The role of heroes has been occupying my mind this week. 

On Monday night I attended Arthur Miller’s A View From The Bridge at the Royal Exchange. It’s a marvellous production, and despite the few moments where forced American accents inevitably slipped it, is a performance I would recommend to anybody.

In Miller’s play, he tries to present to us about a rather unconventional type of hero and the fate his character dictates. 

A hard-working man, with a strong moral and ethical code, suddenly finds his authority challenged. In his mind his authority is his essence, the totality of his identity. He lies out of self-interest, which reduces his heroic quality in the eyes of others, but he only care about his “name” and his “respect”. It’s not a nice heroism, it’s not the kind of heroism we were taught as children when hearing stories of princes and dragons, but there is something definitely heroic here: being true to your sense of right and wrong against all odds.

Whilst I was watching this play - a play I think might be the best I’ve seen at the Royal Exchange in many years - Adam Curtis’ newest creation was being beamed into homes across the land. I caught up with it on getting home and was surprised to discover the subject of heroes being discussed once more.

In the first episode of All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, Curtis introduces us to the idea that the dominant force behind the rise of both highly speculative financial markets and Silicon Valley in the latter half of the 20th century, were the ideas of Ayn Rand.

Rand was without doubt a fascinating writer. In fact, she might be better described as a philosopher who uses the rhetorical form of novels to present her ideas, more than “just” a writer. A rare kind of thinker, indeed.

Her novels are about heroes. Her style of hero is very distinct: there is an entire Wikipedia article dedicated to discussing them.

Rand’s heroes, like Miller’s, are heroic because they act out of self-interest. They believe themselves to be entirely rational and base their morality on that rationality. I think morality of pure self-interest is by definition subjective and selfish, however Rand’s arguments have something to them.

I’m still thinking about these philosophies. I love the idea of any individual choosing to become a hero - a Randian hero - and to do as the early winners in Silicon Valley and did. At the same time, Miller’s presentation of such a character who is unable to climb out of the economic constraints he finds himself imprisoned by, left me feeling such men are selfish, proud and contemptible characters.

I share these thoughts to hopefully make you do two things:

1. If you can, go and watch A View From A Bridge at the Royal Exchange. It’s wonderful theatre. If you’re not nearby, at least go and read the script. Some say a reading of the script is better than seeing the play, but I really think the production at the Royal Exchange is worth seeing.
2. If you can, go and watch Adam Curtis’ documentary (at the time of writing, it’s still on iPlayer if you’re in the UK). It’s wonderful, thoughtful, and at points quite witty. 

Both will make you think, if nothing else.