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
Results 1-3 of 27
... religions such as Christianity , Islam and Hinduism , whether this has been properly acknowledged or not , and heroic and ... religion have a habit of leaking over into secular life and culture . These images are understood to trigger a ...
... religion - and he had Christianity in mind here - was essentially a less sophisticated way of portraying the abstract truths of philosophy . Religion used images such as Father , Son and Holy Spirit to convey to the less educated and ...
Mike Alsford. as within many of the religions of the world . The notion of incarnation has to do with taking on human flesh and dwelling within the human world . The Christian religion for example has long held that Jesus , far from ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
2 other sections not shown