Survey: What makes a hero?

[DannyJBeckett]

I'm writing a dissertation for my college course, and the subject I've chosen is heroes. I want to write it about the impact of heroes (super-heroes in particular) on popular culture, the need for heroic figures, and what drives them to do what they do.

What I'd like to ask is: what do YOU think makes a hero?

 

[6unn3r]

I dont know if im quoting someone with this but:

"...the real heroes go home in wooden boxes draped in the flag."

And somthing that personaly brings a tear to my eye everytime i hear it...

Richard Winters: [quoting from a letter Mike Ranney wrote to him]: I cherish the memory of a question my grandson asked me the other day, when he said: 'Grandpa, were you a hero in the war?' Grandpa said, "No. But I served in a company of heroes."

I think you can see what im getting at. The real hero is the man who dies, not for his country or a specific cause or goal, but for the man standing to his left or his right, or for his friend lying wounded and helpless in the field.

 

[Gralian]

I'm really not very clued up on super heroes, nor do i know anything about comic book culture, but i'll chip in anyway in case whatever i say happens to be relevant.

A hero is someone who places the needs of others above the needs of themselves. A hero is someone who is able to stare in the face of death without turning away. A hero is an ordinary man or woman who does extraordinary things. These things are acts of courage, bravery and self-sacrifice. Heroism may run the gambit from physical to intellectual. Dr. King was a hero of civil rights, and his battle was fought with words. Firemen, doctors and policemen are heroes who save lives.

However, heroism is not entirely contained within such impacting circumstances. If someone is feeling suicidal, and their closest friend is able to lift them out of that pit of depression even for a little while, they are also a hero, whether they are recognised for it or not. A hero is someone to be admired, to be emulated and to be acknowledged, both within others and within ourselves.

 

[Anarchemitis]

A hero is someone whom the audience wants to succeed because their motives and objectives are observed by the public as the most ideal.
This differentiates between hero and protagonist, whereby a protagonist may not necessarily be a hero because their morals or objectives are found questionable or contemptible by the audience, but still is the principal character of the narrative.
A superhero is when a hero has powers or abilities that take them beyond the realm of average or even exceptional humans.
This is how I define a hero and superhero.

 

[TonyVonTonyus]

The man who does what is right before what is wanted when no one else will.