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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... abilities within the series . What marks Buffy out is her sense of moral responsibility coupled with clear recognition of the ... ability to determine what one ought to do is to be regarded as , what Kant calls , a necessary postulate of ...
... ability to stand in the way of evil , to make of themselves a tool to confront it . The power of the villain , on the other hand , is often bound up with their ability to manipulate others , to use them as weapons . Knowledge is power ...
... abilities , but in social and emotional anguish . How many times has Buffy missed out on a social event or had to ... ability should no more debar one from heroism than should the lack of those things . For an indi- vidual to stand in ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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