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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... Hyde from Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is a good example of this . Jekyll's formula was not designed to turn him into a monster as such but to release him from his conscience : There was something ...
... Hyde ; but the situation was apart from ordinary laws , and insidiously relaxed the grasp of conscience . It was Hyde , after all , and Hyde alone , that was guilty . Jekyll was no worse ; he woke again to his good qualities seemingly ...
... Hyde are por- trayed as being let loose upon society by well - meaning and apparently civilized individuals who consider themselves to be in some way in control.38 Bram Stoker's Count Dracula39 is , effectively , contained with- in the ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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