Our fascination with ‘heroes’ since time immemorial is intriguing. I mean, just think about the larger-than-life portrayal of all the protagonists starting from the epics, folklores to cinema and affairs of state. Homer, Ved Vyasa, Stan Lee, J. K. Rowling ride the same boat of narratives that has engaged generations in adulating several forms of the perfect, if not transcendent then at least incontestable, figures. At times, antagonists too, with minimal moral obligations, are packaged in such a manner that the readers or the audience would empathize with them. A non-conformist easily becomes an admirer of such anarchists. Is it because human beings cannot go beyond the practice of glorifying something or the other? Is this why we needed to come up with an idea of the Supreme Being who is there to watch over our fallibilities and stimulate us to be ‘good’? Or is it a political manifestation of our insecurities that echo the human pursuit of excellence?

Author:
Srotaswini Bhowmick, Assistant Professor, Unitedworld School of Liberal Arts & Mass Communication (USLM)

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