Deceptive Heroism – an Attempt to Redefine the Figures of War in Mass Culture on the Example of Films and Computer Games

Abstract

The main objective of the paper is to discuss the themes of war and heroism used in films and video games, and how those topics are shown. At the beginning, there will be a short review on basic definitions of a hero. It will be useful to understand how essential the hero is to people and culture. The next steps will explain how the heroism is shown in films and why war films are at the same time pro- and antiwar productions. In relation to video games, the topic of heroism will be explained on the example of a gamification of a war zone, and how it can be dangerous for perception of the war by players. Also, the differences between heroism in films and video games will be shown in popular examples.

Keywords

• war
• films
• video games
• heroism
• gamification