American Heroes in Film and Music: from Gump to Gatsby

To be an American hero, you must be selfless, helpful, and willing to go out of your way to keep people safe. This ties into many movies made all over America, and even some songs and television shows. I chose to connect this theme to two movies we watched in class and two kinds of music. Forrest Gump and The Great Gatsby are the movies and 1960s music and Marilyn Manson are the types of music I chose.

1960s music was mainly about anti-war. It related to the hippie movement and tells of Vietnam war. “We Didn’t Start the Fire” by Billy Joel is about the war and how we weren’t the ones to start it but we will be the ones to rise above and end it. It speaks, like many other songs from the decade, of politics in the time era and also of controversial points in history. The songs were all relatable to people in one way or another. They were always either about anti-war, the hippie movement, love as a teen, or politics of the time period.

Marilyn Manson is considered an American hero. He wrote songs of violence, but never of killing people. He made songs about the war and how it should end. He wrote songs that were very diverse to show there was nothing wrong with being different. His songs were always relatable to college kids which is what made him so popular among the age groups of 18-25. He was very different and dressed like a freak to show everyone that just because you’re different doesn’t mean you can’t be amazing.

The Great Gatsby contains many things that could be considered heroic. Nick tries to help Gatsby to reconnect with Daisy even though he ends up driving himself crazy doing so. Nick was Gatsby’s only true friend and was one of the only people who actually went to the funeral. Gatsby takes the blame and gets killed for Myrtle’s death to make sure Daisy stays safe and out of harms way. Also, the eyes of Dr. TJ Eckleburg overlook the town and keep the people safe, according to Nick Carraway.

Forrest Gump shows many relations to the theme of American Heroes. Forrest takes the initiative to take care of his mother when she is dying. He also takes care of Jenny when she is on her death bed and once she dies, he takes care of their child and raises him to be a beautiful young boy. He goes to war and fights for the country. He meets many presidents in his life time and has an influence on many pop culture icons. He becomes the star of the football team in college and the star of the ping pong team when he leaves war. He saves Lt. Dan when he gets blown up and ends up getting a leg amputated. All of these make him a hero, and there are many more things.