Sylvester Stallone Wants To See More Mythological Heroes On The Big Screen
Sylvester Stallone has been the face of some of the most iconic cinematic characters of the past few decades. From the aloof but tenacious boxer Rocky Balboa to the troubled yet effective soldier John Rambo, Stallone has brought some incredible characters to life and made them feel like real people who live and breathe in an often unfair world.
Should the action star ever retire, characters like these will be his legacy — people who are somehow larger than life, yet, at the same time, still likable and relatable. This is Stallone's charm at work and it offers the actor the ability to humanize even characters who sometimes feel like they don't exist in the same reality as the fans and viewers of his work. Furthermore, if Stallone's views from a recent interview are any indication, he absolutely understands this fact and also takes it very seriously in a way that few of us may have ever suspected.
Stallone suggests that we need the kind of heroes of oral tradition
Sylvester Stallone sat down for an interview to discuss his extensive career in Hollywood and what it means to be a so-called "action actor" in this day and age (via The New York Times). The actor didn't mince words when he said what he doesn't like about the term and how it fails to engender the importance of what films have become for this generation.
"I actually hate the word 'action' actor because I call it mythology," he explained. The star went on to pontificate about the importance of stories and how their oral tradition has kept them alive across multiple generations because of their importance to the history of a people or culture. "We need mythological heroes," Stallone said with emphasis.
It's easy to see what Stallone is getting at here, as many mythological heroes have been passed down through generations and are still remembered today (via Canadian Museum of History). However, with television and film as the main purveyor of epic stories for modern generations, it seems clear that he thinks it's more of a responsibility than some might have considered. "Every generation has to find itself, define its own heroes, define its own mythology," Stallone went on to explain.
While not everyone would agree that characters like the Terminator or the heroes of the MCU are among the most important cultural figures of our generation, it sounds like Stallone sees it that way.