Correction oral Anglais Myths and Heroes

I am going to talk about the notion of Myths and Heroes. First, I would like to give a definition of this notion: A myth can be defined as a story about gods or heroes, it can be a popular belief or a tradition or a false notion [qu'est-ce que tu veux dire par là? Tu risques d'avoir une question là-dessus]. (In fact)pas nécessaire, a hero can be a mythological figure because he is a person who is admired for his or her achievements so most of the time he becomes a role model or an icon.

PLAN

We may wonder to what extent do people continue to relate to the myth of the superhero? Why are they still a model and how did they evolve through time?

Express society’s shifting values

As a matter of fact, heroes evolved through time to be the perfect mirror of the society by expressing its fears and to give hope to (a) [people est toujours pluriel, sauf si tu fais référence à "un peuple"] people.

In fact, as we saw in class with the article named American studies today online written by Christian Dailly in 2014, many heroes were created after the Depression period [tu peux donner les dates] like Captain America. This hero rights the wrongs [je ne comprends pas ce que tu veux dire] of a Manichean world by doing incredible deeds which show his courage. He grew up in this era because people were in need to believe in something during hard times but mostly in their country.  Furthermore, Captain American also gives a feeling of patriotism to Americans and became as the author said a national figure.  

In addition, heroes also express society’s shifting. Indeed, Wonder Woman is a perfect example of this idea because she is one of the first crusaders for women’s rights. In fact, in class we have seen an article named Humanities written by Laura Wolf Scanlan which illustrates Wonder Women as a legacy of the Second World War. Indeed, during the 1940s men were gone for the battlefields to fight for their country and they left women at home. However, the author claims that women were also a part of this war by working during hours and hours in factories to create more weapons, clothes or supplies. Thanks to their skills, they proved their equality with men because they had the same working abilities in the job area. As a consequence in 1941, Marston creates this heroine to embody the new women of the 1940s. She advocates freedom, peace and patriotism to become a feminine version of Captain America.  Furthermore, Wonder Woman became, according to Laura Wolff Scanlan, a positive feminine [soit tu peux définir, soit tu peux t'attendre à une question]. In fact, a simple heroine of comics evolved into a spokesperson who gives hope to women.

As a consequence, a hero dressed in a simple costume with stars and stripes can be a role model for people by illustrating a national desire.

Raise ordinary people to heroic status

This brings me to another aspect of the question. (To put it) In a nutshell, nowadays we want to raise ordinary people to heroic status because we believe that we don’t need a costume or to be fictional to be a hero. [Tu peux aussi écrire : we believe that one doesn't need...]

This need to reveal modern-day superheroes is shown by many artists like Dulce Pinzon.  In fact, this Mexican photographer displayed pictures of migrants dressed up as superheroes as we learn with the interview of Muntaner, the gallery manager of Columbia’s university. This exhibition wants to pay tribute to undocumented immigrants from Latin America who work in New York because the photographer sees them as heroes. In fact, they live in misery caused to low paid jobs but they continue to send money to their family.  For that matter, he took a picture of Minerva Valencia, a nanny who works in New York and also sends 400 dollars a week to Mexico for her family. In this picture, she is dressed up as Cat woman and takes care of two children. However, when we know the this woman’s life, we understand more the photographer’s [photograph se traduit par photographie, si tu veux garder ce terme, change le HE en IT] message. He wants to show to us that this woman embodies great values as courage and kindness which make her a hero.  

In addition, this desire to look up to modern-day people increased with the terrorist attack of the September 11^th of 2001. Indeed, many firemen gave their life to save people despite the danger as the nurses who took care of wounded person. As a matter of fact, they appear as heroes because some of them didn’t hesitate to sacrifice their life to save people. To pay tribute to them Alex Ross did a poster published in DC Comics in 2002 where we can see Superman who is impressed by firemen, nurses, policemen and workers. In fact, this document puts on an equal footing superheroes and citizens to show that heroes are not only fictive, they are also real. And moreover we need to look up to them because they sacrifice their life every day for us without being known.

As a result, nowadays’ society promotes new models to show that normal citizens can also be heroes. Indeed, we need to honour them and take them as a role model because they did outstanding deeds.

Conclusion

To conclude, I think the concept of myths and heroes has an important place in the society. In fact, people need to have a role model to believe in life.  In addition, we must not forget that the definition of a hero is subjective because it’s a mirror of us and our society. However, even if a hero is fictional or not, he still embodies great values that we need to aspire to.

Voilà voilà ;)