WENDIGO
What is a hero? Who is the hero of this story?
Heroes are people that can have the ability to do different
things, like Superman or Spiderman, or just be ‘normal’ human beings, which is
what I’ll be focusing on.
Looking at these three different aspects of what makes a hero, the hero of this episode would have to be Dean. He feels like since their family is messed up, the least he could do is try and make others’ lives better, making him very selfless. He is also very patient with his brother and the others that come on the trip, and he puts himself in danger by luring the Wendigo away, even when he is injured and in mortal danger.
A hero is made up of many aspects, being what they do to be called a hero, how they go about doing it and why they do it.
Heroes are generally people that save others in some form or
another and help people. Some people may be looked be a hero to someone because
they saved them physically from something, or because they saved them from an
emotional state. Heroes are people that others look up to and are grateful for
because they have improved their lives in some way. In ‘Wendigo’, Sam and Dean
manage to help Hailey and Ben save their brother and also protect them from the
monster, making them the heroes.
All heroes ‘save’ people in different ways, just like
someone may deal with a situation differently than someone else. Some heroes
may do things that cause others to raise an eyebrow, but that all depends on
what you feel is right and wrong, and how far you are willing to go to help
someone. In this episode, Dean uses himself as bait to lure the Wendigo away
from Sam while he gets the others to safety. This is a positive example of how
a situation is dealt with, whereas when Sam shouted at Roy because he thought
they were crazy is a negative example.
Why a person helps someone also adds to whether or not
they’re a hero. In the episode ‘Wendigo’, Sam and Dean have very different
reasons for going to go to Blackwater Ridge – Sam wants to go so they can find
their father, who will hopefully give them enough information so he can avenge
Jessica’s death, whereas Dean wants to go there to hunt the Wendigo and help
others.Looking at these three different aspects of what makes a hero, the hero of this episode would have to be Dean. He feels like since their family is messed up, the least he could do is try and make others’ lives better, making him very selfless. He is also very patient with his brother and the others that come on the trip, and he puts himself in danger by luring the Wendigo away, even when he is injured and in mortal danger.
You made some interesting choices here. Most people focus on the "Who is the hero of SPN?" part of the question and you focused most on the first part. You give a valid answer, but I would challenge you to consider whether or not a hero must "save" someone. Maybe it also depends on your definition of "save." I define hero as protagonist of the story. Protagonist is not neccesarily good, but the character we as the audience are invested in... Archetypically Sam is the hero, and Dean is what is called the anti-hero (or lovable rouge). However these roles become less defined in the third episode when Kim Manners (as the director) seems to shift the focus and perspective to Dean as the center of the story. Eventually, one could argue that both boys are the hero together, collectiviely. There is no right or wrong position on this, but I think it is interesting that Jared Padalecki is listed first in the credits, this is not alphabetical, chronological or expereince based, but indicates a intent on the part of the writers/producers that Sam is The Hero... What do you think about that?
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