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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... fight with a normal guy I could pulverize him ! PETER : Aww , forget it ! You're not even worth the trouble ! I've got more important things to do ! FLASH : Sure , things like chickening out of fights , and hiding whenever there's ...
... fights for those who cannot fight for themselves , fights against all hope , fights even against all reason when there is no obvious way to win . Part of what attracts us to the hero is their strength , their ability to stand up to evil ...
... fighting . I learned that from you . BUFFY : But we never ... ANGEL : We never win . BUFFY : Not completely . ANGEL : We never will . That's not why we fight . We do it ' cause there's things worth fighting for.14 The old adage ' all ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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