Stories are often about unreasonable people. Ones we agree with, and would like to be more like. Erin Brockovich. Han Solo. Inspector Clouseau. And ones we vilify. Darth Vader. Freddie Krueger. Bridget Jones. And there are ambiguous characters too, who we are attracted to and repelled by at the same time, and are all the more compelling for that. Hannibal Lecter. Tony Wilson as portrayed by Steve Cogan in 24 Hour Party People. Many of the characters played by John Belushi.

A hero is someone who wants to change at least an aspect of the world, inner or outer, though in the realm of story at least it can be supposed that each contains the other. As above, so below is how alchemical thought expresses that relationship. A new paradigm in the story can be indicated by some combination of the two: conflict resolved internally will be mirrored in the way the protagonist deals with others in a personal drama, for instance. In a more epic story, after slaying a dragon, the mythic hero lets loose a contented belch after eating a well-earned steak.

What about when a hero wants to keep things the way they are in a changing world? That’s a possibility too, seen less often: one example is Dodgeball. The easygoing protagonist owns a rundown gym inhabited by a variety of curious characters whose endearing eccentricities find no sympathy with the avaricious owner of the corporate-style fitness centre across the road. Sure, characters go through transformative arcs, there’s a mentor to help them accomplish their personal and collective alchemy, and geeky guys get good gals, but this is fundamentally a story about maintaining a safe space for individuality in a world of growing conformity.

If you’re looking for a cutesy statement of theme for Dodgeball, ‘It’s being different that makes us the same’ would be about right. At the other end of the spectrum is Independence Day, with difference being the threat rather than something to be celebrated. The world, which as the title suggests is functionally identical with America, is under threat from alien attack. Only a melting-pot of raggletaggle heroes as varied as Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum can save the red, white, and me and you…as long as their uniqueness is at the service of the military-industrial complex. That’s like the hero of Dodgeball agreeing to be bought out by his empire-building rival, a prospect that produces an instinctive shudder.

Independence Day is an endorsement of The Man, who in his Dodgeball incarnation takes the specific form of cheesy fitness entrepreneur White Goodman. This good white man is size-conscious, status-driven, sexually frustrated, and fundamentally just doesn’t Get It. Remind you of any alpha males of your acquaintance, from ones running the world’s biggest economy and down? I doubt the hegemony will be quaking in its boots – they’ll be chuckling along with the rest of us, perhaps with a hint of forced laughter – but ridicule can be a powerful tool.

In Blink, Malcolm Gladwell outlines what happens when an undercover reporter exposes the secrets of the KKK and incorporates them into episodes of the Superman radio show, beloved of America’s kids, who – for a while – stopped pitting the Kryptonian hero against bank robbers in their play, and instead pitted him against grown men dressing up in bedsheets to torment minorities. The consequence was a fall in Klan membership that lasted for decades.

Of course, America isn’t the only country looking to maintain its version of the status quo: in Hero, the enemy to China is within, and – though there’s arguably some ambiguity – the preservation of the state outweighs individual concerns. Not an unexpected message from the nation that brought us Tiananmen Square and the ongoing suppression of Falun Gong, but certainly an unusual stance for an internationally successful movie to take. But look! Martial artists, and the way they jump it’s almost like they’re flying! Lush settings, exquisite cinematography! The lure of the exotic! Ever get that feeling when you’ve had a Chinese that you’d like something more?