BOBC |
Resource type: Book Chapter Language: en: English DOI: 10.1163/9789004322257_017 BibTeX citation key: Harris2017a Email resource to friend View all bibliographic details |
Categories: General Keywords: "Batman", "Spider-Man", "The Avengers", Adaptation, Film adaptation, Intertextuality, Literature, Stevenson. Robert Louis, Superhero, USA Creators: Harris, Poore Publisher: Brill (Leiden) Collection: Neo-Victorian Villains. Adaptations and Transformations in Popular Culture |
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Abstract |
This chapter concentrates on three adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson’s villainous creation, Edward Hyde: the Hulk in The Avengers (2012), the Lizard in The Amazing Spiderman (2012) and Two-Face in The Dark Knight (2008). Hyde as a neo-Victorian villain has been particularly successful in the superhero genre, which is fundamentally concerned with identity and personal responsibility. Hyde represents a darker, animalistic self which acts on the urges repressed by Victorian morality. This chapter considers the appeal and relevance of updated Hyde characters in modern society. I analyse the elements that superhero films and Hyde appropriations share with Stevenson’s story before arguing that to modern audiences, Hyde represents not urges that society represses, but the difficulty in knowing moral limits in a world where the old codes and traditions are fading.
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