From: reiher@ficus.cs.ucla.edu (Peter Reiher)
Subject: Re: Hero and Meet John Doe
Organization: UCLA Computer Science Department
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 16:08:54 GMT

In article <13154@grayt> grayt@Software.Mitel.COM (Tom Gray) writes:
>I hold the same opinion that you do about the quality of "Meet John Doe".
>It is a movie that is going to be remembered. I hope that you are not
>too disappointed about "Hero". "Hero" is not a further exploration of the
>themes brought forth by Capra in MJD but is a shallow copy of the original. 

Again, I disagree.  I don't believe the themes of the two films are
the same, though "Hero" clearly was influenced by "Meet John Doe".  When
you come right down to it, "Meet John Doe" isn't really about heroism
at all.  It's about idealism, the dangers and benefits of mass movements,
and the difference one person can make.  "Hero", on the other hand, is
more about the good that can be found in even those who seem rather shabby
and unpromising; it's also more directly about the nature of heroism.  "Hero"
only touchs lightly on the issues that "Meet John Doe" dived into, and
visa versa.

>Hero trivialises
>these important themes. It attempts to show the altruism that is at the heart
>of every person but it does so in such a preposterous manner that the point is
>lost. Compare the ending of MJD where Gary Cooper regains his faith by
>seeing the effect he has had on his followers with the ridiculous ending
>of "Hero" in which a baby conveniently falls into a lion cage for 
>Dustin Hoffman to save.

[Spoilers ahead]

The final scene in "Hero" is basically one last joke, along with a 
demonstration that its protagonist really does have something fundamentally
sound in his character, that his earlier heroism isn't the fluke he claims
it was.  It is fairly ridiculous to have a child fall into a lion's cage,
but that's part of the joke - sort of a way of saying that Hoffman's
character will always be there to save someone else's life, no matter
how unlikely or dangerous the circumstance, and no matter how much he
protests that doing so isn't in his character.

The real climax of "Hero" occurs when Hoffman and Garcia cut their deal.
This sequence is where "Hero" states what it's about, in the same way
that the final sequence on top of the building in "Meet John Doe" stated
what that film was about.  (Both occurring high up on buildings is not
a coincidence.)

>Hero is a bring rip off of a great movie.
>"Meet John Doe" . . . is far
>more entertaining and more deeply explores some truths about the human
>exiatence which Hero trivialises.

I don't find the ideas behind "Hero" trivial, and they are not explored
in "Meet John Doe".  Cooper's character in that film really is a hero,
even if he is a recruited one.  He is a totally suitable hero - after
all, it is Gary Cooper.  

The hero in "Hero" is an unsuitable hero.  He's not what our culture
tells us to look for when looking for a hero.  And the man who is
suited for it, and appears to be a hero, is a fake.  But he isn't, really.
When you come down to it, he's a hero, too.  The ideas and relationships
in "Hero" are not simplistic, and I would not call them trivial.  One
can argue about whether the film dealt with them well, but I would say
that "Hero" has far more ambition than merely being a remake of "Meet
John Doe".

--
		Peter Reiher
		reiher@wells.cs.ucla.edu

Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies