The hero is not a hero

In Tew's Day's mailbox celebrating all the Valentines in history . . .

The “killer” story hides our humanity from us.

"The Hero has decreed that the proper shape of the narrative is that of the arrow or spear, starting here and going straight there and THOK! hitting its mark (which drops dead); second, that the central concern of the narrative, including the novel, is conflict; and third, that the story isn't any good if he isn't in it. . .I differ with all of this. I would go so far as to say that the natural, proper, fitting shape of the novel might be that of a sack, a bag. A book holds words. Words hold things. They bear meanings. A novel is a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us. . .One relationship among elements in the novel may well be that of conflict, but the reduction of narrative to conflict is absurd. . .” – Ursula Le Guin – In The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction

For an extended take on this necessary shift in our Weltanschauung, see Sophie Strand and Rewilding the Sacred Masculine.

Aries director Francis Ford Coppola was asked to name the year's worst movie. The question didn't interest him, he said. He listed his favorite films, then declared, "Movies are hard to make, so I'd say, all the other ones were fine!" Coppola's comments remind me of author Dave Eggers': "Do not dismiss a book until you have written one, and do not dismiss a movie until you have made one, and do not dismiss a person until you have met them." . . . Refrain from judging efforts about which you have no personal knowledge. Be as open-minded and generous as you can. Doing so will give you fuller access to half-dormant aspects of your own potentials. – Rob Brezsney

The hero is not a hero.