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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Mike Alsford. when he confronts a Willow driven mad with power with nothing but his love for her , is nonetheless at ... confronts Spike in a church is particularly memorable : BUFFY : No more mind games Spike SPIKE : No more mind games ...
... confronting such individuals or regimes it is hard to think of a response short of physical force and restraint that might contain them . Just war In the so called ' war against terror ' that followed on from the attack on the United ...
... confront the world and we must ask ourselves : Today , am I hero or villain ? 23 This is of course not to say that these are the only two modes of being in the world . We are not always called upon to act heroically - even Superman ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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