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"I am not [well known character archetype]"
does literally everything possible to follow that archetype
cough cough one piece cough cough
Just startend one piece, what exactly do you mean?
"I'm not a hero, I don't want to be one, I want to be a pirate"
does practically everything a hero would do in every situation
queue morbillion comments about peak fiction writing.
Well then you haven't been paying attention. His ideal of a pirate comes from a red haired guy with high values not from those who pillage, kill and steal for fun. And he rarely goes out of his way to help some rando. Every time he has helped someone, it's because he considered them a friend or they helped luffy first out of their kindness. He's just paying back their kindness. If it involves saving a burning Kingdom for a friend who happens to be its princess, then so be it.
Nothing heroic about it. Even villains help their friends. I won't say it's peak fiction. But it's pretty close to it.
You can pretty much always count on a hero to:
- Leave their ordinary world to pursue a mission in unfamiliar circumstances.
- Discover new friends and make new enemies, including one primary foe who seems undefeatable.
- Face tremendous trials.
- Learn difficult lessons.
- Experience an “all is lost” moment or a moral dilemma. Or both.
And
In terms of what the hero is like as a person, traits can vary. However, the most common qualities seen in the hero archetype are:
- Physical or magical strength.
- Physical, mental, and emotional resilience.
- Persistence.
- Courage.
- A strong sense of right and wrong.
- Commitment to a mission, relationship, or value system.
- An impulse to protect the defenseless or give a voice to the unheard.
This dude is a 1:1 match for the hero archetype lol. Name one example where Luffy decided not to help or choose a mutually beneficial solution to another character that he liked. Helping only friends and kind doesn't make you any less of a hero.
There's nothing wrong with following the archetype, it's actually a sign of good story writing.
But having him say "I'm not a hero" every five seconds is annoying as hell and feels like shoehorned dialogue that doesn't go anywhere or build on anything.
Your statement of what a hero does is more like a protagonist's definition.
Regarding the characteristics of a hero, which you stated, that can also be applied to a villain. A villain can have the same traits except his sense of right and wrong is twisted or flawed. Tragic villains are often born because they were the unheard or defenceless. So now they will become the voice of the unheard.
My definition of a hero is someone who puts their own well-being far below than others'. Someone who will go out of his way to save a stranger whom he has never seen before. Someone who just keeps giving and giving until there's nothing left. A selfless, kind, naive person. Superman is what I'd call a hero.
Luffy isn't one. Yes he has a sense of right and wrong and is kind. But he's selfish. He will beat anyone who stands in his way of achieving his dream. He has multiple times puts his crew in a pinch(because of stupidity) or state of financial ruin(by eating whole rations or spending all their hard earned fortune on parties).
And I've only heard him say I'm not a hero once or twice. But what he does say often is he want to be a pirate King.
You don’t like it that the character says he does not want to be something that he is?