Stories For Boys

U2 LYRICS

Sometimes when a hero takes me, Sometimes I don't let go

The son and I just finished watching The Matrix Trilogy.  It is one of those extremely rare occasions when I watched a rated R movie (and the only ones that my son has seen [to my knowledge]).  The rating comes mostly from the massive amount of fighting scenes (though without them the scattered amount of profanity would warrant it as well).  My point here is not to defend my parenting (ok, I hear you, a 12 year old probably should not have watched these movies, even if I skipped a few scenes here and there) but rather to say that the son was enamored with Neo (the hero in the story).  He often imitates his bullet dodging skills and his trademark “bring it on” move when fighting Agent Smith (I will admit also to using this move).

In the song “Stories For Boys”, Bono speaks of heroes on TV and in comic books and how inadequate he felt when he compared himself to them.  It is fun to pretend, but not healthy to compare.

Modern movies and TV shows do a better job of showing us the flaws of our heroes.  Almost every show that the wife and I watch after the kids are in bed shows the main characters in this way.  I think this is better as older shows just seem corny when missing this feature.  I am not sure if this song could be written today if Bono were 18 years old in 2011.

Jon