By Eli Harman
(Curt: “Ghetto Ethics, and Rat Heroism”)
In the traditional hero’s journey of Aryan myth and legand, somebody relatable and unassuming faces great challenges and trials, sometimes setbacks and losses, before finally rising to the occasion and triumphing gloriously, and probably getting the girl. Then everyone lives happily ever after (until it’s time to do it again.)
But the many possible variations on this simple theme are notably absent from most contemporary media.
A good example of the this would be the 2005 version of “War of the Worlds.” There is no glorious triumph. It’s just run, hide, escape, run hide, escape; plus morally ambiguous connundra resolved by choosing self-preservation at all costs. Finally, the protagonists eventually survive just by outlasting the invaders, who are brought down by the filth, disease, and corruption, that Earthlings live amidst, rather than any heroics or agency on their part.
It’s not the hero’s journey, so much as the rat’s, because it was not written or directed by Aryans…