Assignment: Consider a hero or villain, or someone along the hero → villain spectrum fictional. They can also be a representation from any of the following primary texts: book, movie, television series, graphic novel, comic book, activist, artist. Your task is to write a fully-fledged academic essay stating why you think this figure is either a hero, villain, or anti-hero, or outlaw, or possibly a combination of two. If your figure has multiple representations, like Batman or Joker, you must choose ONE representational text for your argument—this will be your primary source, or text. Identify the places where your figure demonstrates the most heroism or villainous traits and use those clips/scenes/images to form your argument. Here are some things to consider for the content of your paper:
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Perhaps you think this figure is somewhere in between the hero → villain spectrum, like a hero and outlaw figure such as Robin Hood, or and anti-hero character like Walter White (Breaking Bad) and if so, identify the qualities and/or characteristics that makes them ambiguous and not exclusively a hero or villain, and specifically an anti-hero or outlaw.
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Miguel O’Hara (Across the Spiderverse)
Categorize traits based on which are more heroic and which are more villain
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Explain and analyze your figure’s general purpose or specific function. For example: fighting city crime like Batman, or a more specific purpose like Walter White (Breaking Bad) immersing himself in the crystal-meth trade to make money.
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Break down actions – why he does what he is doing, he is technically fighting crime, but his morals are impacting that.
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Butterfly effect/multiverse
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Nothing would have happened if he hadn’t changed to a different universe to live out his life
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Describe what the figure looks like. Explain and analyze their appearance, and how their appearance either adds to or takes away from, your interpretation of the figure’s function or purpose. For example, Deadshot (Suicide Squad) must put on a specific uniform equipped with gadgets that make him become Deadshot.
This is not an exhaustive list and you may not be able to address all questions dependent on your chosen figure. Additionally, you may add to this list in any way you see fit, so long as you show why your figure is a hero or villain.
The Research: You will use research directly related to your topic in the body paragraphs of the essay; these are your secondary sources (four of them must be scholarly). The Annotated Bibliography sources are the research sources you will incorporate to support your argument.