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The Thematic Paradigm

Decent Essays

Historically American film have been centered on heroes. In Ray’s “The Thematic Paradigm” he states that heroes as have two preset archetypes with certain characteristics. These two archetypes are the family orientated “official hero” and the loner “outlaw hero.” In Segar’s “Creating the Myth” she states that heroes are made by the steps or events that they go through on their way to becoming a hero. This means that to Seger the heroes do not start out as heroes, but as normal people. However, Ray and Seger suggest different ways in which Americans relate to film heroes, they both agree heroes are popular through common experience and relatability.
Ray states that the official hero is a hero “represented in the American belief in collective …show more content…

Ray uses the two archetypes in American film the outlaw hero and the official hero to make his point as well as he discusses the “reluctant hero.” This is a hero that helps their community, but only if it is on their terms and helps them in the end. It is this hero that cuts into the sharp contrast of the official hero by helping their community and the outlaw hero by helping themselves in the process that allows for the hero to reach all of the audience rather than lean too far to one end of the hero spectrum which could make the hero become unrelatable. Likewise, Seger creates a list of steps in which the hero goes through that makes them relatable to everyone, thus giving the hero their popularity. These steps have the hero start out as a normal person, meet a catalyst to start their journey, receive help to start their journey, the hero starts their training, a near death experience happens to our hero causing contemplation, and finally the hero changes to be the permeant hero the story needed. It is the steps that the hero goes through that at some point every person is to be able to relate to such as a struggle to continue, a mundane life to escape or a feeling of determination that the audience has felt at some point. It is in the relatability that Ray and Seger both agree since each states that it is due to how the American audience relates to the hero that allows them to be

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