College 101
What matters to you, and why?
The Prompt
What matters to you, and why?
The Essay
Intro
There's a short list of what is supposed to matter. It's been signed off on, supported by the culture, and in some cases bolstered by millions of years of evolution. Things like friendship, family, perseverance. There is nothing wrong with any of those concepts, but mine is a generation raised by television and movies, by comic books and video games.
This isn't all that different from other generations, either. Over time pop culture becomes stories, stories become legends, and legends become myths. People like Hercules, Beowulf, and Hiawatha were admired by generations past, so looked at from that idea, my choice is not too terribly strange.
What matters to me, fundamentally, is all of those important things I mentioned earlier. The same ones the other essays likely return to again and again. For me, a personification of those values is far more important, a figure I can look to as the exemplar of behavior. It can be none other than Steve Rogers, better known as the Avenger, Captain America.
Body
Yes, Captain America is a comic book character. Yes, he's gotten wider fame by being the centerpiece of a couple of very profitable movies. It would be tempting to dismiss him as "kid's stuff," but he's anything but. The point of Captain America is far more clever than that, exemplifying important values in a palatable way.
Friendship is probably one of the most common things one could value, and for good reason. Friends are, essentially, the family you choose. Captain America demonstrates his commitment to friendship when he squares off against the Winter Soldier, formerly his best friend (spoilers, sorry). While another hero like Thor or Batman might have simply beat the other man into a pulp, Captain America throws aside his shield and refuses to strike his friend, eventually redeeming him from the life of a brainwashed assassin.
Perseverance is commonly cited as the weakness of my generation. There's an idea we give up at the first sign of adversity. Once again, I look to Captain America as an example. Before he became a super soldier, he never backed down. Whether it was standing up to bullies or fighting in World War II, if Cap knew he was in the right, he would go down fighting.
Patriotism is not really considered cool. Cynicism is far too easy to fall into. I have had to wrestle with it, as too often good ideas are co-opted and fall apart in the face of reality. Once again, Captain America shows what we could accomplish if we really did work for the best of America. When his country needed him, he volunteered. When his country went too far, he helped pull it back. Cap is a champion of the spirit of our ideals, the best face of America.
Conclusion
Don't dismiss a man just because he wears red, white, and blue tights. And also happens to be fictional. Wisdom can be found in the most surprising of places, if you only look for it. I found it with Captain America, and his example continues to inspire me.
My generation's heroes are largely fictional. There's room for debate as to why this is, and it's certainly much too large to tackle here. The point is, we should not dismiss a hero for this simple crime. It's not their fault they're fictional. It can be a boon in the sense that a fictional person is much more likely to live up to their values.
Captain America is valuable because he displays all the best in the American psyche as it is intended. He is the best in all of us. So when he faces problems and issues far more extreme than anything I will deal with in my life, he still can show me the way. My friends aren't going to be brainwashed assassins, but they might do something wrong and need me to forgive them. I'm not going to fight Hitler, but racists and anti-semites still exist in the world.
That is why Captain America matters. Not just to me, but to the culture at large.
Why This Essay Works
This essay has the reader's attention right from the first sentence. The writer names Captain America, and by choosing such an unorthodox thing to write about, they have the reader. They begin with the simplest critiques, that Captain America is a comic book and movie character, and deal with them adequately enough. Being fictional does not mean something does not matter.
In the body, the writer lays out precisely why Captain America matters, using concrete examples from the films. In this way, the reader, who is likely to have seen at least one of the movies, can instantly relate. This also casts choices made in the storyline in deeper meaning, showing that the writer is adept at analyzing fiction.
The conclusion ties the essay together. The writer explains exactly what their point was throughout. The second-to-last paragraph especially shows how these larger-than-life examples can be understood in a more sedate environment. In essence, the writer takes a large risk with the subject of the essay, but with solid logic and good writing, defends the case well.