The Man Who Doesn't Need Saving

I was watching The latest Bond film on Monday night and something struck me.

Nobody ever saves Bond. Well that's not 100% accurate but close enough. The same thing goes for many of the superheros our culture adores. At the moment it happens to vampires and werewolves who are in vogue but many things never change.

Someone (or something) use their great abilities protect what they love, weather that's Mary-Jane Watson (spider-man) or the British Isles(James Bond).
We like our heroes edgy and full of emotional problems. not surprisingly this sort thing has been going on forever, just look at the Greek Gods. I'll grant you that Batman has a higher moral standard than Zeus but there are basic elements common to both.
However I want to focus on the Modern American (super)hero for now.

Let me say first of all that I know many heroes do need help at some point, it's what makes them human. Indiana Jones when the witch-doctor has him in a trance, Superman when krypton is present. Such human weaknesses help the viewer (or reader) to connect with the hero.

However the heroes are often emotionally isolated. They have problems (murdered parents etc.) which motivate or impede them as the case may be. Somehow they are always the shoulder which everyone else cries on.

Often times there will be heart-to-heart between the hero and a (girl)friend. Somehow thought, it seems that everyone always depends on one person. Invariably the Hero is a man.

Stories where a woman is the hero (no I'm not talking about someone like Jane Eyre) are never very popular.

Call me crazy but I think this all relates back to Jesus (doesn't everything). Everyone (even guys) is looking for a savior (hero, what ever you want to call it). It's an intrinsic need, Hyman's have felt sense Adam and Eve's sin in the garden.

We see this need in The Greek myths about Hercules, the English stories of King Arthur and the current obsession of teenage girls with the twilight series.


Of course Jesus is the only one who can satisfy our need. If only more people would realize what they're actually looking for.


Levi