There was a time when the hero was a god. Every story people were told had these lead characters that seemed to define perfection. For a while, everyone who came to the rescue was completely capable, and knowing, and only got better and shinier the more they “saved the day.” These god-like heroes stir up images of Superman, Beowulf and the like. Their perfect features combine with an unwavering sense of morality that places their wisdom years ahead of ours.
It was no wonder people got sick of it. No one wanted the shiny hero in armor. People had seen through the façade. There’s only so many times you can try and find perfection before you realize you’ll never ever be able to reach it. After that, you realize no one can. So, why would people look up to the hero that is perfect when we can’t be perfect? How are people to aspire to be heroes if everything we touch doesn’t turn to gold? We needed another hero: someone we could connect to as a people, and someone that was so at our level that it made it possible to envision becoming more.
The underdog hero was created and still reigns true in society today. See, people found a solution to their questions. We created a character that would represent who we were but more importantly what we could be. The underdog is the ultimate hero to root for. The underdog is like you or me, a regular, average citizen: a human, flawed in its nature but capable of becoming someone people can look up to. The god came first and the underdog came second. That’s why movie sequels always have the “angst-y,” loner as the ending hero.
People separated the fake from the real to make the fake seem more real. Sequels star the son/daughter that is generally misunderstood and often doesn’t fit in with the ideal of society. Goofy’s son, Max? Underdog. The Lion King 2? Kovu also has the underdog win. People weren’t faking it anymore. Perfection had been debunked. There were no shiny men in armor and people were through with buying the same agenda. The true hero was the one who could fall to the lowest pit and rise to the highest mountain.
Personally, I am glad we’re done lying to each other. There is no perfect and it’s silly to want to look for it let alone be it. The underdog must have its day. “You can’t be what you can’t see,” so here is a vision of possibility. Everyone wants to be the hero, but some are still convinced in order to be deemed as such you must check off all the characteristics of infallible nature. The underdog is who we all are but only some get to be the hero: those who know there are limitations and don’t allow those limitations to stop them from becoming great. We needed a hero we could all be so we made them and twined them into our new meta-narrative.
