![]() ![]() In a Barthesian sense, it is a “myth” - its meaning, conditional upon the specific context, time, culture, or ideology within which it is received or appropriated. “Heroism”, they suggest, also has no stable definition. They also suggest that while it may be socially determined (one never declares oneself a hero, to do so would be hubristic and counter to what is notionally described as “heroic”) the heroic act itself is also a difficult personal existential and often ethical choice. Their discourse and criteria provides a helpful point of departure for this analysis and for understanding Kirk as a “heroic” character and persona whose cultural resonance has endured for 50 years, and whose status, fame and familiarity as a television hero is not limited simply to the fans or “Trekkies” (self-styled guardians and custodians of the Star Trek universe and its legacy): Jim Kirk exists as an iconic “hero” of 20th century culture, immediately recognisable in his signature gold jersey and Starfleet insignia to anyone with even the most basic acquaintance with 20th century television culture.įranco, Blau, and Zimbardo’s discourse around the hero and the heroic act suggests that heroism is both culturally and socially ascribed and aspirational: the preserve of the charismatic, “special” individual. Social activity: (a) In service to others in need - be it a person, group or community or in defence of socially sanctioned ideals or new social standard (b) engaged in voluntarily (even in military contexts heroism remains an act that goes beyond actions required by military duty) (c) with recognition of possible risks/costs (d) in which the actor is willing to accept the anticipated sacrifices (e) without external gain anticipated at the time of the act. It is historically, culturally and situationally determined, thus heroes of one era may prove to be villains in another time when controverting evidence emerges yet some heroes endure across the centuries.įurthermore, Franco, Blau and Zimbardo also offer a working or “operational” set of criteria for defining the “heroic”: Heroism is a social attribution, never a personal one yet the act itself is often a solitary existential choice. It seems likely that the contradictory nature of heroism is precisely what makes it compelling. We often feel that while we as individuals would like to achieve heroic status, this goal must be a remote possibility reserved for an elect few with special skills or luck. Heroism is frequently viewed as an apex of human behaviour watching a heroic act is compelling - literally commanding our attention. In their article “ Heroism: A Conceptual Analysis and Differentiation between Heroic Action and Altruism” the psychologists Franco, Blau, and Zimbardo suggest that: This essay sets out to discuss this and to understand Kirk as a benchmark for “heroism” in popular cultural terms, also asking just how heroic is he and what are the cultural traditions around heroism that Star Trek appropriates? Over the course of this article I will be referring exclusively to the components of the Star Trek universe across which the heroic Kirk character and mythos is developed and (de/re)constructed: the original series (1966-1969) the original film franchise (1979-1991) and the recent JJ Abrams cinematic reboots (2009-2016). But how may we further understand and define “heroism” and unpack it in televisual terms? How does Star Trek, as a cultural text, frame and interrogate the problematic and often contradictory concept of heroism, filtering its inquisitions through the character of Captain Kirk? From a casual perspective, Jim Kirk embodies the most normative of heroic values: bravery, romance, adventure, leadership, nobility, instinctiveness as well as a penchant for recklessness (in the Season 1 episode “The Corbomite Maneuvre” he is also shown to be something of a gambler, bluffing of the alien, Balok, that the Enterprise is loaded with the non-existent substance Corbomite). ![]() Kirk, of the USS Enterprise, has always been the most iconic and quintessential of television heroes and furthermore, possibly the most recognisable and identifiable as such.
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