Straight And Narrow

In days of yore, our heroes flashed perfect smiles while rescuing the princess, all human faults cast off as they showed us how wonderful they were.  From Errol Flynn’sRobin Hood to Don Quixote, these noble heroes had nary a flaw and were written as themes to aspire to.

Talk about making me want to vomit.

Although fictional role models are great, a hero without flaws is one to whom nobody can relate.  One of the main reasons wrestling crowds turned away from Hulk Hogan’s “Eat-your-vitamins-and-say-your-prayers” routine was that no one was that perfect.  What we want, in the end, is to see ourselves in our heroes, for there to be a chance that we just might be able to do great things in spite of our less than noble natures.  Harry Potter shows us teenage anger issues.  Jack Torrence shows us we all have demons.  Even Deadpool shows us self-loathing.  These are things we all carry inside of us, and pretending they don’t exist makes certain characters unrelatable.

Maybe society has just grown too cynical.  A century ago, we wanted the heroes to wear white and live by the rules of the church, daring not to even touch a lady or swear, since those traits were undesirable.  They were also real.  I know literally no one on Earth who has no flaws and things they don’t regret saying or doing.  No one.  So how could In relate to a hero who always makes the right decision and is never overcome with selfishness, jealousy, anger, or lust?  Even the Apostles had issues they had to overcome, so why wouldn’t anyone else who wasn’t the Son of God?

Heroes with issues help create storylines with conflict and depth.  Without being challenged, without finding depth, I get bored and would rather daydream.  Don’t force that choice on your audience.