Heroes and VillainsHercules, Jesus, James Bond, Luke Skywalker, Gandalf, Frodo, Harry Potter, Buffy Summers, Spiderman, Batman, Captain Kirk, Dr. Who, Darth Vader, Sauron, Voldemort, Lex Luthor, Dr. Doom, the Daleks, the Borg. Almost anybody living in the developed West would be able to group these individuals into two camps: the heroes and the villains. However, what criteria they may use to do this is less clear. Mike Alsford introduces us to a range of heroic and villainous archetypes on a journey through film, television, comic books, and literature. On the way, he addresses questions such as: What is a true hero? What is a true villain? Have we misunderstood these terms? What kind of societal values do our mythical heroes and villains represent? In trying to understand the extremes of hero and villain we are made more aware of our own ethical standards and given a space in which to explore contemporary concerns over notions of right and wrong, good and bad. |
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... Daleks and Cybermen from Doctor Who , the Borg from Star Trek , the Replicators from Stargate , and so on , have a single guiding intelligence , and an insatiable drive to bring the rest of the uni- verse under the control of that ...
... Daleks , represent one of the starkest manifestations of the villain as characterised by hatred of otherness and the desire to bring it under control or to destroy it : VAN STATTEN : Why not just reason with this Dalek ? It must be ...
... Daleks ' , episode 2 , BBC , original broadcast May 1967 . 24. Rowling , J. K. , Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone , Bloomsbury , 1997 , p.211 . 25. Doctor Who , ' Genesis of the Daleks ' , BBC , original broadcast April 1975 ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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