Monthly arts column

Heroes is the new series from the US that the BBC has bought for a controversial £400,000 an episode. Now I have a weakness for Mars Bar ice creams, and I often consume them while watching TV. But having finished one, I soon need another.

Heroes is a bit like getting hold of another Mars Bar ice cream. It’s the same sort of drama series that is great fun while the concept lasts but when it’s been played out as far as it can go, we just want another one. Having seen the many seasons of Spooks, CSI, West Wing and 24 and so on, there is definitely a market for more of the same. Heroes is like watching a film with loads of half famous actors where you spend your time wondering where you’ve seen all the bits before. It’s not hard to identify the components. Coming on the back of the Marvel Comic resurgence of the last decade, Heroes seems to be a kind of X-Men fantasy tale topped with a huge dollop of the type of sinister fate and destiny type stuff that J.J. Abrams (creator of Lost and Alias) is so enamoured by. It’s not new either; think John Wyndham’s Chrysalids and mix it together with Thomas Hardy’s Mayor of Casterbridge to get an equally strong ‘fate and spooky talents’ fusion!

Strange abilities

Having got over the ‘here we go again’ factor and digging a bit deeper into the Heroes concept, we find quite an entertaining show to get our teeth stuck into. I’ll try not to spoil it for those who are waiting to buy the box set, but the general premise at the start of Season One is that several individuals, living ordinary lives, are discovering that they have strange abilities. One can fly, another can heal themselves, then there’s one who can paint pictures of the future, another who can travel through space and time and yet another who can read minds. There’s even one who seems to absorb the special abilities of whoever is around him and replicate them.

The destiny and fate of these characters seems to be to prevent the obliteration of New York (where else!), an event that is scheduled for five weeks’ time. All of the characters’ lives cross each other and all of them seem to be under the scrutiny of some sinister evil types who also have powers.

Fate and responsibility

There is no doubt that these programmes are great fun, particularly to sci-fi lovers, but, as always, we must be able to recognise the presence of an alternative ideology that is at odds with God’s gospel of grace. I think that the two areas of interest to Christian viewers are the twin components of fate and individual responsibility.

Fate has caused the human DNA to move another step forward in its evolution. Where humans have found themselves living in a world of high population growth, global warming and technological dependence, evolution has provided some individuals with the mutations that are necessary to survive. (http://www.badmoviescience.com is, I hope, having a field day with this one.) Thus we see individuals trapped by fate into living a life that is governed by their genes.

Whatever we think of evolution, the main issue is whether or not we think God is really in control of future events. Living as we do in a country that is on high alert for terrorist activities, where car crashes and cancer happen to people who are close to us, where the threats of the Gulf Stream failing, the ice caps melting and resources running out are scarily real, we need more than ever to trust that God is sovereign over his creation. We need to trust him rather than letting the rising panic in our chests and our over-stimulated imaginations get the better of us. God has promised in the Bible that he is the one who will wrap things up. Mankind may do its worst but it is his call to end life as we know it.

Justifying sin?

The other issue is human responsibility. It is ironic that the Heroes have such sordid lives. One is a heroin addict, another strips for clients on the internet. There is sexual infidelity, political ambition, murder and cheating. Now the Bible is rich in heroes such as the prostitute Rahab, the murderer Paul and the adulterer David, who are used greatly by God despite their gross immorality. But the Bible proclaims that they are sinful. The individuals in Heroes are vindicated through storylines that justify their attitudes. They have small children to feed, or friends to protect, or happiness to pursue. After all, the special powers that they have are not their fault. If they can gain personally from flukes of evolutionary progress then why not have fun and make the most of it!

I suspect that later in the series, these characters are going to find out that there is more at stake than their personal comfort and through their newfound morality they will gloriously save the world. What a relief that we can switch off knowing that our Hero has already done that.

Do we really need more Heroes? - a look at the latest US import on BBC2

Strange abilities

Fate and responsibility

Justifying sin?

Eleanor Margesson

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