We need water to sustain life, fire to cook our food and make things, earth to build our homes, but without air or wind, we will be dead within a matter of minutes. Of all of the elements/archetypes, wind is the most untenable and fleeting. Images of flight and air have always conjured up feelings of euphoria and freedom--the image of Icarus soaring higher and higher into the heavens has always been the icon for the artist, unafraid to burn the wing's of inspiration. Inspiration itself has its origins in the idea of the spirit, the air, the prevailing wind. The German term Zeitgeist, or "the prevailing spirit of the age" is tied to the notion that an entire nation or culture has a unified belief system.
Because wind is the most untenable and fleeting of all of the archetypes, almost impossible as "catching a fart, painting it green, then putting it in a corner where it can't be seen," the archetype of wind has always characterized revolution, change, upheaval. Politicians who depart from the old corrupt ways of their counterparts are seen as "breaths of fresh air." Children in Japan are encouraged to become "kaze no ko," children of the wind, constantly absorbing new ways and new ideologies. William Wordsworth contends that we :come trailing clouds of glory behind us"--that the heart of inspiration lies in our fleeting ability to grasp the fortune adrift on the wind.
The archetype of wind is uniquely tied to the idea of a hero. The hero represents the major change in the entire course of the novel--the moment the hero recognizes his or her potential in a moment of recognition, then, and only then, has the moment of profound change been reached. Luke, the bored moisture farmer on Tatooine, seeks out his fortune on Dagobah, and becomes the leader of the New Jedi Order. Harry Potter, the dorky nerd with a lightning-shaped scar, throws off the fears of his fellow wixards to do battle against his arch-nemesis, Lord Voldemort. Neo, recognizing that the Matrix has enslaved humanity in a dubious machine-generated reality, becomes his anagram--the One. And in Frank Herbert's sci-fi novel, Paul Atreides becomes the much-awaited Mahdi, Mua'Dib, the liberator of the Fremen who will usurp the repressive reign of Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV. In recent years, there has been a cinematic superhero explosion: X-Men, Superman Returns, Ghost Rider, Spiderman I/II/III, and there's no likely end in sight. On the horizon are potential Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, and numerous other superhero movies in sight.
The hero's image has become muddied and complicated in the modern world. These days, we have anti-heroes, flawed heroes, insane heroes, and even dorky heroes. Napoleon Dynamite is the hero for the dorks of the universe; he inspires us to realize that dorkiness is a refreshing quality that goes against the grain of high school conformity.
Hopefully, the graphic novel, Superman Birthright, will demonstrate the conventions of the hero while continuing to explore several issues that affect us in geopolitical contexts.
Questions:
Is the redemptive quest of the hero spiritually and physically ennobling?
Is suffering important in the hero's narrative? What makes this suffering an important aspect of the quest motif?
Is the hero's wound, as a function of his suffering and maiming essential?
Is this suffering redemptive?
Is the living struggle more difficult than the physical death?
Why are many heroes on the brink of insanity?
What trials must the hero undertake for the redemptive quest to be worthwhile?