Literary Lenses in our Media - Essay Example

Literary Lenses in Our Media The show “Heroes” is a science fiction television series about a group of ordinary people who discover that they are superhuman abilities. The series follows these heroes as they fully harness their powers and adapt to the changes that these powers give them and their environment. The show also involves the characters and how they prevent destruction and devastation for humanity. They are modern-day superheroes. One of the literary lenses that can be seen in “Heroes” is that of archetypal.

The simple, most obvious character types are the hero and the villain. The themes include the quest and the fall, and contain legend and myth within the plot. “Heroes” has the basic underlying of any story having to deal with a superhero. There is the good side and the bad side, and the adventures and turmoil that they all must go through in regards to who they are. The legend and myth that can be found within the story are typical of all superheroes – these people possess powers that have only been previously heard or seen in myths and tales.

Once these characters receives these powers of legend, they must wield them and use them how they see fit, to their benefit. After the powers have been discovered and the characters understand what they must do with them, the things that follow – their adventures and moments of rescue and brevity – are also tales only found in legend.This literary lens basically shows things that normally should not be possible other than in their legends, yet still prove to be possible in the modern-day tale.

The characters fall into the same positions as their myth counterparts, and the themes are set up in the same way, though modernized of course. With older superhero films, such as Superman, Batman, and Spiderman, the same rules apply in which ordinary people discover that they can do extraordinary things, and they must learn to use said things for their benefit in a positive way. Though, this does not always apply to the villains.Another literary lens that can be seen in “Heroes” is that of existentialism, which involves how a person exists, lives their life, and alters it to fit their environment and their purpose.

The characters of “Heroes” both shape their existence and allow themselves to be shaped by it. They take who they are and use that knowledge and power to help others, and they let the need of others decide for them what they have to do. In “Heroes,” the characters are constantly choosing between what they have to do, what they want to do, and what appears to be the easiest thing for them to do. They often have to remember who they are and what they are capable of when it comes to this decision-making process.

The characters are who they are because of their existence. They exist as superheroes, people who can change the world are them and the events that take place, so they must live, act, and think like superheroes. The reason that these characters exist is to let the world and its inhabitants benefit from what they can do. “Heroes” is a television show in which myth, character, and existence make up the foundation. All three of these aspects go hand-in-hand, and work simultaneously with each other.

The myth makes the character, or the superhero, and the superhero and the powers that they are given make up their existence. All three of these things make up what can be thought of as the clichéd superhero setup, and are vital to the journeys and plots that they characters involve themselves in.