Musical Antiheroes Across Genres

• The antihero, in embryonic form, traces back to traditional Trickster tales present in Native American, African, and diaspora cultures.
• While Homer infused some Trickster elements into Odysseus, it was with the rise of Robin Hood i...

• Contrary to common perceptions, the antihero didn't originate in Hollywood or hard-boiled fiction but in songs and the oral tradition.
• Robin Hood, the British folk ballad hero, served as the blueprint for characters like Clint Eastwood's an...

• Robin Hood, a key player in 38 of the 305 canonic Child Ballads, became a musical icon—a hero and an outlaw, a prototype for the antihero.
• Long before Clint Eastwood's brooding characters or Humphrey Bogart's ironic p...

Reflecting on the past prompts us to wonder:

• What if recording devices predated the printing press?
• Could singing bards have enjoyed wider acclaim than novelists?

In this alternate reality, songs might be revered as cornerstones of the humanitie...

• The transition from sung ballads to printed narratives led to a loss of metaphysical depth in hero narratives.
• Heroes no longer embarked on quests for wisdom; instead, constant action and sensational elements became imperative to sell books, movies, and later, ...

• For centuries, heroes found immortality in the melodies of folk ballads.
• In a world where music served as cloud storage for traditional societies, figures like Robin Hood emerged as protagonists in the Englis...

• King Arthur, with his Round Table knights, influenced a more mainstream approach to mass-market heroes.
• However, the Arthurian legend, driven by commercial interests, led to a shift.
• Heroes had to abandon their songs for printed narratives—products for ...