S t The Byronic e Popular Culture / Media Studies i n “Stein deftly argues the importance of the Byronic hero’s influence on a brood of his con- Hero temporary descendants, including gunslingers, cyborgs, vampires, and neo-Gothic comic T book characters. This truly unique book will appeal to those interested in popular culture, h in Film, film studies, feminist studies, and nineteenth-century literature.” e —Gary Hoppenstand, author of The Gothic World of Anne Rice B y Fiction, and “Atara Stein’s intelligent and, dare I say, entertaining work sheds new light on the dark r hero’s journey from nineteenth-century literature to twenty-first-century pop culture myth- o n ology. The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television shows us that heroes don’t die, they i Television morph right along with the culture they serve.” c —David Greenwalt, cocreator of Angel H e r The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television bridges nineteenth- and twentieth-century o studies in pursuit of an ambitious, antisocial, arrogant, and aggressively individualistic mode i of hero from his inception in Byron’s Manfred, Childe Harold, and Cain, through his incar- n Atara Stein nations as the protagonists of Westerns, action films, space odysseys, vampire novels, neo- F Gothic comics, and sci-fi television. Such a hero exhibits supernatural abilities, adherence i l to a personal moral code, ineptitude at human interaction, and an ingrained defiance of m oppressive authority. He is typically an outlaw, most certainly an outcast or outsider, and , more often than not, he is a he. Tracing the influence of Lord Byron’s outcast hero on a pan- F i theon of his contemporary progenies—including characters from Pale Rider, Unforgiven, The c t Terminator, Alien, The Crow, Sandman, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Angel—Atara Stein i o tempers her academic acumen with the insights of a devoted aficionado. n , Atara Stein (1959–2008) was a professor of English at California State University, Fullerton. a Her articles on the development of the Byronic hero have appeared in Popular Culture Review, n d Romantic Circles Praxis Series, Genders, and Philological Quarterly. T Southern Illinois University Press e l 1915 University Press Drive e v Mail Code 6806 i Carbondale, IL 62901 s i www.siu.edu/~siupress o n Cover illustration: Adapted from a portrait of George Gordon, Lord Byron, by Thomas Phillips, 1814 (John Murray) Printed in the United States of America US ISBISNB N97 08--800-89039-239-23983-78 - 0 niversityouthern I Prllin essois Stein_cvr_CDDC.indd 1 6/16/09 8:42:52 AM The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television The Byronic Hero in Film, Fiction, and Television Atara Stein Southern Illinois University Press • Carbondale Copyright © 2004 by the Board of Trustees, Southern Illinois University Paperback edition 2009 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America 12 11 10 09 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Stein, Atara, 1959– The Byronic hero in film, fiction, and television / Atara Stein. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Heroes in motion pictures. 2. Heroes in literature. 3. Heroes on television. I. Title. PN1995.9.H44 2004 791.43'652—dc22 2004012621 ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-2586-3 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8093-2586-1 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8093-2938-0 (paperback : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8093-2938-7 (paperback : alk. paper) Printed on recycled paper. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of Ameri- can National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992. (cid:39) For Nell for performing wondrous alchemy on my manuscript and for being there and for being herself For Bobby for mastery and support and unflagging encouragement And for Sarah and Bradley for reality checks: “It’s only a movie, Mom!” Love to all of you Contents List of Figures ix Preface xi Introduction: The Byronic Superhero 1 1. “A Fire and Motion of the Soul”: Nineteenth- Century Origins 8 2. “Not Such a Dork”: The Rehumanization of the Byronic Hero 35 3. “I Just Want Something I Can Never Have”: Angst, Egoism, and Immortality 75 4. Star Trek’s Q: A Byronic Hero for The Next Generation 135 5. “She Moves in Mysterious Ways”: The Byronic Heroine 170 Conclusion: The Vampire with the Face of an Angel 213 Notes 221 Works Cited and Consulted 227 Index 237 Figures Following page 74 1. Brandon Lee as Eric Draven in The Crow 2. Dream from Sandman no. 42 3. Lord Byron, 1814 4. John de Lancie as Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation 5. Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in Terminator 2: Judgment Day 6. Linda Hamilton as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day 7. David Boreanaz as Angel from the eponymous television series ix