The Reluctant Hero

Many great movies that display some of the greatest heroes follow a trend called "the reluctant hero". This trend is explained well by Joseph Campbell in the "Hero with a Thousand Faces": "The hero may refuse the adventure or deny the ability to move beyond the status quo". But then, for some reason, the Hero feels obligated to step in and follow his calling, and save the day. This trend is seen in many films like "Spiderman", "Batman", and "The Blind Side". But films are not the only place where this trend can be followed. In fact many Presidential candidates try to take on this story line to make them seem more desirable in the peoples eyes, as we discussed during class this week. This made me wonder why the reluctant hero was so desirable to Americans, and is this something unique to our country?

Many times, when a presidential candidate uses this story line, it is to show that they didn't want to intervene, but feel like they have to because they are the only one that can fix the nations issues. An example of this is our 40th president, Ronald Reagan. He made the country believe that he had the solutions to the countries financial issues with "Reaganomics", which is why he needed the job as president. Why this trend is so common in American history, and not as much around the world is very hard to answer. I believe that it started in earlier films and had a large impact, and therefore stuck with our culture from there on. In other words, it is a deep part of America's history, and is a very effective storyline, which is why it remains today. What do you think, is the reluctant hero unique to our country, and why is it so frequently used?