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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... ultimately unreal , it is founded upon an eternal and absolute blueprint . It is these absolutes that give us the confidence to speak of truth and beauty and justice , to work towards an ideal society and the good life . Then it is an ...
... ultimately be guided out of the cave and into the sunlight . After a period of confusion and reorientation the freed prisoner would begin to encounter the real world , to see real objects and even to gaze upon the sun and finally ' he ...
... Ultimately the process of signals and mutual exchanges of aspects of ourselves gives way to free communion . At this point the careful attention to the balance of power which characteris- es our preliminary interaction with the other is ...
Contents
Myth and Imagination | 1 |
Heroes and Otherness | 23 |
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility | 63 |
Copyright | |
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