The Vigilante A Reoccurring Archetype in American...

The vigilante is a reoccurring archetype in American entertainment and can be seen from comic books from the early 20th century to films released in 2010. Robert B. Ray in his piece about the vigilante makes it clear that the vigilante is a large part of American entertainment and culture. The vigilante is one that believes that they are above the law and that the law is inadequate. This idea that the law is inadequate or unjust stems from Henry Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience. Thoreau believes that when the government is unjust, that we should do what we believe is moral or right, even if it means breaking the law. The vigilante often takes violent and dangerous measures to create justice in their world and in doing so raise a moral†¦show more content†¦This idea is crucial to the development of the vigilante because this is exactly how the vigilante views the law and the government. As Robert B. Ray describes it the outlaw hero or vigilante’s motto is â€Å"I don’t know what the law is, but I do know what’s right and wrong.† The motto that Ray puts forward is analogous with Thoreau’s view of government, that it might as well not exist because the individuals moral compass in more important than the majority’s. America’s history is full of groups of vigilantes set out to right the wrongs of society. A disturbing example of a very successful group of vigilantes is the Ku Klux Klan or the KKK. The KKK was seen in numbers reaching the millions in the late nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The KKK can be identified as a group of vigilantes because they came about after the Civil War and the eradication of slavery. The founders of the KKK had the mindset of the vigilante because they believed in the superiority of the white race and thought it was justified to protect that superiority over blacks, Jews and other minorities. Although according to society’s standards the KKK were terrorists, racists and