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 18
... truth . Plato was well aware of the destructive potential of the Sophist's teachings and thus taught that while the world that we perceive with our senses may very well be shadowy and ultimately unreal , it is founded upon an eternal ...
... truth thus saving us from the dangers of scepticism and anarchy . So Descartes ' response to the potential for anarchy and epistemological relativism attendant upon the increasing loss of confidence in traditional authorities was to ...
... truth should always be pursued is one that , I believe , ought to be reconsidered . Hearing the truth is not always the most helpful nor even the most humane course of action and there is , I would venture , some knowledge that perhaps ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
2 other sections not shown