MYTHS AND HEROES

1. A definition of the word "anti-hero" in URBAN DICTIONARY

 

The anti-hero is the hero who does the right thing, albeit with tactics that aren't always what you would call ethical. They are more interested in getting the job done than in doing it as virtuously as possible, therefore showing how morally ambiguous they are. The anti-hero has become more popular with society today because people can identify better with the good-guy who sometimes does the not-so-good things; the hero who does no wrong is outdated and is becoming increasingly irrelevant in this day and age. They are the product of a society in which the line between good and bad is becoming harder to tell. 

2. VIDEO: 1. TOP 10 TV ANTI HEROES - watch the video


http://watchmojo.com/video/id/11790/


3.

ANTI HEROES : basic vocabulary 

They would do anything to ACHIEVE THEIR GOAL.

He/she plays by his/her own rules

They have a SPLIT PERSONALITY

They COMMIT EVIL DEEDS – They are EVIL-DOERS 

They are RUTHLESS

They are willing to TAKE THE LAW INTO THEIR OWN HANDS

They are willing to PLAY DIRTY 

They are FLAWED (just like us) (flawed = imperfect) 

They use UNETHICAL/UNORTHODOX/QUESTIONABLE methods to ACHIEVE their goal 

His motives are praise-worthy 

He is the epitome of the anti-hero 

a suburban housewife

He / she makes a living by...

At first his only concern is to provide for his family  

He gradually becomes power-hungry and greedy

Greed gets the better of him 

Redeeming qualities : devoted – loving – caring – he/she will do what it takes to provide for his/her family – willing to sacrifice himself /herself to keep his/her family safe

We can’t HELP CHEERING THEM ON = We can’t HELP ROOTING FOR THEM 
We can't help identifying with them
We can relate to them 
these characters are compelling 
 

4. TIM in THE RUNAWAY - MUHAMMAD ALI in the film ALI

DEFINITION OF A DRAFT-DODGER TAKEN FROM dictionary.com

Someone who illegally evades the draft, as opposed to a conscientious objector, who is granted official, legal exemption from military duty. In active protest against United States involvement in the Vietnam War, many Americans publicly burned draft registration cards, risking imprisonment; others fled to other countries, such as Canada or Sweden.

a. THE RUNAWAY

An act of bravery

An act of cowardice 

 

DECISION :

He has to make a decision

He can either jump....or...

He is given an opportunity to...

He fails to / he is unable to seize this opporunity.

FEAR :

Tim is afraid of being judged

He is afraid of being called a coward, a traitor

He is afraid of what people  will say about him

FAILURE :

  

He gives up  = he backs down

He fails to live up to his principles.

He is not brave/strong/heroic enough to be faithful to his ideal.

He is unable to make the right decision

REGRET avec WISH + HAD(n’t) –PP

He wishes he had been brave enough to jump overboard.

He wishes he hadn’t gone to Vietnam

He wishes he had lived up to his principles

He wishes he hadn’t been afraid of what people would say.

He wishes he hadn’t been such a coward

b. ALI

He stands his ground

He will not back down

He doesn’t budge = he won’t budge (= he refuses to…)

He is fearless / dauntless

He remains adamant (in his refusal to...) = il reste inflexible

He jeopardizes his career by refusing to ....

He is charismatic, outspoken...

He doesn’t hold a grudge against innocent people in VN = en vouloir à

He holds a grudge against white people who....

He is willing to go to jail

Point Grammaire: expression du regret avec WISH

Using wish for past regrets

To regret means that we now feel sorry for something which happened (or didn’t happen) in the past

For example:

‘I regret waking up so late this morning.’ = I am now sorry that I woke up late.

‘I regret not studying harder in school.’ = I am now sorry that I didn’t study enough.

In English we can use the word 'wish' to talk about our past regrets :

Let’s take a look at our first example sentence using wish:

‘I wish I had studied harder in school.’

(wish + pronoun + past perfect)

Again in this example sentence the speaker is now sorry that he did not study harder in school.

Here are some more examples:

‘Noel wishes he had visited the Sorbonne when he was in Paris.’

‘We wish we had been kinder to her before she got sick.’

‘They wish they hadn’t spent so much money on their shopping trip.’

5. ADDITIONAL READING

Muhammad Ali and Vietnam

His refusal to be drafted to fight in the war transcended the boxing ring, which he had dominated, at great personal cost.

Jun 4, 2016 – The Atlantic

Muhammad Ali’s stand against the Vietnam War transcended not only the ring, which he had dominated as the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, but also the realms of faith and politics.

“His biggest win came not in the ring but in our courts in his fight for his beliefs,” Eric Holder, the former U.S. attorney general, said Saturday.

On March 9, 1966, at the height of the war, Ali’s draft status was revised to make him eligible to fight in Vietnam, leading him to say that as a black Muslim he was a conscientious objector, and would not enter the U.S. military.

“My conscience won’t let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America,” he said at the time. “And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what? How can I shoot them poor people? Just take me to jail.”

A little more than a year later, on April 28, 1967, Ali, then 25 years old, appeared in Houston for his scheduled induction into the U.S. military. He repeatedly refused to step forward when his name was called—despite being warned by an officer that he was committing a felony offense that was punishable by five years in prison and a fine of $10,000. His refusal led to Ali’s arrest and eventual conviction—though he stayed out of prison while his case was appealed. His license to box was suspended in New York the same day, and his title stripped. Ali was unable to obtain a boxing license in the U.S. for the next three years.

Ali’s continued refusal to go to Vietnam—despite repeated pressure—coincided with the war’s growing unpopularity in the U.S. And in the three years he didn’t fight, Ali became a prominent speaker at college campuses across the U.S., as the anti-war movement grew in strength

President Obama, in his remarks Saturday on Ali’s death spoke of the personal cost of the champion’s stance during the Vietnam era.

“It would earn him enemies on the left and the right, make him reviled, and nearly send him to jail,” Obama said. “But Ali stood his ground. And his victory helped us get used to the America we recognize today.”  

CONCLUSION

Compare and contrast Tim (The Runaway) and Muhammad Ali’s behavior during the war.

On the one hand, MA behaved in a truly heroic way when he was faced with military induction( = incorporation)  : He refused point-blank to be sent to VN. He justified his attitude by declaring that he was a conscientious objector. He said he didn’t hold a grudge against the people of VN who contrary to white Americans never attacked or humiliated him, they never looked down on him.. However, he clearly said that he was not a draft-dodger and that he had rather go to jail than shoot poor innocent people.

On the other hand, Tim (in the short story written by Tim O’Brien) is a young man who intends to flee to Canada to avoid being sent to Vietnam. However, he eventually backs down (gets cold feet) and allows himself to be sent to VN despite his convictions. He had rather betray his principles than be called a traitor.

So unlike MA who stood his ground even if it meant going to jail, Tim was not brave enough to live up to his principles.