Are There Any Real Heroes Left?

It's been a long time since I've blogged. The trip to Israel, my mother's death, and the holiday season have kept me busy and thinking of other things. But there has been something on my mind which I'd like to chat with you about. By chat, I really mean that. I'd like to hear what you have to say.

The common practice in television and movie drama nowadays is to create heroes that are so complex, you often cannot tell who are the good guys and the bad guys. I think of Baltar and Apollo in Battlestar Galactica. Baltar seems like a scoundral, but then he saves President Roslin's life with a new scientific discovery. Apollo seems like a hero, but we find him sleeping with prostitutes, and totally unrepentant about his behavior.

If we go back a few years, we can also think of the doctors on the TV program ER. Carter was a great doctor, very compassionate. We could understand his bout with drugs after being stabbed and almost killed, but what about all the sleeping around with interns, his narcissitic decisions about marriage, etc?

Did The Lord of the Rings suffer because Aragorn was such a noble character? In the course of the drama, we learn to trust him, even as his friends know that they can trust him with their lives. Does that take away from the complexity of his character? If we look at the Bible, we see a lot of failure in the life of David, but we also see a man who was willing to admit his mistakes. I'm not asking for perfection in our leaders and heroes. But should we not at least expect confession and repentance when they fail, and a desire to do better in the future? Perhaps the answer lies in the truth that there is little agreement in our culture about what "failure" really means.

Let me know your thoughts. I'm wondering if the writiers of our "complex, sophisticated" modern dramas have gone too far?