Nancy
Radecker English 161 DL Essay #2 July
25, 2012
American Hero
What is an American hero? The answer changes like the
wind and can be a very personal so how does one answer the question in relation
to The Simpsons and other things we have read. Yes, I agree with Professor
Pioreck’s definition to extent that more often the image we think of a “hero is
a lone individual who fights the good fight” and a picture of “John Wayne” pops
into one’s mind as well as “Dirty Harry to Rambo.” I believe that Americans
tend to view these men as heroes sometimes more than they should give them
credit for they are only Hollywood characters. I also agree that although “men
understand what they think is the code they don’t choose to live by it.” I also
somewhat agree that the true American hero is always loyal and can always be
trusted. I will defend this using various examples from The Simpsons episodes
and some of the readings that we have read.
An American hero, what do we mean firstly? Does it have
to be only males since males were used as heroes in Professor Pioreck’s
examples, can a hero be female? Is there a certain age requirement as well? I
believe that an American hero does not have to necessarily be male; throughout
American history many women can also be considered heroes for example Rosa
Parks, Betsy Ross, Eleanor Roosevelt even Annie Oakley. Regarding age, heroes can be children, they
can and I am often humbled by their courage and insight into certain
situations. I also feel that a hero may
not always be a hero twenty hours a day and may not even have lived a heroic
life up until a moment when they are faced with a decision that causes them to
become a hero. Heroes also may be a hero to someone, but perhaps to others they
may not be hero, it can be rather personal.
As humans we tend to find different values in certain things that others
may not even give the slightest care about. I believe heroes fall into this
scenario as well.
With
these questions and perspectives in mind then who in the Simpsons are heroes? I
think that as a whole The Simpson
family is not made up of great heroes of the John Wayne type but rather instead
they all make up one family that makes small heroic moments that I believe most
Americans can relate to on an everyday basis, which contributes to the success
of the show. Marge Simpson has many heroic
moments for the most part, she is trustworthy and has high moral values, and
she is always looks out for her family as well as others. In the episode “Much Apu About Nothing” Marge realizes
that it isn’t right that they should vote yes on a proposition that would kick
out immigrants and they end helping Apu to earn his citizenship so that he can
stay here in the country. Marge has much
patience with her family and is very level headed; she is the rock and keeps
the family together. As much as Homer
calls her a wet blanket, she does not like to take risks. To her family Marge
is a hero, she is the glue that keeps the family together. Marge takes her marriage seriously and
motherhood as well. Although in the episode “Secrets of a Successful Marriage”
she does get upset when Homer begins to expose secrets to his class about his
marriage. Marge is justified with that and she actually is defending the rite
of marriage as she gets mad at Homer and kicks him out. I believe that your average American woman
can relate to Marge and consider her a hero, a hero because she gets up in the
morning and tries to be the best she can be, sure she makes her mistakes and
misjudges others at times but she always looks for the good in people.
Homer has “hero” like qualities about him and his role as
a provider to his family does give him a hero status in their eyes, and he
truly loves his children. In the episode
“Mayored to the Mob” Homer does have a hero moment when he realizes that the
mob is serving rat milk to the school children rather than cow milk and goes up
against them. Homer as a hero is
interesting because many of the times it is because he doesn’t even realize
what he is doing is wrong only to somehow twist it around and come out shiny in
the end. Such is the case in the episode when Apu will be deported if the
proposition is voted in. Homer at first doesn’t even realize that Apu is a
immigrant, which is funny because it is very clear but you could say that Homer
didn’t look at him in a special way so he never recognized him for being
different which is very honorable. Then
when he realizes that he will be deported he realizes what a good friend he will
lose and decides to vote no on the proposition.
Homer then helps him pass the citizenship test so that Apu can stay in
America. To Apu, Homer was his hero for
the moment, and stood up for him and what he believed to be the right thing to
do. Homer becomes Lisa’s hero in the episode “Lisa’s
Pony”. Although again he didn’t start
off being a hero because he makes a mistake and doesn’t get Lisa’s reed for her
saxophone in time to the school musical performance and to make it up to her,
Homer buys her a pony. Although the cost
of keeping the pony becomes way too much for the family’s finances, Homer takes
on a second job to make money to keep the pony as to not have to disappoint
Lisa again. Is this a great way to become a hero, not really, but to Lisa it
was everything. Homer helping Bart put back the head of Jebediah in the episode
of “The Telltale Head” after Bart steals it was an example of Homer as a hero
to Bart. It could be said that Homer would have be more of hero if he just
turned him in, but he wanted to teach Bart a lesson and by helping him, it
taught Bart that although he too has made mistakes in the past you should be
accountable and correct them if you can. Homer brings home the dog and names
him “Santa’s little helper” when he realizes that the dog has no place to go in
the episode "Simpsons Roasting on
an Open Fire". In the same episode Homer takes on a job as a Santa
in the mall when he realizes that he won’t be getting his Christmas bonus and
rather than disappoint his family with no presents. Homer is not the most amazing hero, but to
his family he is a hero and American men can relate to Homer, he loves watching
sports, drinking beer and taking naps, and because he gets away with it, to the
male viewers he is a hero, not the greatest, but at the end of the day again, he
loves his family and goes to sleep with his wife every night.
Lisa becomes a hero when she discovers the town’s
founding father is not what the town believes him to be in the episode “Lisa
the Ironclast”, but rather than tell the townspeople the truth she keeps it a
secret. Lisa is the quiet hero keeps the townspeople spirit alive by not
letting them know that the town was founded on a lie. Lisa realizes the
importance of the townspeople feeling good about themselves and proud of their
heritage and so Lisa doesn’t want to break the spirit and ruin it for the town
of Springfield and thus doesn’t tell them.
