say that they are for one reason or another known by the majority of a culture on a superficial level. The majority of the time the celebrity is known due to their occupation. Whether the person is an artist of some sort, or professional athlete fame is what quantifies them as celebrities. Along with fame often times celebrities are extremely wealthy and garner the attention and envy of a culture. Recently a strange phenomenon has occurred where people have become celebrities without ever contributing any redeeming acts towards the culture in which they have become famous. A cultural obsession with money and wealth has created an atmosphere in which privileged recipients of generational wealth have become idolized and envied by many in our culture.

Our cultures interest in reality television I believe is birthed out of our obsession with money. In the majority of these television programs the contestants or participants are often in competition for a cash prize. For instance one popular program fills a house with strangers and at certain points throughout the show people are voted out of the house. The object of the game or show is to be the last person in the house. The winner receives a large cash prize and instant overnight stardom. I suppose that the people that participate in these reality programs do it for a number of reasons, but I believe the most reoccurring themes would be that of celebrity and financial gain.

The need for our culture to reach out for heroes and celebrities happens at different times and for different reasons. Take for instance the terrorist attacks on 9/11. The country was awe struck in fear and mourning. Soon images began to pour onto our televisions of New York City firemen. Within a matter of days these men became the face of heroism. The culture needed a strong figure to look to in a time of distress, and we gained a sense of security by identifying these men as heroes.

We live in a culture that is constantly growing more connected with technology and people are also ever willing to provide access to their daily lives via the internet. In a sense many of us have become reality stars in our own right. Status updates and random posts to social networking sites have become common place, and ones willingness to share personal details about ones life is rarely second guessed. I don’t know that this is either positive or negative, but would argue that it simply indicate4ds a shift in how we communicate with others within our culture. Personal lives as well as business are often conducted using these very impersonal tools such as E-mail, Facebook and the like. Blogs are replacing traditional news outlets and the stay at home reporters are gaining followers and fame.

I think that heroes and celebrities play an important role in our culture, but one must be careful who they put on a pedestal. I remember when I was younger I used to look up to Michael Jordan. To me Jordan exemplified greatness. He was a fierce competitor and the undisputed champion in his profession. I watched all the games and had his posters hanging in my room and bought into the “Be like Mike” campaign that was popular at the time. It wasn’t until later that I learned about Jordan’s gambling addiction, or his extra marital affairs or nay other of his human flaws. When you hold someone up as your hero you believe them to be perfect and an example of what you want to be like, and to find out that that person is flawed and imperfect can be devastating to young mind. While I still do respect Jordan it is for his accomplishments on the basketball court and I no longer wish to “Be like Mike”. In stead I wish to be like myself and strive to work towards accomplishing comparable things in my profession.