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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... creation myths and the epic of Gilgamesh ; the Hebrew creation stories in the book of Genesis along with the poetic material found in the Song of Songs and the Psalms ; the stories concerning the Greek Olympian pantheon ; and tales of ...
... creation only arrives at the understanding of creation when it recollects the alternative forms of meditative knowledge . ' We know to the extent to which we love ' , said Augustine . Through this form of astonished , wondering and ...
... creation of a new biological species , but rather with the creation of a new culture , an extension of the German cultural ideal . Ernst Nolte points out that ' To Villains , Monsters and Evil Masterminds 103.
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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