Thursday, September 07, 2006
Hero - Mariah Carey
Remember my post on villians? (read it here) Well, i've since been toying with the notion of doing one on heroes.
Somehow, doing a post on heroes is so much straightforward. No surprises to most of you that this little lady here wins it hands down:-
I just completed the final 7th season last weekend (which explains why me dissertation is still not completed yet....). I guess i'll leave it to another post on why i think Buffy the Vampire Slayer is prolly the best TV series ever - for me, anyways!
But as for heroes - and here, i'm talking about real heroes! To me, Buffy is the epitome of TV and movie heroes! She is strong, clever, resourceful, witty, pretty... what more can u ask for???
What really impresses me is the self-sacrificing nature that she possesses.
Trust me, in 7 seasons, there were so many times when i couldn't stand her. But then i had to remember that she was just a teenager, wanting so hard to just be a normal girl, join the cheerleaders, be the homecoming queen, be loved by her parents, be accepted by her peers. For those of you who still remember, the burden one carries during the teenage years is heavy - so you can imagine how much more heavier it gets when you add to it the burden of saving the world!!!!!
I liked the way how they showed her fragility in the later seasons, how she gets beaten up by the vamps, how she gets cheated in love, how she messes up things in her life, makes mistakes, how she struggles wif her home responsibilities - and yet, she never loses her focus. She is, after all, the Chosen One.
She doesn't seek for glory, she doesn't want recognition. Yet she gives and gives without asking much in return. She gave up her teenage life, she gave up her studies, she gave up her lover, she gave up her life - and when she was finally in peace, she gave that up because her friends needed her back.
One of the many hero defining moments to me must be at the end of season 2 - when she was faced with the prospect of having to kill Angel in order to save the world. The other of course is at the end of season 5 when she finally understands what is meant when the first slayer told her that her gift is death.
Yup, that's wat a hero is - not there for the glory, not there for any self-gain, but always giving, and giving and giving, never asking for anything in return.
I guess the close 2nd to this coveted hero spot has to be Jack Bauer of 24 - another one who gives up all to save the world - and someone else gets the credit while he losses everything, is family, his friends, his job... But are all these setbacks gonna stop him? Nope. Cuz he's a real hero. And also cuz he's signed to do another 3 more seasons of 24!!!! ;-P
Jack's defining moment? End of season 4 when they faked his death and he walked away from his life - the just rewards for the guy who saved the world over and over and over again.
On a amusing/ironic note, i couldn't help but laugh when another name came up in the running for the coveted spot - Spike!!!!! Ironic cuz he was the no. 1 villian in me Villians' post! When i did the Villians' post, i was only at season 3 of Buffy where he was the bad guy. But things changed so much in the subsequent seasons - it would be pretty cool to have him to be the best Villian and the the best Hero, won't it?
But nope. He can't He doesn't have that self-sacrificing nature - well, he does, but it's only for Buffy, not for the world or for people around. Everything he does, he did it for Buffy.
Let me end wif one of Spike's defining moment - of course at the end of season 7, when he becomes the Champion! He became the conduit where the sun rays were channeled to kill off all the ubervamps, killing him at the same time. Buffy comes up to him, holds his hand and after all the denying and shadow playing, she looks him in the eye and tells him that she loves him.
In typical Spike fashion, he replied, "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it." And then as the cave starts to collapse, he tells Buffy, "Now go".
After she leaves, he grins and says, "I want to see how it ends!"
Cool. I must get a leather jacket...
Somehow, doing a post on heroes is so much straightforward. No surprises to most of you that this little lady here wins it hands down:-
I just completed the final 7th season last weekend (which explains why me dissertation is still not completed yet....). I guess i'll leave it to another post on why i think Buffy the Vampire Slayer is prolly the best TV series ever - for me, anyways!
But as for heroes - and here, i'm talking about real heroes! To me, Buffy is the epitome of TV and movie heroes! She is strong, clever, resourceful, witty, pretty... what more can u ask for???
What really impresses me is the self-sacrificing nature that she possesses.
***************Be warned - super spoilers ahead***************
Trust me, in 7 seasons, there were so many times when i couldn't stand her. But then i had to remember that she was just a teenager, wanting so hard to just be a normal girl, join the cheerleaders, be the homecoming queen, be loved by her parents, be accepted by her peers. For those of you who still remember, the burden one carries during the teenage years is heavy - so you can imagine how much more heavier it gets when you add to it the burden of saving the world!!!!!
I liked the way how they showed her fragility in the later seasons, how she gets beaten up by the vamps, how she gets cheated in love, how she messes up things in her life, makes mistakes, how she struggles wif her home responsibilities - and yet, she never loses her focus. She is, after all, the Chosen One.
She doesn't seek for glory, she doesn't want recognition. Yet she gives and gives without asking much in return. She gave up her teenage life, she gave up her studies, she gave up her lover, she gave up her life - and when she was finally in peace, she gave that up because her friends needed her back.
One of the many hero defining moments to me must be at the end of season 2 - when she was faced with the prospect of having to kill Angel in order to save the world. The other of course is at the end of season 5 when she finally understands what is meant when the first slayer told her that her gift is death.
Yup, that's wat a hero is - not there for the glory, not there for any self-gain, but always giving, and giving and giving, never asking for anything in return.
I guess the close 2nd to this coveted hero spot has to be Jack Bauer of 24 - another one who gives up all to save the world - and someone else gets the credit while he losses everything, is family, his friends, his job... But are all these setbacks gonna stop him? Nope. Cuz he's a real hero. And also cuz he's signed to do another 3 more seasons of 24!!!! ;-PJack's defining moment? End of season 4 when they faked his death and he walked away from his life - the just rewards for the guy who saved the world over and over and over again.
On a amusing/ironic note, i couldn't help but laugh when another name came up in the running for the coveted spot - Spike!!!!! Ironic cuz he was the no. 1 villian in me Villians' post! When i did the Villians' post, i was only at season 3 of Buffy where he was the bad guy. But things changed so much in the subsequent seasons - it would be pretty cool to have him to be the best Villian and the the best Hero, won't it?
But nope. He can't He doesn't have that self-sacrificing nature - well, he does, but it's only for Buffy, not for the world or for people around. Everything he does, he did it for Buffy.Let me end wif one of Spike's defining moment - of course at the end of season 7, when he becomes the Champion! He became the conduit where the sun rays were channeled to kill off all the ubervamps, killing him at the same time. Buffy comes up to him, holds his hand and after all the denying and shadow playing, she looks him in the eye and tells him that she loves him.
In typical Spike fashion, he replied, "No, you don't. But thanks for saying it." And then as the cave starts to collapse, he tells Buffy, "Now go".
After she leaves, he grins and says, "I want to see how it ends!"
Cool. I must get a leather jacket...
Pics obtained from links on IMDB
# posted by imissw : 11:52:00 am
