Hero In American Cinema

Hero is always admired and worshipped by people. Numerous heroes have emerged in American history. And the American film industry, Hollywood, which is also called the Dream Factory, has created incessantly various kinds of myths since the day of its birth. Among those myths, the "heroic myth" may be the most traditional and successful model of Hollywood myths. Numerous screen heroes are born there and numerous heroic actions are praised and advocated there. Beginning with the notion of hero and hero-worship, this paper tries to classify and explain the images of various screen heroes created in the Hollywood movies and compares them with heroes in American history. We note that heroes on the screen vary more or less in different times. And there are typical heroes who represent the social values of their times. Usually the heroes on the screen share the values held by the heroes in real life. And it then examines how the heroes in American movies help reflect and shape American values. By exploring the relationship between several typical types of heroes and the times in which they were born the paper concludes that time creates its own myth and own heroes on the screen and these heroes then reflect the social values and the Zeitgeist of American society. Moreover, these heroes often help shape American values as they influence the consciousness of American people and the mores of American society as well.