Query: the incompetent hero--responses after Mike

From: Frank, Michael <[email protected]>

[with apologies for duplication]

i'm delighted that my student's very innocent question has precipitated
such an interesting and multi faceted response

one observation that comes from the very innocence of my student's original
perspective :  it may be important to distinguish between incompetent
protagonists [the model being, i suspect, Don Q.] and incompetent
characters who are still authentic heroes [the paradigm for "hero" would
likely be odysseus];  in other words - actually my student's words -
incompetent guys who nevertheless "save the day" . . . [this would, i
think, eliminate for starters almost all the coen brothers examples]

of course we'd need to re-examine what, in the contemporary world, counts
as "saving the day" - a different but not unrelated question

mike