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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... nature such as cause and effect were based on nothing more than habit and custom . According to Hume the only reason that we identify something as a law of nature is because it has , so far , always behaved in a certain way , however ...
... nature and Jesus was recast in the form of the doomed anti - hero so beloved of romantic writers . The imagination was understood by the majority , but interestingly not all , 22 of the romantics as the primary route to understanding ...
... Nature , and the use of the same faculties , should also be equal one amongst another , without sub- ordination or subjection.17 He goes on to argue that this natural freedom is only curtailed out of respect for the freedom of others ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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