Adventure Question #4 - Answered
May. 29th, 2006 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
qosWho are your adventure heroes now? What is it about these people or their lives that you admire? How could you develop those qualities in yourself or add those elements to your life?
What was interesting in pondering this question today was how relatively few of my favorite heroes and heroines are "adventure" heroes. Courage is a given, but many of them are more on the idealistic-dedicated side than the sheer joy-of-adventure attitude that I took as the basis for this question.
So here is my list:
1. The ladies of the 1800's who abandoned English respectability for a life of adventure in the Middle East. Jane Digby, Gertrude Bell, and others became fluent in Arabic, lived among the native peoples, and traveled throughout the region. Jane Digby, who left behind a husband and family in England, ended up married to a sheik and living to a ripe old age riding Arabian horses every day.
What I admire about them is their courage in stepping beyond the proscribed boundaries of their home societies and living life on their own terms, not worrying about social sanctions or even physical danger.
2. The crews of the Enterprise, boldly going where no one has gone before. In both the original Star Trek and The Next Generation we see people committed to exploration, to understanding the new and the -- to their eyes -- strange, who consider the joys of discovery well worth risking their lives. Signing on to a starship is committing to life of adventure.
I admire their courage, their willingness to leap into the unknown ready to meet whatever comes their way.
3. Peter Jackson, because I consider the making of the Lord of the Rings movies a great adventure. He dared to take his vision all the way, bringing together what became a small nation and holding it together for years, against all obstacles, to create an unprecedented cinematic achievement. I find the behind-the-scenes features of the films at least as riveting as the adventure onscreen. As some of you may remember from the years of the LOTR releases, I have said that I would kill to go back in time and take Jackson's place.
I admire his dedication and courage, his commitment to his vision, and his ability to combine the myriad details of artistry, technology, and sheer survival into three truly wonderful movies.
4. Lady Erica Rosselin-Kiel, a character I created for a space adventure RPG. She is extremely beautiful, extremely wealthy (maximum level for both advantages), and utterly fearless. In fact, she's a thrill-seeker, a bit of an exhibitionist, and has zero concern for convention. She has put a lot of effort into developing a strong, flexible body which enables her to engage in all kinds of physical activities and adventures, from dancing, to adventuring, to erotic theme and variation.
Lady Erica is one version of my shadow self: she takes many of the desires I suppress and engages in them with zest. Again there is a lack of concern for how society might judge her, and little or no fear of risk or consequences. She sees all of life as a grand adventure, and she'll never have enough time to enjoy it all.
What was interesting in pondering this question today was how relatively few of my favorite heroes and heroines are "adventure" heroes. Courage is a given, but many of them are more on the idealistic-dedicated side than the sheer joy-of-adventure attitude that I took as the basis for this question.
So here is my list:
1. The ladies of the 1800's who abandoned English respectability for a life of adventure in the Middle East. Jane Digby, Gertrude Bell, and others became fluent in Arabic, lived among the native peoples, and traveled throughout the region. Jane Digby, who left behind a husband and family in England, ended up married to a sheik and living to a ripe old age riding Arabian horses every day.
What I admire about them is their courage in stepping beyond the proscribed boundaries of their home societies and living life on their own terms, not worrying about social sanctions or even physical danger.
2. The crews of the Enterprise, boldly going where no one has gone before. In both the original Star Trek and The Next Generation we see people committed to exploration, to understanding the new and the -- to their eyes -- strange, who consider the joys of discovery well worth risking their lives. Signing on to a starship is committing to life of adventure.
I admire their courage, their willingness to leap into the unknown ready to meet whatever comes their way.
3. Peter Jackson, because I consider the making of the Lord of the Rings movies a great adventure. He dared to take his vision all the way, bringing together what became a small nation and holding it together for years, against all obstacles, to create an unprecedented cinematic achievement. I find the behind-the-scenes features of the films at least as riveting as the adventure onscreen. As some of you may remember from the years of the LOTR releases, I have said that I would kill to go back in time and take Jackson's place.
I admire his dedication and courage, his commitment to his vision, and his ability to combine the myriad details of artistry, technology, and sheer survival into three truly wonderful movies.
4. Lady Erica Rosselin-Kiel, a character I created for a space adventure RPG. She is extremely beautiful, extremely wealthy (maximum level for both advantages), and utterly fearless. In fact, she's a thrill-seeker, a bit of an exhibitionist, and has zero concern for convention. She has put a lot of effort into developing a strong, flexible body which enables her to engage in all kinds of physical activities and adventures, from dancing, to adventuring, to erotic theme and variation.
Lady Erica is one version of my shadow self: she takes many of the desires I suppress and engages in them with zest. Again there is a lack of concern for how society might judge her, and little or no fear of risk or consequences. She sees all of life as a grand adventure, and she'll never have enough time to enjoy it all.
