What's a hero without identity problems? Identity card... Seriously, I don't think moderne humans are comfortable being hero any more. We're far, far away from Homer's days. That's why we now have bunches of anti-heroes instead. That's why we've got Hamlet earlier in the day.
I don't see Daleks as interested enough in humans to play mind games with them...are there any other alien villains who are likely to do so in the old Who universe?
I miss DW!Jack so much. I mean, now we have lots and lots of angst heroes and angst anti-heroes all over our TV screen. It's getting even harder to see a human being to be actually happy in TV world than in real world(except in flashbacks, that's to say). In real life, if happiness can make someone boring, he/she must have been boring all along before happiness came upon. In TV world, happiness=boring=bad script. DW!Jack is convincingly happy, and sometimes silly, but not boring at all. It's such a rare occasion to see a TV character who gets to be hero and anti-hero and gets his redemption and has got all his joie de vivre in the same time. It's like watching fireworks... I come to loving TW!Jack though. As far as I love DW!Jack, I would never sigh 'O Captain my captain' while looking at him. He hasn't earned the title yet. No, not even in POTW. Acting like a hero out of love, out of deep belief in someone he/she loves, isn't this more traditional heroine work than hero work? In my opinion, the real hero is someone who knows he/she may not succeed in doing good even if he/she tries hard, but won't quit trying, because someone has to do about it and something has to be done. (Isn't this the tragedy factor that a hero's qualities require?) DW!Jack has got the Doctor to believe in. Now in Torchwood he's on his own. His desperateness in the final episodes of Torchwood is different from his desperateness in his final episodes of DW. In POTW it's about buying time for the Doctor to do his work. That's the only thing he cares about. The people around him are only faces. Now he really has his own ones to protect. He doesn't have the Doctor to save the day. Has lost the belief. Has to rely on himself. He becomes a real captain who can talk about duty with another real captain. Yes, there's no rank like 'captain' in RAF. The title is about bravado('flight lieutenant' or even 'group captain' isn't going to sound as great as simply 'captain')...and about heroism, too. Like 'a captain dies with his ship'. And o captain, my captain. And yes, to live every day to no ends knowing himself and his job as some kind of a failure and still keeping trying and doing his job can be harder than a heroic death, in a couple of ways.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2007-02-28 01:15 am (UTC)Identity card...
Seriously, I don't think moderne humans are comfortable being hero any more. We're far, far away from Homer's days. That's why we now have bunches of anti-heroes instead. That's why we've got Hamlet earlier in the day.
I don't see Daleks as interested enough in humans to play mind games with them...are there any other alien villains who are likely to do so in the old Who universe?
I miss DW!Jack so much. I mean, now we have lots and lots of angst heroes and angst anti-heroes all over our TV screen. It's getting even harder to see a human being to be actually happy in TV world than in real world(except in flashbacks, that's to say). In real life, if happiness can make someone boring, he/she must have been boring all along before happiness came upon. In TV world, happiness=boring=bad script. DW!Jack is convincingly happy, and sometimes silly, but not boring at all. It's such a rare occasion to see a TV character who gets to be hero and anti-hero and gets his redemption and has got all his joie de vivre in the same time. It's like watching fireworks...
I come to loving TW!Jack though. As far as I love DW!Jack, I would never sigh 'O Captain my captain' while looking at him. He hasn't earned the title yet. No, not even in POTW. Acting like a hero out of love, out of deep belief in someone he/she loves, isn't this more traditional heroine work than hero work? In my opinion, the real hero is someone who knows he/she may not succeed in doing good even if he/she tries hard, but won't quit trying, because someone has to do about it and something has to be done. (Isn't this the tragedy factor that a hero's qualities require?) DW!Jack has got the Doctor to believe in. Now in Torchwood he's on his own. His desperateness in the final episodes of Torchwood is different from his desperateness in his final episodes of DW. In POTW it's about buying time for the Doctor to do his work. That's the only thing he cares about. The people around him are only faces. Now he really has his own ones to protect. He doesn't have the Doctor to save the day. Has lost the belief. Has to rely on himself. He becomes a real captain who can talk about duty with another real captain. Yes, there's no rank like 'captain' in RAF. The title is about bravado('flight lieutenant' or even 'group captain' isn't going to sound as great as simply 'captain')...and about heroism, too. Like 'a captain dies with his ship'. And o captain, my captain.
And yes, to live every day to no ends knowing himself and his job as some kind of a failure and still keeping trying and doing his job can be harder than a heroic death, in a couple of ways.