Heroes and Villains

Heroes are any persons, be it men and women who have extra ordinary human qualities than other human beings, heroes are courageous, virtuous and superior. They show extraordinary characteristics that inspire mankind and make ordinary people admire and strive to achieve highest levels of personal greatness. Heroes have been there in all cultures and in all times since a non-domino to date, they emerge in all sorts of activities be it sports, war, religion music, literature, dancing, drawing etc. All cultures in the world have heroes and they needheroes; a villain is generally a bad guy or a cruel malicious person who is involved in defiant behaviour and always antagonistic to the hero deeds, villains can be male or female. They use power to hurt others, they like violence and thus use war to hurt the others; thus they are the enemies that heroes must fight against.

The creation of heroes is threatened by villains, people who openly dispute the existence of heroes and how the heroes are perceived in the public eye (Macionis, Raveli & Vaicaiti, 2010). All sorts of people create heroes and villains for different reasons and on different circumstances. People create heroes on the basis of who it is that heroes fight to help and save in an adventurous program or an activity, as well as the victim that the villain tries to harm. In real life situation, the best player of the opposing time is seen as a villain because he plays well in opposition to the expectations of the fans and eventually they cause pain and destruction. Villains entertain people in the same manner as heroes since they depend on each other to entertain the people and perform their activities.

Heroes and villains are created differently, in high schools teachers often see oral reading in epic proportions, as a hero involved in a struggle, the best way is to motivate the students to read, through this, certain students will oppose the traditional student oral reading. Here, such a student will be referred as an opponent of the heroes. The national team emerged the last in sports and this makes the fans disappointed, a student always score low marks in class and drags others behind, when soldiers go to war and they are defeated, people tend to see them as villains because of their failure status. The young people develop stereotypes of that particular group, which are also held by a society, but if they perform as per the expectations of the majority and win life battles, there is great admiration and respect. Due to their prowess and their sportsmanship, they are seen to have brought honor to people, to the institution as well as the school and the country at large (Macionis, Raveli & Vaicaitis, 2010). Heroes have characters beyond that of normal human beings, they are admired for their achievements and noble qualities; a hero is recognized by communication about a heroic deed he has accomplished and how he counter acted against the villain (Maionis, Raveli & Vaicaitis, 2010).

Modern heroes depend on media interest and coverage to gain the recognition they need as a heroes, the villain also needs the presence of the hero to act against his wishes; the role played by the media in this situation is to highlight the confrontation. A hero comes from the people and ventures into a region of supernatural wonders where he encounters force and he comes out in decisive victory as a winner; the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to save his fellow man where he is integrated into the society. Individuals from the society are separated from their culture heroes by time and social class, people know their heroes only through stories, images and the media because it is very hard to see the heroes in person. Heroes in oral cultures were identified because of their deeds which were memorable to the individuals because information was transmitted through speech and stored in human memory. Villains in oral culture were enemies of the society and were mostly defeated by the heroes who were seen to posses extra ordinary powers, intellectual and creativity though the villain had the same powers as the heroes (Macionis, Raveli & Vaicaitis, 2010).

Heroes of the contemporary world are many but Lance Armstrong has surpassed many in cycling sports, he has super power of cycling, he has a very strong case to make America’s Greatest Sports Figure. In 2002, Armstrong was named Sportsman of the Year; in 2003, Sports Illustrated for Kids honored Armstrong as Athlete of the Year; and in 2004, Sports Illustrated readers named Armstrong the best sports role model during the past 50 years. Armstrong has a history of breaking records with six Tour de France wins, what make him to win is determination and his struggle to achieve success continuously (Platt & Buckley, 2002). When Armstrong won the Tour for the sixth time and made history most people felt inspired by how he won after recovering from cancer, Armstrong’s ability in cycling surpassed the villains of his time because he was a gifted cyclic and was determined to win. Indeed Armstrong is seen and perceived as a beacon of hope in the field of sports; his accomplishments served as an inspiration to many as they saw him as an iconic figure. Though there have been many sports icons who have also achieved success, the story of Armstrong clearly stands out from all these other stories due to not only the nature of his achievements but also the conditions under which he was able to achieve this success which propelled him to greatness and led him to obtain the tag of a hero.

Some heroes are known for their strong character, courage and the ability to unite and inspire all people and touch the soul of many nations. Jackie Robinson was an African American who was a hero of his time in 1947; he played baseball for the Brooklyn Dodgers (Platt, Jim & Buckley, 2002). He is well admired for breaking the colorr barrier in sports in America and is admired for his character not to fight back the villains who were opposed to black citizens playing major games attitude due to racism and prejudice. He played before fans that were opposing blacks playing major games; in this case therefore the fans who were opposed to Robinson due to his race can be considered as villains. Robinson was not only a sports hero but also a pioneer in race relation; he clearly stood out as a courageous defender of human rights. Robinson’s character was beyond that of a normal human being, he possessed, intelligence and was skilful, smart and wise (Williams & Gerald, 1994).

A team can be heroic depending on its wonderful deeds e.g. the 1980 U.S. hockey team achieved heroic status at the winter Olympics when it made history by defeating the Soviet Union on the ice in Lake Placid in New York(Williams & Gerald, 1994). The victory was epic since it symbolized America’s triumph over its bitter enemy during the Cold War and, the Soviet Union was a villain in that game.

The Americans played with determination to emerge the winners, this victory touched every part of America, and stories were told everywhere even in hospitals. Televisions were placed even in emergency rooms so that doctors could watch the game, high school students watched and applauded when the score was announced (Platt, Jim & Buckley, 2002). The villains put the same effort to the game, made fans to enjoy but the heroes unfortunately won the game. Heroic men were exemplified through their accomplishments and the undeniable deeds that they performed to the society.Conclusion Heroes identified by the society through the help of the media, they touch all corners of the nation; villain became known for the antagonistic role they play to stop the heroes from achieving their roles.

Heroes are created by the heroic deeds they perform, this makes them popular than the villains and eventually they are able to win the support of the fans. Members of society know their heroes through stories, images, and other forms of information and this means that without the media heroes and villains are not there in modern society. It is clear that the main purpose of the villains is to discredit what has been achieved and accomplished by the heroes; the villains try to steal the limelight from the heroes by trying to draw attention the attention of the others to them. However it is very important to note that ultimately the action of the heroes and their heroic deeds always prevail. The fans and the audience, through the help of the media, are in a position to identify and support the actions of the heroes. The important role and the influence of the heroes in the society cannot therefore be overlooked and in some sense it can be argued that the villains play an important role to ensure that the heroes gain their true identity and recognition from the members of the society.