NoFace for Film

About a month ago my boyfriend and I started renting DVDs of Lost, Season 1. Yes, we’re a little behind with the times

The pilot episode is very exciting. A man in a business suit wakes up and finds himself in the middle of the jungle. Injured and dazed, he looks around for a bit, then starts running. He runs through the jungle until he finds himself on a beach, where he (and the audience) find the remnants of a commercial passenger plane. There is debris everywhere. Some survivors are injured while others are running from the plane. A few dissolve into nervous breakdowns.

The man surveys the scene and takes action. The camera follows him as he helps out one person after another. He helps drag out one man pinned by debris. He uses CPR to resuscitate an unconscious woman. He saves a pregnant woman and a fat man from being flattened by a large piece of the plane falling down on them.

As the man in the suit is going around saving everyone, the fat man asks him what his name is. He turns around, pauses for a beat, and says his name.

“Jack.”

I was not surprised at all that Jack was the hero’s name. It dawned on me that most heroes on TV and in the movies are named Jack. I know it sounds silly, but it’s just something I noticed.

Here’s a small list of TV and movie heroes named Jack. When I say hero, I mean it in the literal sense- the badass guy who rescues people and stuff; an adventurer. Jack Dawson from Titanic (Leonardo DiCaprio’s character) is a main character but not really a hero.

Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean films)
Jack Bauer (24)
Jack Bristow (Alias)
Jack Ryan (Patriot Games, Clear and Present Danger, The Sum of All Fears)
Jack Sheperd (Lost)
Jack Burton (Big Trouble in Little China)
Jack Driscoll (Peter Jackson’s King Kong)
Jack Aubry (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)
Jack Colton (Romancing the Stone, The Jewel of the Nile)

I’m just wondering why so many heroes are named Jack. I suppose part of it because it’s one syllable, and one-syllable names sound cooler and more hardass. Maybe it’s because names that start with J sound more serious, like a guy with that name really means business. Then again, you don’t see many TV/movie heroes named Jeff, or Jared, or Jake, or Jason- and all four of those names sound just as cool as Jack.

I dunno. What do you guys think?

Captain Jack Sparrow, Jack Bauer, Jack Bristow, Jack Ryan, Jack Sheperd, Jack Burton, Jack Driscoll, Jack Aubry, Jack Colton