Maggie even though she doesn’t talk and is a toddler
becomes the hero of the daycare center when she devises a plan to steal back
the pacifiers from the caretaker in the episode entitled “Streetcar named
Marge”. Maggie as a hero, Yes, because
she could have just taken her own pacifier back but yet at the end of the
episode as Homer comes to pick her up from the daycare center, all of the
children are sitting on the floor with their pacifiers, Maggie chooses to give
them all back thus becoming a toddler hero that doesn’t speak. Yes again like the other members of the
Simpsons, at first it was a selfish act, she wanted her pacifier back and thus
created the plot to get it back but as a result she ended up with the whole bag
and rather than be selfish at that moment she choose to put others feelings
first as well, thus creating her hero role.
The novel Wiseguy and its movie counterpart Goodfellas the protagonist Henry Hill
becomes a sort of American hero in different ways and attracts different
audiences in the endings of each of the stories. In the book which is a life story of Henry
Hill and his life as a member of the Mafia, you tend to end up liking him
throughout the book, you sort of feel sorry for him and end up actually justifying
all of his crime activities, for one reason, he is only hurting other bad
people that would have hurt other people.
Henry Hill becomes sort of the Robin Hood type character, but instead of
giving to the poor they sort of keep it for themselves but do actually keep the
neighborhood free of crime so it does benefit those around him. It is sort of Henry Hill taking the fall on
the hand grenade for the common people in a strange sort of twist. As much as
we want to root for the police we end up liking that fact that Henry Hill gets
over on them, especially when we see that the police which are supposed to be
the real heroes end up taking bribes and thus are not the heroes we want and so
Henry Hill steps in and we began to cheer him on. However the ending of the movie Goodfellas is
different than what ends up happening in the book and I believe it was changed
for the simple reason of creating Hollywood drama. In the book Henry ends up getting enlisted
into the witness protection program but untimely ends up working for the
government as an informant and ends up catching many other members of the
Mafia. In the movie however you only see that Henry and his family end up in the
witness protection program and you believe that they live the rest of their
lives as average people. I think that Martin Scorese the director of the film
did this because he felt that the American audience would be happier if Henry
didn’t end up helping the police to capture more Mafia members. Americans tend to love their gangsters, sort
of like loving the “bad boy” image.
American’s as much as they love their country, tend to like to root for
those that that goes against the establishment, for example the police. Another
example of the love of the gangsters is America’s love relationship with Bonnie
and Clyde or John Dillinger; we can’t get enough of it. Hollywood and the media also tends to
glamorize it as well so I think that has something to do with it, I suppose if
we spun the stories of their adventures in a different light, we may not wish
to root for them to succeed. So Henry Hill becomes a hero in the same way, he is
an honest crook, he respects the family, thus becomes a sort of American hero.
Roy Hobbs in the novel the Natural is a hero that fails, and when it comes baseball for this
example, I am always so surprised when someone who just hits a ball over a
fence becomes a hero one minute, but then strikes out the next minute immediately
is sort of dethroned. I can see no other example of the quick hero turnaround
than in sports. America’s obsession with
its athletes as hero figures is an interesting one. Firstly, the salaries they
are paid for what they do are just off the charts to begin with. True American
heroes never get paid what they should get paid, such as Abraham Lincoln, he
got paid a bullet in the back of his head, and heroes don’t look for repayment
really it comes from the heart. I also
don’t get why they can even fall off the wagon big time in life, but still be as
idolized as an American hero. I would
use the term role model for athletes personally, I don’t believe that someone
who throws a football twenty feet and makes a touchdown is a hero; it is just a
good role model for those wishing to achieve that pinnacle or doing the job he
is supposed to do. Roy Hobbs uses his
bat Wonderboy as his crutch to achieving to the high hero level he is achieves,
until he misuses it and it loses its power over him. Roy Hobbs who has a
natural talent, an American hero but falls from grace, has all this great stuff
in front of him and then throws it all away. Roy thinks he is heroic but then
makes bad choices. It is like today’s
athletes who are achieving so much only to get caught doing drugs and throwing
it all away, but somehow they still end up being heroes to some people.
All of the examples I have shown have described instances
where someone who for the most part isn’t a great hero but yet does small heroic
gestures and thus becomes a hero even for just a moment in time. An American
hero is comprised of mistakes and errors but at the moment makes the right call
and steps up to bat, and thinks of others. I don’t think that someone can be a
hero twenty four hours a day, even the most amazing heroes you can think of,
have had their moments of despair and poor judgment, but it is how you get up
the next day and handle yourself that makes you a hero to someone. In the
recent tragic event of the shooting spree at the movie theater, there were heroes
that came forth from that terrible event. The many stories of boyfriends
throwing themselves in front of their girlfriends, thus catching a bullet for
them are amazing. Yes, heroes they truly were for that moment, but how do we
know whether or not ten minutes before the event the same young man, perhaps
was not being nice to someone, maybe not being so honest and trustworthy. People can be heroes when they are pushed
into something or maybe it doesn’t have to be that serious, maybe it is just
holding the door open for an elderly person at the post office. People choose
to be heroes and I believe you can be one everyday if you just look for the
opportunity’s, I also believe that it takes no more energy to be a hero than it
is to be not to be a hero. Why aren’t
there more heroes in America or maybe there are too many that are called heroes
that should not be considered heroes, because man knows the code, they have
free will and choose to live by it, or not live by it and in America the land
of the free, home of the brave, they are entitled to choose between the two.
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