Forum - View topicThe Heroic Spirit of My Hero Academia
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Fronzel
Posts: 1906 |
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I'm reminded of a passage from Terry Pratchet's Hogfather:
For something else that takes a non-grim look at superheroes, try Kurt Busiek's Astro City series. Last edited by Fronzel on Fri May 20, 2016 1:28 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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wolf10
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One thing MHA touches on that the article didn't: there was a point Midoriya came close to failing out precisely because of his self-sacrificing determination (spoiler[the baseball throw during their first gym class].) The show has just enough modern sense to acknowledge that heroes can't simply obliterate themselves over every problem, because that in turn can create problems for others. I think that kind of tempered optimism is how a jaded old cynic like me can still find something to enjoy in it. It's willing to acknowledge the limits on heroes without casting a judgemental eye on All Might when he's spoiler[coughing up blood and unable to call his full strength to save Kacchan].
But I'm also very slightly Randian in the sense that I don't consider the "self" some evil to be overcome through "self-sacrifice." It's just one more thing that needs to be kept in balance with everything else. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2189 |
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Now I'm just curious as to how terrible a Snyder Academia movie would be.
It is interesting to watch ConRevo and Academia alongside each other, though. They give a nice multifaceted perspective on heroism. Come to think of it, did ConRevo Season 1 air the same season as OPM or UBW? Watching them all could make an interesting contrast of "Heroism is good and many people do it differently", "Heroism destroys your life, but it's still worth doing", "Heroism isn't everything it's cracked up to be and is actually pretty complex", and "Heroism's more important than power". |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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This concept of "the heroic spirit" being more important than actual results is one I find incredibly strange. How many people would you consider hero? How many of those failed but showed "great heroic spirit" and so are remembered? Like 2-3 maybe. And I would bet that if you actually dig a bit into the actual people behind many heroic figure you'd find out that many of them, many more than the number people considered hero despite failing, carried out there heroic action not out of heroic will but out of simple greed or some other non heroic reason. How many time do you hear people praise fireman or cop as hero after they failed to save there loved one? Results are what makes hero, not intend or optimism.
And this is nicely illustrated in my hero academia, Midori start powerless, does the series follow him as he use his "incredible heroic spirit"? No, of course not. The series give him super power and he always end up using them to succeed. Because as much as people like to think that the spirit is what matters, deep down we want results. Think back to the entrance exam, without power he would have just tried to rescue the girl, and would have been crushed by the robot who would then have crushed the girl too, fat load of good would his heroic spirit accomplish. This attitude of "you can do it if you really try" just reek of a falsehood we all perpetrate because looking at a kid in the eyes and telling him "no you won't be able to be an astronaut" is too hard, so we don't and plenty of people get there dream crushed after spending large amount of time and money. Yeah, a very small number of people do get in, but there's also a very small number of people who win at the lottery and I don't see anyone telling kid they should just spend all there money on the lottery because there's a similarly small chance that they could make it big. I'm reminded of the book "the secret", in that case optimism conned 19 millions peoples out of there hard earned money and didn't accomplish much more. |
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Via_01
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You know, reading this paragraph, I was reminded a little bit of Koimonogatari's last episode (one of the Monogatari series arcs). At some point, Nadeko complains to Kaiki about how it's stupid to just leave her current comfort zone and risk everything in order to become a manga artist, because only a minority of those who try actually make it. And I believe the dialogue went more or less like this: Nadeko: "I can't become a manga artist just by wishing." Kaiki: "But if you never wish, you'll never be one." So you mean to tell me that we should have the guts to tell a kid that he can't become an astronaut only because it's close to impossible? That the attitude of "you can do it if you really try" is there only because we don't want to crush a kid's dream? You see, being an astronaut (in this case), or being a successful artist, or being a hero in MHA's world when you don't have superpowers, they are all extremely difficult things to achieve, but that doesn't mean we should just discourage everyone from trying; after all, you can't turn into one of these things by accident, and you certainly can't make it without putting some effort into it. Or what, is nature just going to spontaneously produce an astronaut/artist/hero out of thin air, to supply our world's need for these positions? No, it's not going to happen if no one ever decides to try in the first place. Even if it's just to make him believe that he has a 1% chance of making it, it's still worthwhile to appreciate this "heroic spirit". 1% is better than 0%. |
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Beatdigga
 Posts: 4371 Location: New York |
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The comments nicely reaffirm why the series is terrible. People want anti-heroes. They want brains. In this day and age, people want something more akin to The Boys (minus the raging lowbrow humor) or the Punisher, not this.
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BodaciousSpacePirate
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I swear every time someone makes a post about how My Hero Academia should be darker, it reminds me of this. |
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
 Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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Let's see....
