Heroes and Villains

Front Cover
Darton, Longman & Todd, 2006 - Business & Economics - 158 pages
Hercules, Jesus, James Bond, Luke Skywalker, Gandalf, Frodo, Harry Potter, Buffy Summers, Spiderman, Batman, Captain Kirk, Dr Who, Darth Vader, Sauron, Voldemort, Lex Luther, Dr Doom, the Daleks, the Borg.Almost anybody living within the developed West would be able to group these individuals into two camps: the heroes and the villains. However, what criteria they might use to do this is less clear.Mike Alsford introduces us to a whole 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

Contents

Heroes and Otherness
23
With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility
63
Villains Monsters and Evil Masterminds
95
Copyright

1 other sections not shown

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2006)

Mike Alsford is Senior Lecturer in Theology at the University of Greenwich, London.

Bibliographic information