The ironic hero of Virginia Tech: Healing trauma through mythical narrative and collective memory

Abstract

In times of great trauma, news can offer healing, consolation and inspiration. This study applied textual analysis of news items and opinion pieces about the April 2007 shootings at Virginia Tech to explore how collective memory and mythical narratives become part of the healing process that news media offer to society. Many of the items studied involved an ironic hero who survived the Holocaust only to die at Virginia Tech, with frequent references to collective memory of school shootings and the Holocaust, along with narratives based on the hero myth. The ironic hero became the perfect story character to fuse both narrative tools to bring a stronger positive message of healing.