By Dan Rosenberg
I’ve grown up by the soft, blue glow of a television. If I just offended you, stop reading now – it’s only going to get worse.
Thinking back on it, I’m left more twisted than brainwashed. Not twisted in the classic Dexter or Benjamin Linus sort of way, but more of a romanticized, JD-from-Scrubs view on life. Television is full of twists and serendipity, charming heroes, equally charming villains, intriguing character flaws and forgivable plot holes. That said, allow me to introduce to you my heroes on TV – the prime examples of awesome characters in recent boob tube history.
Hank “The He-Man Womanizer” Moody (Californication)
Hank Moody might as well be a case study on self-indulgence and an utter lack of self-censorship. That said, he also has a heart of gold and a clear moral code… even if both of those are drowning in a murky ocean of sex, drugs, booze and general asshole-itude. After each half-hour episode I’m left rooting for someone who would, under any other scope, be the biggest jerk in the world. Needless to say, Hank Moody is the man that every guy wishes he could get away with being.
Mal “The Gunslinger in Space” Reynolds (Firefly)
Centerpiece of the now canceled Joss Whedon gem, “Firefly,” Captain Mal Reynolds is a bonafide bad ass. Based in a steam-punk future where outer planets in far off galaxies are reminiscent of the old west, Mal shares a lot in common with my aforementioned hero. In his case, however, his weapon of choice is not a pen but rather a gun or, in some cases, his sharp wit. Along with a mismatched crew, Mal is declared the outlaw but once again exhibits the balance of a tightrope walker as he walks the line of “good” and “bad.” In the end, however, he never fails to choose family and friends over anything else, risking his neck to protect them.
Veronica “The Girl with More Brass than You” Mars (Veronica Mars)
I officially utter a big “Fuck You” to any guy who thinks Veronica Mars isn’t worth watching (Also, to the CW for canceling it.) A gorgeous, spunky girl (played flawlessly by Kristen Bell) deals with high school by day and plays detective by night. Sure, it’s a little far fetched at times, but that’s what we refer to as suspension of disbelief. Veronica is totally gung-ho, attacking every case with leap-before-you-look fervor and enthusiasm. Granted, it gets her into trouble, but then she gets herself out of it just as easily. If there’s only one trait to admire about Veronica Mars, its her ability to think fast and come out on top.
Ferris “The Time-Bender” Bueller (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
I’m breaking my own rule about sticking to television characters to call attention to potentially the coolest guy to ever attend a high school. Ferris Bueller did more in one day than some do in one month. Never mind the gorgeous girlfriend, the adoring friends throughout his school and even his daring escape from the suburbs to the city in a sweet set of wheels — Ferris Bueller is there to remind us that it doesn’t take much to follow a whim and take the chances. Every time the credits roll, I’m left with an itching in my shoes to go out, have an adventure and be back before anyone knows I was gone.
Gee, Dan, that’s swell and all, but who gives a hoot?
Trust me, you do.
Believe it or not, everything you’ve just read is a case study in branding. Moody, Mal, Mars and Mr. Bueller are all brands that I’ve mindlessly and willingly subscribed to. Their values became my values, their catchphrases and mannerisms became mine too. Every 22-minute sitcom, 47-minute drama or 3-hour mega-movie was time spent absorbing culture, traits and quirks.
To say my “hero brand worship” ends here would be shortsighted – Tom Sawyer, Aladdin, Superman, Presidents Clinton and Obama, Kevin Smith, Shawn Spencer on Psych, Jimi Hendrix, the guy in Shawshank – I could just keep spitting them out, but I digress. Maybe I’m using the term “hero” too loosely, but what is a hero if not someone you admire and respect for their best qualities while ignoring and eventually forgetting anything bad about them.
And the best part of it all? I was happy to do it.
Photo Credit: Dhammza
Dan, great post! I kept nodding my head while reading this as I’ve had conversations about a lot of these characters in the last few weeks. For a while I did the “Halpert squint” and only a few days ago were my roommate and I bemoaning the same time bending antics of Bueller. And who gets up early when they’re skipping school? Seriously.
On a more serious note, the idea of seeing these fictitious characters as role models, of sorts, is a very powerful influence on our generation. They are examples of different ways to live, and it seems to me that there is also a lack of real life role models in our lives (perhaps because we don’t invest in them as a generation or maybe we just don’t know how to find them) so these figures become all the more powerful.
In a weird way this is exactly the problem that JD has in Scrubs. I always enjoyed the professors who asked more of me and demanded I try harder, be better (like Dr. Cox). Unfortunately, I usually had a lot of teachers correcting my papers with purple pens because it was more soothing than red. Without the (metaphorical) red pen though, I’m not sure how well it works.
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This post was mentioned on Twitter by captain_pete: New post on #TNGG by @Dan_Rosenberg: “All My Heroes Are On TV” http://tr.im/EOj0...
There’s truth in fiction and it’s that truth which resonates with us. Maybe we can’t relate to living in an interplanetary wild west, but we can relate to the characters who do. These characters, for all the differences they exhibit, resemble us closely. They display traits which we see as capable of existing within ourselves. In some cases we aspire to be like them, in others, we reject being like them entirely. Either way, real or not, we are *learning* from their actions and translating them into our own lives. Jason already showed this by expressing his wish for a mentor like “Dr. Cox.” Keep in mind, this is a fictional doctor in a fictional hospital. Yet, Jason sees real value in the qualities exhibited by Dr.Cox, which leads him to seek out those qualities in his own life. This is not limited to TV, though our generation grew up on a lot of it, as Dan points out by the end of his post–film, literature, and real life–regardless of the media, it’s about the character.
