Do we still need heroes today? - Oral de bac

Thèmes abordés

Myths and heroes, Oprah Winfrey, Game of Thrones, Summer of Love, San Francisco, Legendary Summer, Claude Burgett, Sheila Weller

Résumé du document

We'll try to reply to this question : «Do we still need heroes today? ». To answer it, we'll go through three different documents related:
- Oprah Winfrey
- Image of the Game of Thrones
- "Summer of Love".

Extraits

[...] Do we still need heroes today? - Oral de bac Myths and heroes PRESENTATION ORALE (10 min) I will deal today with the notion of myths and heroes. Before going any further, I would like to give a brief definition of this notion. A myth can be defined as a story about gods or heroes and it can be a popular belief or a tradition. A hero is a different notion. It can be a mythological figure, a superhero or an icon but also a person who is admired for his or her achievements. [...]

[...] » To answer it, we'll go through three different documents. The first one is a document we've seen in class portraying Oprah Winfrey. She is a « big shot » that is to say a famous media celebrity. As a black-American modest native girl, she overcame many barriers and became quickly a famous TV presenter. Thanks to a strong and peculiar personality, she has also influenced the American opinion over the last fifteen years and still does. Within a long-lasting career and through The Oprah Winfrey Show broadcasted in 144 countries, she has created her own style and has marked her print on America. [...]

[...] Do we still need heroes today? The last document I chose to add is an image of the Game of Thrones' serial throne displayed during a special exhibition in Belfast, the main stage of the TV program, and on which we may see people any age older coming to observe, admire, sit and take a picture with it. This document shows the importance gained by this specific TV program in the modern culture. It also highlights the fact that many persons consider this item as a symbol : it represents the power and the virtual heroism that they envy and admire so much. [...]

[...] We've proved that heroes and myths are still relevant notions today and that they are highly represented. If the ways of heroism are many between charities, virtual characters or memorial events, they also have a unique reason to be : people need them into their lives as heavily as they need to dream. It also proves that extraordinary is still a necessary value in our modern lives as J.M Coetzee used to say « Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. [...]