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. Then it is an ideal pattern we were looking for when we tried to say what justice and injustice are in ... trying to establish its respectability in a world dominated by Greek culture . Bertrand Russell goes so far as to ...
... trying to come to terms with his returned soul : ' Look at you , trying to do what's right , just like her . You still don't get it . It's not about right , not about wrong , it's about power . '20 - A similar distinction between the ...
... tried to relieve world hunger , but I encountered heartbreaking poverty , not only in the slums and wastelands of ... trying to work out their differ- ences . The only response to unmitigated evil here seems to be force , the exercise ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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