The journey from there to here
Well, yeah, we kinda do
Published on September 3, 2007 By Gideon MacLeish In Misc

We don't need another hero
We don't need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome
(Tina Turner, "We Don't Need Another Hero")

As a folklorist and a folk historian, I've found myself often in the role of folk anthropologist. While I definitely have a "niche" of people who respect what folk music is as an art form, the general responses I get when I tell people of my avocation are an assortment of screwed up faces and a comment or two analogizing the music to some backwoods hillbilly derivation sounding suspiciously like the emanations of a constipated bovine.

But folk music and folk tales are so much more, and so relevant to every culture, including our own. In judeo-christian tradition, folk music first came on the scene from the Israelites immediately after the Red Sea crossing, and folk tales began when people did. It was a long time from the creation of the planet until the first etchings of the Bible appeared as the end product of a nomadic adopted Egyptian made Moses, and in those years, the culture was largely an oral tradition, not a written one.

And there is a beauty and fluidity in an oral tradition. No tale ever comes out the same, and the perfectionists among us can continue revising on the fly rather than settle for a final, written work that feels all too much like a contract, and has the same stale, bureaucratic structure we generally loathe. But I digress...

As our cultures have changed, our folk heroes have changed. When the biggest fear was the Philistine next door, we had Samson and David to protect us. The former could wipe out legions with the jawbone of an ass, and the latter needed only a few river rocks to fell the mightiest man alive.

When multitudes suffered under the feudal system of Europe, we had Robin Hood lurking in the trees ready to pounce on the unsuspecting millionaire travelling below. Robin Hood has enjoyed many reincarnations, including "Pretty Boy Floyd" in the 30's, and still lives to some extent in the works of several rap artists, which is a key reason why I have not altogether discarded that specific style of music.

When the land was unsettled and we needed mighty men to perform the task, we had Paul Bunyan. We had Pecos Bill. These people settled the land and gave hope to the settlers that they hadn't come that far just to be cougar bait.

The tall tales then became the superheroes of the twentieth century. The world changed, and industrialization led to increased urbanization. No longer were the ploughboys or the lumberjack adequate to save us, because a brave new world meant a brave new menace, and a need for superheroes capable of fighting the menace. Of course, this led to one of this nation's most prominent illegal aliens, a guy by the name of Clark Kent, who embodied the ideal in such a way as to make him the standard by which all other superheroes are judged.

And of course, our music was not immune to all of this, but rather, it REFLECTED it. Music has always been the most potent way a soul can express itself (which is why I disdain pop music. It's a bastardization of an art form, and it almost mocks the beauty of the truly meaningful music). Where our brave knights went, our travelling minstrels followed (yes, yes, I MEANT to convey the Monty Python image here!). The deeds that our heroes did, they brought into our living room.

One of the problems that our American culture has is that we seem to have forgotten that. We NEED heroes; we NEED hope to fight the evil menace. We don't need to sanitize our movies for political correctness and make a fictional villain; we need to make caricatures of the ones that are already there, as well as caricatures of the heroes who fight them. Because when a hero's on the scene, we can all sleep a little easier at night.


Comments
on Sep 03, 2007
Interesting article, Gid.  So do you think we still have heroes?  Who do you think the modern heroes are?  I think there is definately a hero worship of many athletes.  I think this is a problem because though many excel in the sports arena, they generally fall short in their private lives.  I think that Harry Potter and Frodo are popular fictional heroes at the moment.  It's interesting that you wrote that because an upcoming Somerset Studios theme is heroes, so I have been debating which way to go with this.  There is something to be said for the common hero, the soldier, the teacher, the parent etc.  Somehow though we expect our heroes to be much larger than life.  You're right though, it's not as simple anymore.  Villains are just misunderstood.   We have elevated the flawed hero to an art form. 
on Sep 03, 2007
I think our heroes are languishing in the shadows in a culture that has attempted to make them an anachronism. And it's a pity, really. Heroes are far more readily recognized in hindsight than in the present tense.

