Soundings. Issue 3 Heroes and heroines - Stuart Hall

The purpose of this journal is to give a new direction and depth to a political, cultural and economic debate in Britain. It aims to explore the possibilities of a non-conservative order, and of the re-invention of the socialist tradition.;Apart from the special launch edition, each issue deals in depth with a particular theme. This issue explores our relationship to heroes and heroines, asking: do we need them; who can be one; is there a role for heroes and heroines in political or other imagined communities?;This issue takes as its theme the complexities of heroes and heroines. It looks at days of Empire, psychoanalysis, and modern and postmodern cinema, and asks: why do we need heroes and heroines; do we need them; and who gets to be a hero or heroine?;Part One includes: Cynthia Cockburn's photo essay of Bosnia; Peter Tatchell on a queer way o defining masculinity; Gilane Tauradros on culture going global; Iain Chambers' California sketches; Robin Murray on transport; David Donnison on changing times for the Left; and Angela McRobbie on postmodern psychoanalysis.;Part Two includes some expected and unexpected heroes and heroines: Susannah Radstone examines postmodern film and TV characters, such as Tommy cooper and Hannibal Lector;i Becky Hall looks from Jane Austen to Toni Morrison; Simon Edge talks to Peter Wildeblood; Barbara Taylor discusses mary Wollstonecraft; Kirsten Notten reviews the technology of heroes and heroines, with a look at "Star Trek" and "Star Wars".