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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... gave the series a much darker contemporary edge . At the end of the original series Marvelman and Kid Marvelman had both , apparently , been destroyed in an atomic blast however , in the 1980s series , we discover that they had in fact ...
... gave them my obedience and my invisibility . They gave me a licence and let us live . 44 The eventual violent confrontation between these two iconic heroes is one of the most powerful in comic book history and highlights the essential ...
... gave birth to . George wasn't there to save his younger brother from drowning , and consequently as his brother never grew up to be a fighter pilot during the Second World War , and thus was never in a position to save a troop carrier ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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