Where Have All The Heroes Gone?

The other night I was cooking dinner, and the strangest thought popped into my head. For some unknown reason, I got thinking about television programs. More to the point, I got thinking about particular programs I used to watch when I was younger. I'm sure many New Zealanders can recall the TV program Heroes, cataloging stories of heroic deeds performed by ordinary New Zealanders, be it rescuing somebody from a mountaineering expedition gone wrong, or (in one episode) the actions of one who was faced with the Tangiwai disaster.

But that was then. These days, the TV screen, apart from broadcasting the six o' clock news or a Crusaders home game, is replete with programs with either sex or violence as its "vehicle" theme, or programs that run along the genre of "Reality TV". Shows like Big Brother come to mind, and far from showing examples of happy communal living, one is exposed to a myriad of backstabbing, jealousy, cheating, and the like. It is shows such as these that dominate our TV screens on a nightly basis. The main concern is that we viewers thrive off these shows.

My point is this: Where have all the Heroes gone? If television can be portrayed as a mirror of our prevalent culture, then our culture has shifted from praising role models to praising the darker side of the human condition. Ironically, we as people long for somebody to look up to, somebody to emulate in life. Yet if the absence of Heroes is anything to go by, then such role models are nowhere to be found. More sinister is the fact that perhaps we don't want a role model to show us the way. We like watching these reality shows because we thrive off of the misfortunes of others. One need only think of the rat race that is the business world to know what I am referring to.

Our culture has shifted dramatically to echo the words of Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan, who says in the opening lines of Vicarious:

"Eye on the the TV, 'cause tragedy thrills me
Whatever flavour it happens to be, like...
"Killed by the husband"
"Drowned by the ocean"
"Shot by his own son"
"She used a poison in his tea...kissed him goodbye"
That's my kind of story
It's no fun 'til someone dies

Don't look at me like I am a monster
Frown out your one face, But with the other:
Stare like a junkie, into the TV
Stare like a zombie,
While the mother holds her child, watches them die
Hands to the sky crying, "Why, oh why?"

Cause I need to watch things die... from a distance
Vicariously I live while the whole world dies...
YOU ALL NEED IT TOO, DON'T LIE."