Where are all the heroes?

It is time for all the heroes to go home

if they have any, time for all of us common ones

to locate ourselves by the real things

we live by.

(William Stafford)

A Danish sub-titled drama, focusing solely on one crime throughout its 20 episodes, with Copenhagen city politics providing one of the main story lines, doesn't sound like addictive TV. But I've been hooked to The Killing on iplayer mainly because of the lead role, Detective Sarah Lund, played by Sofie Grabol.

I love the fact that she doesnt seem to suffer any guilt about not spending enough time with her family or son, totally immersed in her work in the 'male' stereotype. She's focused on her work 'because its important', but uses her feminine sense of intuition to stay ahead of her male co-workers. She's also rocking a casual I'm-too-focused-on-the-case-to-think-about-what-i-look-like look, while managing to create a fashion fuss about her awesome jumpers. But mostly I love the character because she's not there to be an aspirational role model even though you admire her stubborn focus and self assurance.  

Noticing that there is a season of heroic female leads at the BFI, perhaps we are slowly starting to realise there can be more archetypes in cinema that mother, lover, girl next door or psycho/witch. I like female leads not because they are the perfect role model but because they are an interesting, strong, unique and believable lead character. 

Sarah Lund in The Killing

Perhaps we shouldn't want female heroes any more than we think we want male heroes. An interesting article by Margaret Wheatley argues that its a mistake to want to be rescued by 'a hero'. Instead we need to realise that no hero can save us from either our own personal issues or by the many modern crises. She points out that solutions to problems will come from leaders who can bring out the ideas and experiences from a complex mass of people. These leaders need to be hosts rather than heroes. Because no one person can ever really be 'in charge' but only create the space for people to solve problems.

Heroes can only ever inspire from the grave. Living leaders inspire not by telling us what to do and how to live but by allowing us all to be heroic in our individually small ways.

Our
 heroic 
impulses 
most 
often 
are 
born 
from 
the 
best 
of 
intentions.
 We
 want
 to 
help, 
we 
want 
to 
solve, 
we 
want
 to 
fix.
 Yet 
this 
is 
the 
illusion
 of 
specialness,
 that 
we’re 
the

only 
ones 
who 
can 
offer 
help, 
service,
 skills.
 If 
we 
don’t 
do 
it, 
nobody
 will. 
This
 hero’s

path 
has 
only 
one 
guaranteed 
destination —we 
end
 up 
feeling
 lonely, 
exhausted
 and

unappreciated.


It
is
 time 
for 
all
 us 
heroes
 to 
go 
home
 because, 
if
 we 
do,
 we’ll
 notice 
that
 we’re 
not

alone.
 We’re
 surrounded 
by 
people
 just
 like 
us.
 They
 too 
want 
to
 contribute,
 they
 too

have 
ideas, 
they 
want 
to 
be 
useful 
to 
others 
and
 solve 
their 
own 
problems.




Truth 
be
 told,
 they 
never
 wanted
 heroes 
to 
rescue 
them 
anyway.



In fact Sarah Lund is a great example of why trying to be a hero is not something to aspire to. But you'll have to watch 20 episodes to understand that....So i'll leave you with a great shot of another great strong female lead on the big screen.

Jane Russell in The Paleface, on at the BFI