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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Mike Alsford. it ) So everything is okay , right ? Can we rest now ? Buffy ? Can we rest ? - Spike's desire for Buffy ... rests and describes this one incident as ' the best night of his life ' . As with Buffy's previous lover Angel ...
... rest of humanity : My face ... no other eyes must ever gaze upon it !! I'll hide from the sight of mankind ... somewhere ... somehow.29 The armour he clothes himself in is never removed and is designed to create a barrier between Doom ...
... rest of the world . To see a certain social or racial group as different from the rest of humanity is a dangerous and potentially bloody thing indeed , yet to see oneself as different from the rest of humanity is , I believe , the basis ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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