ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how teachers have been constructed as good and heroic in the classrooms of popular culture. It focuses on film and the equivocal way with which we deal with the notion of ‘goodness’ in Western society. It questions how we accommodate goodness and heroism when, as concepts, they do not seem to fit comfortably into a contemporary society where individual achievement and private enterprise dominate definitions of success. For many of us, goodness and heroism, especially when involving personal sacrifice, are difficult to comprehend, except perhaps in the exigencies of war, and, therefore, we are wary of them. Yet, the manifestation of goodness as heroism or saintliness is deeply embedded within Western mythology, legend, fairy tale and narrative. Notions of both heroism and saintliness permeate cultural and moral awareness, especially during childhood, when socialisation is crucial to development.
