In What Sense is Cher, the protagonist of Clueless, a Hero?

Essay by suzanna_pUniversity, Bachelor'sC+, August 2005

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In What Sense is Cher, the protagonist of Clueless, a Hero?

Nearly every literary work has a hero, or a main character that we perceive as being the hero. From when we were all very young we have had a hero of our own and most people continue to look up to a hero well into old age despite the changing deeds and portrayals of heroes. Modern literature has come a long way since the first hero and the standards of heroism have been severely altered. Hero's come in many different shape and forms and they do many different deeds which are viewed as 'heroic'. They can be categorised by the tasks they perform, for example, the classic hero performs great feats of strength and is usually rewarded; the humble hero performs tasks simply because that is the right thing, despite the fact it often goes unappreciated, and the clever hero is able to outsmart his enemies without even laying a finger on them.

Cher, the central character in Clueless can be thought of as an anti-hero as she performs no real heroic tasks and is often quite cowardly, yet being the main character, we consider her the hero. As well as being differing types of heroes there are also many different views of hero's and what being labelled a hero entails. This essay will explore some of the different perspectives of what it is to be a hero and what makes a hero and apply these ideas to the film Clueless.

Although Campbell's formulation of the monomyth is the model from which most of our 'Hero' archetype of human life occurs there is objection to the model. The Hero according to feminist interpretations (Millicent Lenz 1990), is based upon the assumption of the hero as male, white...