First, having "heroic spirit" doesn't make you a hero, but you probably can't be a hero unless you have it (whether or not you know you have it). Being a hero requires action, not merely intent. Thus, desiring to be a hero doesn't make you one, even if you desire it very strongly. If you actually attempt a heroic act but fail to achieve the desired (heroic) result, then while you may not be recognized as being a hero, you still are one, because you tried. Basically, being a hero is about making the attempt, not about succeeding or failing. Also, you're not a hero because of your job: firemen aren't heroes. Police officers aren't heroes. Astronauts are not heroes. Soldiers are not heroes. However, having certain jobs will put you into situations where you are more likely perform heroic acts. And intent matters: if you happen to save someone's life in the process of saving your own, or while you were trying to make a wad of cash, or because you wanted to look good to someone: you're not a hero, because as I said above, you need a certain amount of "heroic spirit" -- generally altruism, at least to a degree -- for your actions to be considered heroic. IMO, the ideal hero does what he does because it's the right thing to do, not because he expects any sort of recognition or compensation. That's, more or less, how I view heroism. |
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Valhern
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Oh, sure. The people that bought thousands of copies of My Hero Academia DEFINETELY wanted something else and were deliberately tricked, even when buying the seventh volume. That Horikoshi bastard, someone sue him please. And by the way but not the point, there are antiheroes in Hero Academia. Maaaybe if you read it before calling it terrible... |
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EastN3
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While anti-heroes are definitely the flavor of the month, I don't see why there can't be room for the kind of wholesome pure heroism from the Golden Age of Comic. The one point I do agree with is that people want smarts. Meatheads with special abilities winning because of the power of friendship should be over. The web novel Worm is a good example of the direction things should go, IMO. |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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In the context of the series, yes. Midori has no power, yet he's still planning his life around being a hero, he's like a mute kid wanting to be a singer, it ain't gonna happens no matter how much of a heroic spirit he has without a miracle, and planning your life around a miracle is a terrible idea (you sometime hear about these story of religious parent who have sick kid who refuse treatment because "God will cure our kid"). You can tell a kid he can be an astronaut if he shows promise or even if he's not particularly trying to be one, to motivate him to try harder. But when a kid is trying his hardest to do sometime and constantly fail and shows no promise (ie kid study like crazy for science test, still get an F), especially due to some inherent physical attribute he has/lack, I think its the job of adult to help him face reality. Unless you're the kind of person who think its better to fail at the things you most want to do rather than succeed at the second or third things you most want to do. |
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Beatdigga
Posts: 4371 Location: New York |
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The series is overly simple in that way, when it should be more or less a deconstruction of that. You're not able to be a hero, fine. What can you do?
There's a book called Soon I will be Invincible which addresses those themes from the perspective of a Dr. Doom style villain. It's quite a good read. |
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stilldemented
 Posts: 232 |
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My Hero Academia tackles the classic shounen tale of "little boy, big dreams" and gives it a Hero motif.
It's a well-suited addition to follow in the footsteps of previous Shounen Jump titles. The music in the show is what really accentuates that feeling of heroic spirit, though at times I'd say that it is offset by a derpy, on-camera character expression during an otherwise serious moment. That out of the way, I think MHA is definitely one of the better shounen shows at delivering its message in a way that impacts its audience. I can feel the character inching ever closer to the heroes he idolizes. It's a nice feeling to have, and not easily maintained. On the subject of anti-heroes, I would say that they can be more interesting as characters because their motivations are more often dictated by their self-interests, and it's fun to watch how those self-interests end up factoring into the fight for the greater good. I don't think shows with anti-heroes are more loved for adhering to a darker, edgier worldview so much as the material is accepted momentarily for a chance at unconstrained, cathartic storytelling. But that's obviously not MHA as it takes the more classical approach to the hero's journey. So I don't really see the point in beating a show up for what it never intended to be. 
MHA has a lot of strong thematic moments that are very well done. I think it's a great show for children. Older audiences have probably seen this tale played out in other long-running shounen, but can appreciate it all the same. It's a good show. 
Last edited by stilldemented on Fri May 20, 2016 3:43 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Merida
 Posts: 1945 |
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Why "should" it be like that? Because you wanted it to be? It's not the show's fault you had wrong expectations. I like deconstructions of genres or anti-heroes but i see nothing wrong in an honest, postive celebration of heroism once in a while. In fact it's almost refresing in this day and age. As for the "heroic spirit" versus "results", Midoriya was quirkless, it was his spirit that got Allmight's attention and eventually provided him with power. Being courageous and brave even without having special powers, i don't think that's a wrong message to send to kids. |
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Beatdigga
Posts: 4371 Location: New York |
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It is the wrong message because it fundamentally doesn't work. All it creates is false entitlement.
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