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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... explored and indeed understood in this imagina- tive mode was beyond question by those who produced such tales . That stories were a legitimate and valuable way of engag- ing with fundamental existential and cosmological issues was ...
... explored in the 2006 Marvel Comic mini - series Civil War written by Mark Miller , where the world's heroes are divided over the issue of government registration . Should these powerful individuals be accountable to the state or ...
... explored in R. Mayer , Super - Folks , Angus & Robertson , 1978 and also Alan Moore's celebrated Watchmen , DC comics , 1986 , and in a much lighter vein in the 2004 Pixar film The Incredibles . 44. Miller et al . , Book 3 , 1986 , p.31 ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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