HEALTHCARE HEROES: ARCHETYPE AND FOLKLORE
Abstract
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, groups across America started to recognize healthcare workers as heroes on the frontline of the fight against the virus. The healthcare hero is primarily a verbal form of folklore and started as a way to recognize the selfless work doctors and nurses perform and allowing the powerless public to express gratitude and find connection while in isolation. This modern myth making, however, has a cost on the very real people it glorifies. Attention is focused to the digital material folklore, as well as the contrast between esoteric and exoteric folklore.
Introduction
“Heroes work here,” the sign says as I drive past Laurelhurst. As I check my phone, I see that Funko has released a new “healthcare hero” Pop! and in New York they are clapping for the doctors and nurses working while I stay home and do my part. As with anything in the cultural zeitgeist, I share a meme disparaging cops and calling nurses the real heroes. Two weeks later, my brother starts school on Zoom and he draws a poster thanking the nurses. Life continues on and it is suddenly January 2022. Yet another variant has popped up and I come across a TikTok of a nurse crying. She has been told to brace herself for a terrible surge and I liked it to show some sympathy. A few videos in my scroll session later, and yet another Karen is calling the vaccine a hoax.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, we all have stories like this. Healthcare workers are called heroes and we may have clapped or made posters. It is a comforting archetype, but now there is a nagging thought in the recesses of our minds: are these heroes okay?
This website documents the healthcare hero archetype as folklore and presents two lenses with which to view it. While there are examples of verbal and customary folklore within this project, most of the focus is given to the digital material folklore.
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What is a Folk Hero?
Exoteric Folklore
