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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... course one of the central problems that has plagued religions with an adherence to a transcendent divinity is , how does one reconcile the necessary otherness of God with the equally important belief that God is somehow sympathetic to ...
... course is a classic example of heroic redemption . Starting out his adult life in the eighteenth century as a foppish and rather ineffectual romantic , he becomes a vampire and his undead existence is one of cruelty and brutality that ...
... course power need not be understood simply in terms of force . For hero and villain alike , the acquisition of knowledge and its effective deployment are some of the most devastating tools at their disposal : This is Jack Hawksmoor ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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