But It's a Dry Heat

Archive for the ‘Dragons’ Category

In Praise of Dragons and Beta Heroes

How to Train Your Dragon is one of my favorite movies. I love this movie for two reasons: Hiccup and Astrid.

First, Hiccup is what some in Romanceland calls a beta hero and I lurves the betas. Second, Astrid is a terrific, strong female character.

Regarding betas ….  The definition varies, but a beta hero is the opposite of an alpha hero.  Alpha heroes are the kind of men who get stuff done with brute force. They are usually endowed with … a corresponding amount of muscle, and often (annoyingly) characterized as emotionally  constipated.  Honestly? That’s not my idea of a romantic hero.  Yeah, the muscles are nice, but as I’ve noted elsewhere, it wouldn’t be long before I got bored and cheated on Mr. Manly with the geeky astrophysicist  across the hall.

The beta hero is more a thinking man/woman’s hero.  He won’t or can’t (more…)