Heroism

Heroism is a beautiful characteristic that all individuals wish to have. A person has great courage if he or she helps others in the world. A clear definition of a hero is a person that achieves goals no matter what the obstacles are. A hero is an outstanding person that fights against evil and is a brave human being that is willing to prove him or herself through the things they do. Brave ones believe that they should fight for their morals and faith. Media shows heroes and anti-heroes in several ways that attract the viewer. Heroes and anti-heroes can be portrayed in unique ways. They both deliver the message of how heroism comes from many things and how it can be achieved in various ways. For instance, the three movies, Spiderman, Billy Elliot and the Pirates of the Caribbean, have both protagonists and antagonists that do their actions based on what they feel a hero’s principles are.

In Spiderman, the hero, Peter Parker experiences a curse that starts when he gets bitten by a spider during one of his science class trips. A major change occurs in his life. This change causes him to be more powerful, knowledgeable, self-confident, and fearless. The authority given to Peter Parker makes him capable of emancipating his city from the evil people that are harmful to the citizens. His protagonist characteristic becomes blatant when he attends to be more conscientious and dutiful by offering help and responsibility towards the people around him. Peter is not a hero because of the described name he is given—Spiderman. Peter is a hero because he dedicates all his gifted powers to save lives, and especially the lives of his loved ones. Spiderman believes that this gift was sent to him as a great opportunity to show his bravery to the civilians that might have had a wrong impression of him. He believes that his power should be used to build love, peace, harmony, and serenity. Conversely, Greengoblin is represented as an antagonist in which his main goal is to harm, kill, destroy, and cause chaos. Mr. Norman which has another side of him, Greengoblin, is always heading for the pessimistic actions which lead to his pleasant satisfaction.

As mentioned earlier, heroism appears in many unique ways. The type of heroism that astonishes an individual is when a person insists on proving to people who they are, and what they would like to be in the future, even if others oppose to it. The young hero, Billy Elliot struggles for months in hiding what he really is because of the consequences that he may face when his father and his community recognize his unacceptable goal of being a ballet dancer. Ballet grabs Billy’s attention in many ways. He even prefers it over boxing, which is his father’s dream. Unfortunately, Billy struggled a lot to become a ballet star because of its inappropriate nature towards men. Billy’s strong individuality breaks this rule when he makes effort into showing his father how good he is with dancing. Unlike Spiderman, who shows bravery through saving people, Billy displays bravery through insisting on doing what his mind tells him to do, because his hobby reminds him of his mother. She was a pianist and music meant a lot to her. The antagonists appear to be the brother and the father of Billy. This is shown at the beginning of the movie when they refuse to accept the truth about Billy’s future career. They put him down and do not give him a chance when he needs their support. One minor protagonist other than Billy is his best friend. He overcomes his obstacle in life when he makes his homosexuality public, even though it was not acceptable in their society. Billy’s father’s attitude starts to change as he sees his son’s talent. He becomes a hero by saving money for his son in order to help Billy be successful in his ambition. In this movie, what is shown is that traditions should not stop anyone from accomplishing their aims in life. Young Billy proves to everyone in his village that a career is something a person should do because they love it, not because of the society’s demands.

The heroes and the anti-heroes in Pirates of the Caribbean have different accomplishments and beliefs. Saving someone can demonstrate heroism. Jack Sparrow, who is the leader of the pirates, is a protagonist because he saves William Turner many times from being slaughtered by the cursed pirates. He shows great courage and bravery when he appears to be obstinate about fighting to get back his possessions. His leadership means a lot to him, and he shows the viewers that his pride is important to him by fighting for it no matter how much obstruction he faces. The black pearl was the main inspiration for Jack Sparrow’s heroism. He is strong enough to face the difficulties that every hero faces for the sake of his pride and honour. On the other hand, the antagonist, Barbossa, steals the leadership from Jack Sparrow, and sends him away to an isolated island, afterwards, causing destruction among everyone else. Cruelty is a trait in every antagonist. Barbossa’s actions have led to hatred and aggression among everyone. His selfishness makes him seek for unconstructive actions like killing, and putting all the pirates into prison to look for the medallion that was with Elizabeth. An antagonist always has negative traits because of their evil attitude towards getting what they want in order to benefit themselves. William Turner is also a hero when he does everything no matter what the dangers are. He will do anything possible in order to save his beloved one, Elizabeth. He says “I’d die for her”, which implies that he is brave enough to save her life from those that are cursed, even if it means death for him. Both Jack Sparrow and William Turner reveal their heroic and fearless deeds by following their beliefs and their motivation. The antagonists and protagonists detectably work on their beliefs based on the different views of heroism.

One comparison that combines all heroes together is the sacrifices that are done towards themselves, others and their pride. A protagonist doesn’t only achieve goals based on bravery, but it is the emotional sacrifice that encourages the human self. Peter Parker, Billy Elliot and Captain Jack Sparrow are all heroes in the audiences’ point of views because they insisted on going on with what they began to do for the sake of everyone around them. They saved lives from harmful and evil protagonists. Quitting was not a habit for them, because giving up is something they didn’t believe in. Their goal was to make everyone proud of them, and they were successful. Peter made everyone know who he really is by saving lives and by not giving up on Greengoblin. Billy Elliot fought for his right till the end until he convinced the whole community that he is capable of doing something even though it was not favored. Jack Sparrow kept his pride as a symbol of his heroic beliefs. He sacrificed and faced all obstacles till he got back his leadership. Unlike the protagonists, their role was to destroy, harm and kill lives. Greengoblin tried to kill all the ones that Spiderman loved but he didn’t succeed. The traditional rules that are held by Billy’s community are shown to be the protagonists since they are the only obstacle faced by him when he wanted to continue his dream. His father and dad at the end became understanding after showing incomprehensible attitudes towards his dream. Babrossa and the other cursed pirates show their evil sides by trying to kill so many innocent lives for their own benefit.

The Comparisons and contrasts between the heroes and anti-heroes are numerous. In order to make a movie attractive and interesting to watch, it has to have an opposite to everything. The three movies that represent the two types of heroes, protagonists and antagonists, play a major role in making it clear that for every positive there has to be a negative in order for the positive to be stronger. Every bad side needs to have its good side in order for the bad side to improve. In the three movies, the good traits in the heroes would not be obvious unless evil traits in the antagonists are revealed. Likely shown, Spiderman, Billy and Captain Sparrow have their heroic attitudes exposed through trying to be stronger by fighting the anti heroes. Heroism does not only appear when the powerful accomplishments are done, it becomes visible when the heroes try to be stronger and more successful through learning from their mistakes while competing with the enemy.