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. |
From inside the book
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... what it is to be human remains a mystery to us . Try ask- ing yourself ' Who and what am I ? ' and you will see what I mean . While there are many valuable and insightful things that may be said about being human none of them ever comes ...
... what it is to be human remains a mystery to us . Try ask- ing yourself ' Who and what am I ? ' and you will see what I mean . While there are many valuable and insightful things that may be said about being human none of them ever comes ...
... What marks Buffy out is her sense of moral responsibility coupled with clear recognition of the ethical demands made on the self by the other . -- This sense of ethical duty , what we ' ought ' to do in any given situation rather than what ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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