Query: the incompetent hero--responses after Mike

From: Dicandeloro, Zachariah Joseph <[email protected]>

DW:

I think that an argument could easily be made for the viewer-response
aspects of the narrative-aesthetic encounter with respect to the topic.
When the viewer supplies the semantic content, all that need be
demonstrated (viz. by the viewer) is that the syntagma of "incompetent
hero" shall apply within said context. So if the protagonist is a
sympathetic risk-taker possessed of some kind of "virtue" or well-defined
humanity, then perhaps he/she is a hero.

The tangle, however, seems to occur when one tries to assert the formality
of "incompetence." It seems that the answer must be drawn out of the tangle
by reversing the path of our questioning. Otherwise the internet meme might
kick in: Incompetent hero is incompetent. ...Yes, but as demonstrated by
what means exactly? And how would such a meme differ in content from the
following: Incompetent protagonist is incompetent.

There has to be a difference between The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and
Curb Your Enthusiasm. Or not.

--Joseph
* * * *
From: friedman <[email protected]>

Have you noticed that most of the main protagonists of the French Nouvelle
Vague are "incompetent heroes", from Godard's Michel Poiccard/Laszlo Kovacs
in A bout de Souffle to Pierrot le Fou as well as Truffaut's Antoine Doinel
among others... but sexy nevertheless...Why do Hollywood need so much
"heroes"?
Regine-Mihal Friedman.
* * * *
From: Robin Vose <[email protected]>

Interestingly, the recent Bond "Skyfall" has him evolving into a more
incompetent hero than ever before. And it is reminiscent of the even more
incompetent hero's progress through the Scottish Highlands in 39 Steps.

R