THREE NOTIONS

Notion	Problématique	documents
Myths and Heroes	Are anti heroes the new modern-day heroes?	-          Video: top ten tv anti heroes -          My own personal anti hero (oral presentation) -          Article: Villains do it better -          Doc donné en DS: Frankenstein (TS) – Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (TES)- voir corrigé sur blog -          An Extract from a novel : The Runaway (Tim O’Brien) -          A scene from the film ALI (resisting the draft in 1967)
Places and Foms of Power	What means can be used to challenge power? How do ordinary people manage to challenge power? How do people react when power is abused? (the power of words, the power of action, the power of ordinary people, the power of fame)	-          Film poster: Made in Dagenham -          A scene from the film Made in  Dagenham: Rita’s speech -          A scene taken from Made in Dagenham + script: No surrender -          A scene from the film ALI (resisting the draft in 1967) -          Article: Muhammad Ali and Vietnam (a tribute) -          A picture of the 2 African-American athletes raising their fists on the podium during the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico -          A picture of African-American (and white) football players kneeling while the national anthem is being played. #takeaknee (2017) -          A short article about Colin Kaeparnick receiving the Muhammad Ali legacy award (2017) – voir blog
Spaces and Exchanges	How do artists use space to foster interactions (exchanges) with the public? How can space be used to convey a message and to foster interaction with the public?	-          An article: Banksy’s residency in New York in 2013 (The New York Times) -          A short video about Banksy’s residency in New York -          Examples of artworks/pieces done by Banksy in the 5 boroughs of New York (The Twin Tower – Ghetto 4 Life – The two Japanese Ladies…. -          Personal presentation of one piece, how the public reacted to it and what happened to it -          Three billboards outside Ebbing , Missouri, trailer From Fiction to reality: -          Article about an activist group using the same technique to protest against gun violence in the wake of the shooting at a Florida high school in February.  -          Article about campaigners who use the same technique to protest against political apathy in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire (in the UK) a year ago.

ANTI HEROES: VILLAINS DO IT BETTER - ARTICLE

Villains Do It Better: Why This Generation Is Obsessed With The Anti-Hero

Dec 23, 2013 – Elite Daily

Think about your favorite television shows. Think about your favorite character. Is he a power-hungry politician? Is he maybe a motorcycle gang member, or is he a narcissistic philanderer in ad sales? Do you root for the man cooking the meth or the DEA agent trying to stop him? Do you root for the savior or the criminal?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The anti-hero is the protagonist who does not have the traditional qualities of the admirable leading man or woman. He or she lacks courage, kindness and nobility, but most notably, moral goodness. It’s a character wrought with flaws and demons, disregarding the normal societal processes for his or her own agenda. It’s become a compelling phenomenon based on the concept that we are rooting for someone who is violating everything we’ve ever known as right.

The best example of the anti-hero archetype is “Breaking Bad.” The AMC series was the first national celebration of the anti-hero since “The Sopranos.” An entire nation was found rooting for a meth lord who turned to murder and betrayal to keep his empire functioning. We watch the dissolution of his marriage, friendships and career in an attempt to gain power and wealth.

We watched him turn from an acquiescent chemistry teacher to a power-hungry drug dealer and still never faltered in our allegiance and devotion to him. It’s a strange thing when you step away from the man you’ve been idolizing and look at him as who he really is: a criminal, a madman and villain.

As a whole, we have come to celebrate the reign of the flawed men and women who stand in the spotlight. From “Breaking Bad,” “American Horror Story,” “The Sopranos,” “Girls,” “Boardwalk Empire,” almost every show we love is led by a flawed character — a man or woman with questionable actions and motives — always self-serving and determined to succeed at any cost.

We follow these characters throughout their journeys: their quests for redemption, fame, fortune and love — the same common goals we find ourselves longing after. And like ourselves, we see the selfishness that comes with attaining goals and dreams. We watch other people commit betrayal and wrongdoing that comes with human nature.

Unlike the shows of our parents’ generation, when the main characters were examples of the ideal American citizen, housewife, husband or child, these main characters are the undesirables, the flawed and the evil that encompasses the true American culture, not just projections of what we want it to be.

But why do we love them? Why do we find ourselves rooting for the ones who steal, lie and cheat? Why do we support the ones who sell meth and murder innocents? The ones who betray their lovers, alienate their friends and get even at any cost. What does this say about us?

