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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... recognise that the world cannot be made right simply by following a formula or a procedure . That nebulous ... recognising its dark obverse the potential for violence and chaos . It is in this mode of existence in the world that the hero ...
... recognised and exploited this common- place observation as indeed have advertisers and brainwashers . In order to manipulate people into submission it is important to know what makes them tick , what they want , what they fear , what ...
... recognised that for a society to function properly certain freedoms have to be sacrificed for the sake of the greater good . Back in the seventeenth century John Locke made a similar point as he sought to develop the notion of a social ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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