Athletes are modern day gladiators. That's basically about it. Sure, some folks make heroes out of them, but in the end they're all just so much lion bait.
on Sep 04, 2007
Of course, this led to one of this nation's most prominent illegal aliens, a guy by the name of Clark Kent, who embodied the ideal in such a way as to make him the standard by which all other superheroes are judged.

Ever see Kill Bill Vol.2? What you wrote reminded me of what the character Bill says about superheroes.

Here is what he said:

As you know, I’m quite keen on comic books. Especially the ones about superheroes. I find the whole mythology surrounding superheroes fascinating.

Take my favorite superhero, Superman. Not a great comic book. Not particularly well-drawn. But the mythology… The mythology is not only great, it’s unique.

Now, a staple of the superhero mythology is, there’s the superhero and there’s the alter ego. Batman is actually Bruce Wayne, Spider-Man is actually Peter Parker. When that character wakes up in the morning, he’s Peter Parker. He has to put on a costume to become Spider-Man. And it is in that characteristic Superman stands alone.

Superman didn’t become Superman. Superman was born Superman. When Superman wakes up in the morning, he’s Superman. His alter ego is Clark Kent. His outfit with the big red “S” - that’s the blanket he was wrapped in as a baby when the Kents found him. Those are his clothes. What Kent wears - the glasses, the business suit - that’s the costume. That’s the costume Superman wears to blend in with us.

Clark Kent is how Superman views us. And what are the characteristics of Clark Kent? He’s weak… He’s unsure of himself… He’s a coward.

Clark Kent is Superman’s critique on the whole human race.


on Sep 04, 2007
Folk songs and tales taught us the important lessons in our culture. They taught us what it meant to be a man, what it meant to be a friend, and what it meant to be respectable.

The saddest thing that came out of the last 50 was some idiots hard to teach us not to believe in anything or anyone but ourselves. They killed our heroes, they killed our folk tales, they killed our traditions... then they look at our young and wonder why they don't respect anyone or anything.

Well Babyboomers... this is what you wanted, so don't cry that the young people don't respect you... you taught them not to.
on Sep 04, 2007
Ever see Kill Bill Vol.2? What you wrote reminded me of what the character Bill says about superheroes.


Yes, I LOVE Bill's take on Superman.

The saddest thing that came out of the last 50 was some idiots hard to teach us not to believe in anything or anyone but ourselves. They killed our heroes, they killed our folk tales, they killed our traditions... then they look at our young and wonder why they don't respect anyone or anything.


They didn't kill 'em, Para. Not as long as me and my Ibanez are still doin' our thing!
on Sep 04, 2007

On a tangent, I have read recently where Jesse James is considered a re-incarnation of Robin Hood as well.  growing up and reading history, I never heard of him depicted that way, but apparently he is gaining in that stature today.

And we still do have heros.  But today's media does not hype them as much, so they are not well known or idolized.  When we hear of a hero, we are awed, until the media then tells us how he cheated on taxes, or walked by a poor man, or some flaw that makes him human, but reduces his stature a bit.  So most try to shy away from the lime light.  They did what they did, but do not want their life put under a microscope.

on Sep 04, 2007
On a tangent, I have read recently where Jesse James is considered a re-incarnation of Robin Hood as well.


Even Robin Hood has fallen to socialist propaganda. He did not "steal from the rich to give to the poor"... He stole from a prince who had illegal usurped the thrown to give the money back to its rightful owners.
on Sep 04, 2007
He stole from a prince who had illegal usurped the thrown to give the money back to its rightful owners.


See, and that's why Pretty Boy Floyd was considered a modern day Robin Hood (rightly or wrongly). Because people felt that by burning their mortgages, he was giving money back to its rightful owners.
on Sep 04, 2007
Robin Hood actually stole from the well-off and gave to the moderately impoverished, but that wouldn't have made a good myth.