Hi Dan,
I completely agree with this post. I don’t think there is anything wrong with TV, especially when the characters ones after whom we can model (or not) ourselves.
Veronica Mars is by far one of my favorite TV shows – I just recently started re-watching it – and I think characters like her have a lot to teach viewers. For me, she was a great role model: someone who followed her instincts, even when she made mistakes. A completely independent person, who also realized she needed companions.
I could go on and on.
The point is, I agree with your post. TV characters, when they are well-developed, can be great role models. They can show us who we want to be and what we definitely don’t want to be.
I look forward to reading more!
Kristin
Love the post. I just made my own mental list of TV heroes, but I am too embarrassed to share. Oh, whatever. It would likely consist of Amanda Woodward (Melrose Place), Brenda Walsh (BH 90210), and Helen Gamble (The Practice). Sh. Don’t tell anyone.
Hey everyone! Thanks for the great feedback – some of you have managed to even say things I wanted to say but ran short on space for!
I’d love to hear back from anyone who might disagree – did everyone who got offended in the beginning ACTUALLY stop reading?
PS. Jason, Dr. Cox is awesome. See? heroes abound!
I’ll answer the call for disagreement.
After all, a post isn’t a post until SOMEONE disagrees… Let’s make it happen.
First off, let me say, I may be approaching this with a different perspective.
Contrary to well, everyone else in my age group, I (…take a deep breath….) did not grow up on a steady diet of “soft blue glow” (And, while I’m playing contrarian, wouldn’t the glow only be blue if the TV if you’re waiting for a DVD to load? I was going to term it the “jarring fluorescent beacon”) I was (breath out slowly…) NOT ALLOWED TO WATCH TV.
Well, I was allowed to watch one hour a week. Until I was in middle school, that hour a week was Sesame Street. And when I finally sobbed to my mother in 7th grade that I was a “total social outcast” (I had prepared an eloquent speech to fully outline the importance of watching Dawson’s Creek. So, I WAS on your side back in the day).
Now before I proceed any further into how socially awkward you can become if you don’t grow up with a healthy dose of TV “heroes”, let me say one thing: I thank my parents EVERY SINGLE DAY for the gift they gave me by setting that rule.
Here’s the difference between TV and say, a BOOK (if we can even remember what a book is, oh sage 20-somethings). With a TV show, your imagination goes on standby. Sure, you can argue that when you’re watching “Lost” you are frantically imagining what happened or “Flashforward” you are TOTALLY trying to figure it out! That’s not what I’m talking about. A book only does half the work. It provides you with the description, yes, but you put it all together. Every detail, every room, you piece together. With TV, you don’t get to “imagine” anything. It’s all there. Someone else conceived it, and we are PASSIVE VIEWERS.
TV DOES ROT YOUR BRAIN. Oh, yeah, it feels SO DAMN GOOD.
Now I won’t go TOO far. Yes, yes, Hank Moody is sexy and Californication is really, really well-written. But hero? If that’s who our heroes are today then I think the “blue glow” really did get to us. So oh no, I think what you ARE saying, Dan, is that we’re doomed. And I completely agree. Because if “their values became our values, their catchphrases and mannerisms…” then we are all going to be just as miserable as Hank Moody (especially after that one time when Karen walks in on that threesome).
So congratulations on resigning yourself, as if it’s revelatory, to the rest of the muted, unimaginative crowd that is so desensitized to character development that they need someone to shock them to call their heroes. Yes, they are “sooo coool”, they “don’t even care about anything or anyone!” Welcome to the death of invention. Pick up a book. Remember what it felt like to play a part in creating a story. That is, if you remember how to read.
@Kit, who may very well not be checking back on this post – Thank you for playing the devil’s advocate. While I may not completely agree with your points, that’s the magic of such a post.
Before I begin, a quick disclaimer – I am a total media whore. TV, Music, Internet, Film, I absorb it all, often times while multitasking.
However, I took a few creative liberties in the writing of this article – things I chose to exclude in an attempt to remain one sided on this particular topic. I too, had a rule as a kid that I couldn’t watch much TV and I too dove headfirst into mountains of books as a source of refuge. I found a balance that to me still appears healthy.
To say that books are interactive simply because you have to imagine what a description looks like is short-sighted. By that same note, you could say that reading is killing your imagination and totally passive because you’re not out having an adventure or living in a land of make-believe without the aid of books. Yes, that was a little overdramatic, but the point remains the same – you take out of something exactly what you put into it.
When reading the Animorph books as a kid, I’d burn through it, excited by the story. And then I’d forget about it for a month – never discussing it. But when watching Power Rangers as a 5 year old, I’d run out on the playground with my friends and create an adventure out of thin air. Does it really make a difference that I wanted to be the Green Ranger and not Tom Sawyer, fighting monsters instead of tricking bandits?
As for my so-called heroes. Would it have been nearly as gripping if i said “some of the traits I admire are exhibited by main characters on some well written TV shows?” No. I have no interest in being Hank Moody or Mal Reynolds… just like bits and pieces of them. Was there never a character on TV you never saw a little of yourself in? Not even Elmo??
As for my current status as a “reader,” I still have a stack of books that I’m trying to get to when I’ve got time. Paul Auster and Clive Barker are at the tippy top of the pile, and I’m excited for them. Just as soon as I finish my homework and my half-hour of Californication. :p
Please, Kit, don’t give up hope on the rest of us “sage” 20-somethings, and please voice your opinions more. I hope others see what you’ve said and remember the joy of reading – I certainly would have, if I’d forgotten before.