My heroes aren't perfect. In fact, they never have been. I remember the first time I looked at an Egon Schiele drawing. It was an achievement. I looked up to the long dead draftsmen, and hoped one day I would have something even half as good to show.
Egon Schiele was imprisoned for a time after exposing himself to his cousin.
I loved the icon known as Harry Houdini. He was a master showman, magician, set a record running in central park, and was a solid boxer. He had a personal crusade against frauds. He spent his life debunking these liars. He even worked with police departments on their security measures.
He cheated on his wife. She always loved him though, and would reach out to him through a seance every Halloween until she died.
Louis C.K. was the auteur I had always secretly wanted to be. He had a surgeons touch at wielding dangerous words. He had intense insight into the human condition. His words were as ugly beautiful as Egon Schiele's figures. He could perform live, write brilliant shows and movies. He was/is a genius.
Louis C.K. exposed himself to women, not unlike Schiele.
My heroes inspire me, challenge me, and break my heart. How do we reconcile their art, with their actions in life?
I remember looking at a painting by Adolf Hitler, and thinking it was pretty good. What was I supposed to do? Was I supposed to lie, and downgrade the work based on the monster he was? China Town is a great film. What do we do with the knowledge that Polanski raped an underage girl?
I don't have all the answers. My heroes don't have all the answers either. They are not demigods. They are flawed human beings with the duality that comes with it. Nobody can supply the whole picture (assuming there is one).
Jamie Foxx, the actor/comedian, made a statement on creativity in an interview with Joe Rogan. He said you have to have a little crazy. He talked about Mike Tyson. Tyson was one of the greatest boxers of all time. Mike wouldn't have been Mike without the crazy. It's the balance in life. Foxx said that it's God fucking with us. You can't have the success without the other side of it.
Here we are now. We are in a shit-storm of allegations including Admiral Hikaru Sulu, and Ben Braddock (the graduate).
These heroes of mine don't have all the answers. I don't either. We are left alone in the static haze of our television monitors. Man is flawed, and I have the feeling we need to worship something other than flesh and bone.
I think that's why I worship Batman. I worship the idea of a Batman. I remember reading my first Batman comics as a kid. I was in awe of the way the character would traverse the skylines of Gotham. I would read on for hours as he fought a warehouse of masked thugs. I cried when Jason Todd was killed by the Joker. I was moved as Batman pulled Jason out of the wreckage, and vowed vengeance. Batman set the benchmark for what I wanted to be. I don't worship Bruce Wayne. Bruce Wayne is a man. He is flawed. Batman is an idea. The idea goes beyond the fragility of a human being. America needs to aspire to greater. We can't worship Hollywood. We can't keep putting these people up on a pedestal. We can't have false idols. We can't turn flesh and bone into gold and glory. We need to be beyond it. We need to aspire to something greater. I think we need a Batman.