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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... motif pursued throughout the series that she is essentially and finally alone . This theme comes to a powerful conclusion in the last series where Buffy frequently makes this point in connection with her sole responsibility for the ...
... motif in heroic narratives , the hero's abhor- rence of the weapons and methods of evil . That the hero might so easily fall to the dark through the embracing of tainted tools and powers is a constant threat to those whose calling is ...
... her local constituency.19 With this in mind , it should not surprise us to find a strong incarnational motif within a great deal of heroic literature as well as within many of the religions of the world . 136 Heroes and Villains.
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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