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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... relating to the very nature and value of things . The origin of evil , and the struggle between it and its opposite , features large in many of these mythic cycles and as such the hero - whether god , demi- god or human agent of the ...
... relating to a humanity endowed with freedom . It is this freedom that gives rise to both our uniqueness and capacity for self - giving and creative choice while at the same time permit- ting us to adopt a self - serving , destructive ...
... relating to the world is a characteristic trait of the hero and this is often in the face of aggression and abuse . Compare the attitude and behaviour of Peter Parker in the above quote with that of the super villain Kid Marvelman . In ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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