Letters to the Editor
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Spoiler alerts please !
Hero's hasn't finished here in Australia
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This isn't England
In the US we capitalize all the letters of acronyms or initialisms. It is not Patriot Act, but PATRIOT Act. It stands for "Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism."
As any librarian will tell you, it's not patriotic, it's just an acronym.
Now get it right before I sick rabid libraians on you.
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A Chick and a Guy Who Can Fly.
Just a trivia note, but definitely petinent to discussing liberal politics and "Heroes:" Adrian Pasdar who plays Nathan Petrelli is married in real life to none other than... Natalie Maines, lead singer for the Dixie Chicks.
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one more cool thing about HEREOS
This is a bit off theme, but I've always quietly marveled at the fact that there's an interatial couple on HEROES with a mixed race child: Micah. And no one ever, ever mentions it on the show. It's just considered normal, which it is. I have a number of black/white couple friends with kids. What a rad show!
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Another reason "Heroes" goes against Bushian philosophy.
The Bush Family Evil Empire has always broadcast the message that there's no reason for "ordinary" Americans to sacrifice anything for this war. Sure, the poor - the people Bush made poor - do most of the fighting and killing, and the Big Boys keep track of the money, the oil, the power. All we've been asked to do is keep buying gas-wasting SUV's and stick magnetic ribbons on 'em.
The characters of Heroes joined together to fight Sylar (the brain-eating guy) and the New York explosion. Even if that wasn't their intention. Of them all, Hiro (the time-warping Japanese salaryman) is the only one truly focussed on it; he saw it happen and its aftermath. Parkman (the mind-reading cop) did it only incidentally, since the FBI asked for his help in finding Sylar. His own life was ruined, and he sought something between revenge and closure. Niki/Jessica (the super-strong schitzoid mom) and D.L. (the black ex-con who walks through walls) only want to help their son - and fought through most of the series because they didn't believe in each other's committment. They only came into the bomb scenario due to the manipulation of Linderman (the British Person who can heal).
In other words, many of them cooperated out of accident. But they all did it. Nathan Petrelli (the flying Congressman) apparently sacrificed his life as a last-minute decision, something he showed no signs of doing in advance. (This being a superhero story, he could still be alive with the proper elements.) For whatever reason, all contributed to saving the world. Most Americans in this time and place have contributed little or nothing - because there is no guiding spirit, in political office, in church, in the media or elsewhere, suggesting that we should.
By the way, I spelled out who the characters are above, because Heather Havrilesky is too caffein-addled to know any of them, even if she gave a damn. This article was excellent, and I am so glad she wasn't assigned to write it.
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tomreedtoon
Thanks. I agree with you 100%. Personally, I think "I Like to Watch" should be titled, "I like to Show Off How Clever and Cute I Am". I quit reading anything with her byline a long time ago.
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"Traditional Family Values"
In addition to having an interracial couple and their accepted without comment, Heroes has also featured a daughter who embraced her adoptive family as her real family, and an Indian man whose blood could save an adorable tiny white girl. Even more intriguingly, it's strongly suggested that Indian man will be the girl's parent from now on.
While it doesn't relate to the war on terror, it is another way Heroes subverts many traditional expectations (and is kinda liberal).
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so by extension
ANYONE who doesn't like "Heroes" must therefore be EEEEEEVULL!
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Terrific article
Many years ago, Pauline Kael wrote a seminal book of film criticism, "I Lost it at the Movies". One of her most unique and truly perceptive talents, in this and subsequent writings, was understanding the role media (particularly cinema) plays as a reflection of the cultural unconscious-how feelings, thoughts, reactions, issues of the society were played out in the waves of films that emerged year after year. She has always been exalted as one of the greatest critics who lifted her work to cultural commentary in the modern era.
Juan Cole's piece here is similarly incisive. One might say television has become the greater mirror because mainstream cinema has become so infected with the virus of the big dollar that sequels, "franchises" and disconnected fantasy and mindless action have come to rule the day. The spate of TV dramas about alien invasions a few years ago, for example, were perfect metaphors for the deep fears and anxieties of the new, unknown, potentially invasive post 9/11 world.
There is rarely a "Godfather", but in its place we have "The Sopranos" and with its influence, television, at its best, has has expanded and incorporated a literary form undreamt of by current film (except for Jackson in "Lord of the Rings").
As a storyteller and folklorist who has promoted this line of thinking often on these boards in response to various articles, I applaud Juan Cole for a tremendous and original analysis. His breadth of global understanding coupled with his ability to synthesize disparate elements along with an astute cultural and political awareness, make his essay one of the most satisfying critiques of a media show (and our society) I have seen in Salon.
This is why I subscribe. Thank you for expanding my understanding of a show I found extremely rewarding to follow this year.
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Peter could also fly!
Why he didn't just remove himself from the scene, on his own, is beyond me.
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Heroes is best left unpolitical
One of the best things about this show is how unpolitical it is. It's not about the evils of Dick Cheney and George Bush, and it ought to stay that way. Reading this article would make me think that it's only for Democrats and that's certainly not the case.
Also, there are some troubling elitist themes in the show, but that's for a different comment.
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I like the article and the show
But, the notion that "Heroes", which is loosely based on the "X-Men" comics, is somehow subverting "traditional values" by presenting certain scenarios without comment is a bit much. When you have people who can fly, blow up, read minds, erase memories, are indestructible, walk through walls, move through time, and so on the other stuff is besides the point.