This is the fifth chapter in a six-part series of video essays looking at how movies have examined the many facets of fame. Also in this series: Part 1 (The Pitch), Part 2 (The Hero), Part 3 (The Fraud), Part 4 (The Parasite), and Part 6 (The Takeaway). This installment, titled "The Maverick," deals with a disreputable offshoot of the traditional hero: an eloquent, exuberant, often impolite figure who serves as a town crier or truth-teller figure (or seems to). Unlike the traditional hero, The Maverick seems to take a more active role in shaping his image and connecting with the public. He's an outsider who uses mass media to articulate the audience's fears and yearnings, and whose charisma spurs them to action.

There are many different varieties of Maverick, ranging from pure entertainers (such as Howard Stern in Private Parts) to outlaws that spew suppressed or forbidden thoughts (Barry Champlain in Talk Radio, Hard Harry in Pump Up the Volume). More troubling are the rebels-in-name-only, a group that includes the title character of Bob Roberts, a millionaire right-wing mouthpiece who repackages establishment sentiments as outlaw philosophy. The Maverick is impulsive, volatile, sometimes unstable, and prone to self-destruction. And in the end he's not as powerful as he or his audience may think, because his fame depends on access to microphones or TV cameras that can be taken away at any time, for any reason.