Some might consider it sad that a drunk YouTuber knows more about not only the history of heroic literature, but also the importance of heroic myths and tales, than the “professional” story tellers who are paid to actually tell stories about heroes.
The video starts off with appropriately smartasssed mockery of some questionable decisions being made by major comic book publishers, then turns serious and thoughtful on the subject of what heroes our culture celebrates. This is a subject that interests me greatly. In my own dabblings with writing literature I almost never include a Lance Squarejaw action hero, but try to write more or less normal folk who try, to varying degrees, to do what seems to need doing. But so much of modern culture denigrates even that, mocking the very notion of the “hero.” The very traits that in past generations would be seen as not only heroic but necessary for a vital civilization are now “problematic” and “toxic masculinity.” John Wayne is despised while the media celebrates Ellen Page rebranding her/himself as Elliot Page. Restraint and rationality are sneered at while children twerking is touted as high art.
I used to love the show “Adam Ruins Everything.” But when he got to the episode on “Cowboys” and the conclusion that tales of a heroic ideal should be wiped form our culture, I was out.