by Juliette Vincent

Created on: March 19, 2009

"The hero's sphere of action is not the transcendent but

here, now, in the field of time, of good and evil of the

pairs and opposites One has eaten of the tree of

knowledge, not only of good and evil, but of male and

female" (Campbell, 1998).

Male and female, the question of gender regarding heroism continues to plague us even in the realm of science fiction and fantasy. Many modern authors don't appear to believe that gender affects heroism, yet some do. Still, authors tend to be more open-minded than the rest of society. In our present, in the here and now, gender plays a part in recognized heroism; recognized is the key word. Does heroism depend on someone else recognizing the heroic act? Or can the hero know, inside, that the act was above and beyond the call of duty? Campbell even reminds us that all mothers are heroes for they give a part of themselves for this new life that they have created. "And there was a heroic act on the mother's part, as well, who had brought all this about" (pg 125). Campbell then goes on to discuss with Bill Moyers for a brief time that not all heroes are male, they are just more conspicuous.

On of the easiest ways for a woman to be recognized as a hero is by performing her role as the nurturing mother. Some women in science fiction do this in the traditional way. Others, like Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley, tend to be a bit more aggressive in their roles.

In Terminator 2 Sarah Connor has become strong, stubborn and not as caring as we remember from the first movie. Even after John has put his life on the line to get her out of Pescadero, she responds by scolding and yelling at him that he shouldn't have taken the chance.

"It was stupid of you to go there. Goddamnit, John, you

need to be smarter than that. You're too important! You

can't risk yourself, not even for me, do you understand?"

(Terminator 2, 1991).

John tells her, in hopes of getting something a little more loving out of her that he just wanted to get her out. Sarah won't hear it, and in acting so coldly causes John to cry. Now, this is not the role of the nurturing mother. John has played the hero this time, risking his life for hers even though she hates the fact that he did it.

So their relationship goes on; Sarah only caring that he should stay alive to protect the future of mankind and John only wanting his mother to love him. This cycle progresses to a point where Sarah decides to take the future in her own hands and goes off to kill Dyson, in hopes of causing

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