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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... encounter with the world is often a moment of existential , character - transforming significance . It is also an exercise of the imagination . As we shall see in subsequent chapters often the identification of a hero or villain is ...
... encounter with the other the dominant experience is one of alienation . The other conforms to the category of ... encounters , our faces become impassive , our language monosyllabic . If we happen to be also in the company of a friend ...
... encounter with the world . This for Levinas is the true basis for an authentic ethical response to the world . my duty to respond to the other suspends my natural right to self - survival , le droit vitale . My ethical relation of love ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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