Contents Update for Vader, Voldemort and Other Villains

Vader, Voldemort and Other Villains: Essays on Evil in Popular Media

Edited by Jamey Heit

Print ISBN: 978-0-7864-5845-5
EBook ISBN: 978-0-7864-8510-9
notes, bibliographies, index
233pp. softcover 2011
Price: $35.00

About the Book
What is evil? How do we understand it in our culture? The thirteen essays in this critical volume explore the different ways in which evil is portrayed in popular culture, particularly film and novels. Iconic figures of evil are considered, as is the repeated use of classic themes within our intellectual tradition. Topics covered include serial killers in film, the Twilight series, the Harry Potter series, Star Wars, and more. Collectively, these essays suggest how vital the notion of evil is to our culture, which in turn suggest a need to reflect on what it means to value what is good.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii
Preface 1
Introduction 3

1. The Aesthetic of Evil 13
DANIEL A. FORBES
2. The Devil Made Me Do It! The Devil in 1960s–1970s Horror Film 28
ANTOINETTE F. WINSTEAD
3. Frankenstein’s Legacy: The Mad Scientist Remade 46
KRISTINE LARSEN
4. Focus on the Family: Good and Evil Vampires in the Twilight Saga 64
A.J. GRANT
5. The Dichotomy of the Great Mother Archetype in Disney Heroines and Villainesses 80
SARAH LYNNE BOWMAN
6. Exploring the Relay Gaze in Hollywood Cinema: Serial Killers and the Women Who Hunt Them 97
SARAH LAFFERTY
7. Wanting the White Witch 113
BRYAN DOVE
8. Paradise Inverted: Philip Pullman’s Use of High Fantasy and Epic Poetry to Portray Evil in His Dark Materials 125
E. QUINN FOX
9. Sim Evil: Avatars and the Ethical Game Mechanic 145
KELLY KELLEWAY
10. Making Modern Evil: Terrorism, Torture, and the Creation of Evil in 24 162
MICHAEL J. LEWIS
11. No Laughing Matter: The Joker as a Nietzschean Critique of Morality 175
JAMEY HEIT
12. I Am Your Father: The Villain and the Future Self 189
NATHANIEL VAN YPEREN
13. Hearts of Darkness: Voldemort and Iago, with a Little Help from Their Friends 202
KEN ROTHMAN

Epilogue 218
About the Contributors 221
Index 223

About the Author
Jamey Heit teaches at West Chester University and is now completing his doctorate at Glasgow University’s Centre for Literature, Theology and the Arts. He is the author of a previous book about religious themes in The Simpsons.