Backin the twentieth century there was a British punk rock song that repeated overand over again the claim that there were "no more heroes anymore".Calmer critics and social commentators have agreed that the age of the hero isover. In the past people had heroes. They were the most prominent figures inthe public consciousness - people who had achieved great things, people who haddone great deeds - proud, noble leaders and bold pioneers.
Themyth of the hero, though, could not survive when public life came to bedominated by the mass media. The mass media killed off the heroes and replacedthem with celebrities. To become a celebrity what matters is not so much thegreatness of what you have done but the exposure you are given in the media.
Themass media is not solely responsible for the death of the hero. A democraticculture also undermines the idea that certain individuals carry a divine sparkand are therefore in a category superior to that of the rest of us. No onedeserves to be worshipped and there is a revulsion at the idea of bending theknee and kissing the hand of another individual.
Thecritical gaze of the psychologist and sociologist have also entered publicconsciousness, adding to the forces tearing down the statues of the past. Thedrives of a great individual are seen to have their roots in an unhappy youth,an obsession with his mother or being spurned by a lover; and his greatambition is said to stem from an early inability to simply hang out with theboys and have a good time. The achievements remain but the man himself emergesfrom the analysis without a shred of nobility.
Havingkilled the hero we have replaced him with a distinctively modern public figure:the celebrity. As one commentator put it: the celebrity is a person who isknown for being well-known. Any exposure in the media helps to increasesomeone's status as a celebrity. Celebrities offer exclusive stories toincrease their exposure, the media promote them to increase their ratings, andwe collude by paying so much attention to the glossy features, the exclusiveinterviews, and the various scandals and intrigues. They have no reason toobject to invasions of their private lives because this just keeps their nameson everyone's lips, which is all that really matters.
Tobecome a celebrity it is more important to have a good press agent than it isto be a big achiever, which is one of the reasons why figures from the worldsof light entertainment and sports are some of the most successful celebrities.It is in these fields that being a household name is the key to clinching thenext big contract and the next lucrative advertising deal. With cleverlycrafted media events in which managers collaborate with magazine editors andprogramme directors it is possible to give these figures a level of exposurewhich is out of all proportion to their actual achievements.
For manypeople, the heroes of the past were an inspiration, they broadened our horizonsby giving us an example of a course of action that could be considered noble.Celebrities, on the other hand, with the string of stories about theirhardships and their lucky breaks, their affairs and their break-ups, prove tobe nothing out of the ordinary. Reading about their lives does not inspire usor fill us with purpose. If it isn't just an idle diversion - a way of killingtime - it may well help us to resign ourselves to our own sense ofpurposelessness. It may be fun, but perhaps something that helped to raise thetone of public life has been lost.
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