It says we’re realistic; we understand the true fabric of what makes this country great, the flaws of the people and their selfish motives. We live in an age of divorce, corruption and celebrity meltdowns, realizing at a young age that no one is perfect and watching someone perfect isn’t what we want to see. We want to see the people like us, the people with flaws and mixed morals. We want to watch the people who don’t know how to behave correctly all the time and don’t always make the morally correct decision.

We love them because it’s cathartic to love them. They make us feel better about those lies we told and those acts of betrayal. We don’t feel so bad about our own mistakes and flaws when we see others doing the same.


NOTES DE COURS:

. We root for Walter White although / even though he is a drug lord who doesn’t think twice about betraying and murdering people. He becomes greedy and power-hungry although at first he was a harmless teacher, a devoted husband and father whose only concern was the well-being of his family.  This mix of good and evil makes him the epitome of the anti-hero, someone we find compelling/ fascinating against our better judgment. (en dépit du bon sens, bien malgré nous)

So in spite  of all his flaws, we can’t help rooting for him.

harmless = inoffensif - harmful = nuisible, néfaste 

4. why are anti-heroes so attractive and popular?

First, they are flawed, just like us. We share the same goals in life: the quest of love, success and redemption. We can’t help identifying with them because they are as imperfect as we are.

People want fictional heroes to be realistic, not perfect individuals. We can relate to them because of their flaws, unethical choices, questionable  behaviour. 

To relate to = to identify with 

THREE BILLBOARDS, FROM FICTION TO REALITY

1. USA, FLORIDA, MIAMI

Activist group places 'three billboards outside Miami' to call out Rubio on gun control

02/16/18 – The Hill

An activist group is trolling Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with a “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri"-style protest urging him to act on gun control.

Activist group Avaaz placed the billboards, which are on the sides of three trucks, outside Rubio’s headquarters in Miami in the days following Wednesday's shooting at a Florida high school that left 17 people dead and at least 14 injured.

“Slaughtered in school, and still no gun control?” the billboards read. “How come, Marco Rubio?”

In the Oscar-nominated film "Three Billboards," a grieving mother rents out the title objects to call attention to local police's handling of her daughter’s rape and murder.

Rubio said on the Senate floor Thursday that gun control would not have prevented the shooting because potential shooters “will find a way to get the gun to do it.”

Avaaz President Emma Ruby-Sachs said in a statement that the billboards are in response to Rubio having “never attempted” to reform the state’s “notoriously lax gun laws.” The suspected shooter reportedly purchased the AR-15 used in Wednesday’s shooting legally a year ago.

“Today we take the streets asking ourselves: how come, Rubio?” she said. “The Senator has taken fire across the country for his toothless response to the shooting, calling it 'inexplicable'. We call that 'inexcusable.’”

Ruby-Sachs also noted that Rubio is “one of the highest recipients of [National Rifle Association] NRA contributions and has received an A+ rating from the NRA.”

Democratic lawmakers have upped their calls for gun control in response to the shooting.

2. UNITED KINGDOM, LONDON 

Grenfell activists use Three Billboards protest to highlight lack of progress

Justice 4 Grenfell group parades billboards around London to keep tower blaze, which killed 71 people, on national conscience - 15 Feb 2018  The Guardian
Campaigners have taken inspiration from the Oscar-nominated drama Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri to highlight what they say has been “a lack of progress” in the Grenfell Tower fire investigation.
Members of the Justice 4 Grenfell group paraded billboards emblazoned with the words “71 dead”, “And still no arrests?”, “How Come?” around central London locations in an attempt to keep victims of last June’s tower block blaze “in the national conscience”.
The protest mirrors one carried out in the film, which stars Frances McDormand as a mother seeking to force local law enforcement into properly investigating the murder of her teenage daughter.
In a statement posted on the Justice 4 Grenfell website, the group accuses the government of similar inaction in their investigation into the blaze. “Eight months on from the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower, the issue is being ignored,” it reads. “71 people died in the Grenfell Tower. And still no arrests. And still 297 flammable towers. And still hundreds of survivors are homeless. And still they are not represented on the inquiry. And still there is no justice.”

The billboards, which were mounted on lorries, were spotted at venues including St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster.

Speaking to Vice at the gathering, the Justice 4 Grenfell campaigner Yvette Williams said that she hoped the billboards would help keep the incident in the public eye. “We were told that even as the public inquiry is ongoing, there was going to be an interim report by Easter,” she said. “Now that’s not happening. We want the truth. We want prosecutions. None of that is happening. We think they’re playing with time, hoping that the story will be downplayed.”