Leo Eticknap notes: > If we define a hero as being the character with whom the film-maker(s) > intends the viewer to most readily empathise with, then a lot of Fritz > Lang's films explore this issue, albeit with similar parameters in mind. > Three which come readily to mind are... > > Part 2 of DIE NIEBELUNGEN in which Kriemhild gets up to some pretty nasty > tricks,, most of which she justifies as avenging Siegfried's murder... (cf. > the recent 'evil women' thread) Kriemhild is more ingenious than some of her predecessors, but she's firmly within the tradition of Revenge literature, including Scandanavian sagas (like BURNT NJAL) and German predecessors. There was a very interest paper on the Revenge film at SCS in Chicago, but the type certainly goes back at least as far as Greek tragedy, not to mention all those Elizabethan and Jacobean revenge tragedies. By certain standards, one can say that the morality of these is complicated at least. For that matter, look at all those passages in the Old Testament when God commands a warrior to smite all enemies, down to the child in its mother's womb. I doubt that an absolute standard of "heroism" can apply to all texts and all cultures. Don Larsson ---------------------- Donald Larsson Minnesota State U, Mankato [log in to unmask] ---- To sign off Screen-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF Screen-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]