Notes

What is bravery? What defines a character in such a way that in the end of a battle, whether it be physical or emotional, to be brave? Brave is a word all men and women carry in their back pockets, and truly only show its colors in times of need. Others wear it on their arm as a badge, protecting those who are unable to protect themselves. The media portrays the ideal of brave in many ways through both movies, television, or even something rectified inside of a book. I will diverge this issue of bravery in the differential factors from each of these pieces of media, and in some ways bravery is same across a creative canvas.
Bravery has always been seen in a lot of books since the dawn or King Arthur, or even some biblical characters, but the character I deem the bravest was a man named Prometheus from the Book Anthem by Ayn Rand. This man single handedly stood up against the dystopian society he had been raised into just to prove that he had the one human ability that sets us apart, uniqueness. He ran away from the safe world he once knew, and bravely stepped out into the open landscape in front of him just so that he could show at least someone he had the tiniest amount of humanity! Not only brave in his actions, but also with his emotional struggle within himself to no longer stand for what he has once known. This is a form of bravery that is able to break foundations of ideology and also leads into the movies aspects of what they consider bravery.
We have all most likely seen the old classic known as Forrest Gump and from that he carries his own sense of bravery. Forrest always knew since from when he was a child that he had been different, and he knew that he would most likely not fit in, in the time he was raised in. Yet throughout this story, the man tells a fantastic monologue on how he had gotten up the courage to break these boundaries set up by society at that time. From the part at which he broke his braces to run from the bullies he had been chased by most his life in school, to finally getting the girl at the end, he had the motto of running, but it was until he realizes that it was no good running away from your problems that he had the ability to stand up for what he believed in. This man, no matter what the world threw at him, he stood back up, and he ran headfirst right back into the problem he had been dealing with. Now bravery is easier to have a large mindset, but much harder to portray in day by day television series, but it has been done gradually throughout the years.
Finally, in the hit television series How I Met Your Mother , there is only one character that comes to mind when the word bravery comes up in conversation, Barney Stinson. Yes, this man is egotistical, loud, and obnoxious, but what better way to portray the extreme sense of bravery than to include a man full of his own personal needs? This man goes out of his way to show people that he is always right, and to even come up with his own “suit days” just to show off his “manliness”. For a man to have so much courage and bravery to look upon himself so highly in society and his group of friends it also shows the downfall of bravery. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing in the case of which you begin to push people away by separating your opinions out from the rest saying that yours in the best. All three of these men showed three aspects of bravery in which I find both appalling and awe inspiring unto which people can take life lessons from.
In the end, we have learned that bravery is a two-way street. You can be brave enough to stand up against a nation, but also brave enough to look like an egotistical prick. Whether you are standing up against bullies or “bad guys” either way it proves that deep down everyone carries a sense of humanity in the form of bravery. These three men, whether good or bad, dictate how the world sees the word brave and how it can be displayed whether by yourself in everyday life, or in a fantasy world trying to overcome obstacles. What is bravery to me? To me, bravery is an action, not a word. Bravery is the underlying goal under everyone’s futures pushing them forwards in their lives.