Popularity is Power: Public Image and The Myth of the Hero

As we attempt to navigate what is being branded a post-truth era, we are under a constant barrage of corporate media and political campaigns that are increasingly sensationalist. This phenomenon has been highlighted in various works produced in the twenty-first century, and is an explicit feature of TV series The Boys (2019-present), which satirizes the contemporary socio-political sphere in the United States, notably targeting Donald Trump, and giving him a fictional analog in the series’ villain, Homelander (Anthony Starr). The explicit parallels between these two figures call into question matters of journalistic integrity, media literacy, the dissemination of misinformation, and the power of mass media in modern society. This essay analyses The Boys alongside real political events to outline the methods through which politicians, celebrities, and corporations have harnessed media to secure their route to power with the aid of misinformation, distraction, and the public’s desire to remain, above all else, entertained.