Yeah, while I like Batman to an unhealthy degree, I’ll never miss an opportunity to shit on what a horrible character he is.
Batman gets comic books and movies because he’s someone for us all to aspire to: being so rich and removed from reality that you don’t realize that you’re the creator of your own enemies. Being so fantastically wealthy that you can’t see how you’re causing a wealth gap that forces people to turn to crime so they can afford housing and food. Making it so that mentally ill people—who gain powers from desperate paid experiments, suffer workplace accidents due to poor worker’s rights, or birth defects due to proper healthcare inaccessibility—can’t access therapy and medication until they’re already labeled as criminals and are forced to be under the state’s care. And then he dresses up as a monster and beats the shit out of all of them at night. Batman and Bruce Wayne get comic books and movies because we applaud them for proving that they recognize that flattening the wealth gap will solve many problems by funding social services such as orphanages, but then missing the mark by privatizing what should be public services and funneling your largest donations through things like “charity auctions” and the ballet, an art form so removed from the lower classes that you beat the shit out of the poor just for showing up at a performance because they’re obviously unable to afford a ticket.
You wanna celebrate a woman who fucks a few monsters and then shoots them in the woods? That’s fine, but you gotta make a few minor changes: the woman has to be a man who is super strong instead of sexy, s/he needs to fight the disenfranchised rather than legitimately evil people, and they have to show their softer side by only permanently maiming these poor people instead of killing them. AKA, Batman.
He’s a great character of a horrible person; an anti-hero like Walter White or Hannibal Lecter. People like these characters because they give us a safe outlet for violent fantasies. They’re not completely without risk, however, because some people struggle with the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
I don’t think he’s aspirational at all however. He’s lonely and obsessive. He has many of the same mental health issues that his villainous rivals struggle with. The only difference is that he acts out his violent fantasies against criminals instead of the general public.
The only difference is that he acts out his violent fantasies against criminals instead of the general public.
I think this glosses over a bigger difference that lets his character off with a little less shit on him than he deserves: the only difference is that he can afford act out his violent fantasies against criminals. If beating up criminals paid the bills, I’m sure more of the criminals would do it. In fact, it’s so obvious that crime-fighting isn’t lucrative in Gotham, evidenced by the astounding number of dirty cops. The big baddies punch down on the general public because they can squeeze out money that way. The only reason Batman continues to get away with cosplaying as a villain is because the general public lets him get away with it.
Batman will have billions no matter who he beats up and he can afford privacy and security in his private life. If Batman tried beating up a villain and then went home to find out that someone killed Alfred to send a message and that Bruce Wayne couldn’t afford to feed himself, I’m sure it wouldn’t take long before his inner rage unleashed on some innocent bystander and he’d realize that beating up anyone feeds his violence addiction and that stealing money and food feeds his hunger.
And let’s not forget: these “criminals” are mostly people who were ostracized and desperate before getting caught on some charge that landed them in Arkham. When they were finally released, they were even more radicalized, unemployable, and destitute. If crime is their only perceivable career path, they can’t be faulted for that. And all of this begs the question: what kind of fucked up economy exists in Gotham that “villainy” is the second richest employer behind “self-employed billionaire bare-knuckle boxing bastard.”
Yeah, while I like Batman to an unhealthy degree, I’ll never miss an opportunity to shit on what a horrible character he is.
Batman gets comic books and movies because he’s someone for us all to aspire to: being so rich and removed from reality that you don’t realize that you’re the creator of your own enemies. Being so fantastically wealthy that you can’t see how you’re causing a wealth gap that forces people to turn to crime so they can afford housing and food. Making it so that mentally ill people—who gain powers from desperate paid experiments, suffer workplace accidents due to poor worker’s rights, or birth defects due to proper healthcare inaccessibility—can’t access therapy and medication until they’re already labeled as criminals and are forced to be under the state’s care. And then he dresses up as a monster and beats the shit out of all of them at night. Batman and Bruce Wayne get comic books and movies because we applaud them for proving that they recognize that flattening the wealth gap will solve many problems by funding social services such as orphanages, but then missing the mark by privatizing what should be public services and funneling your largest donations through things like “charity auctions” and the ballet, an art form so removed from the lower classes that you beat the shit out of the poor just for showing up at a performance because they’re obviously unable to afford a ticket.
You wanna celebrate a woman who fucks a few monsters and then shoots them in the woods? That’s fine, but you gotta make a few minor changes: the woman has to be a man who is super strong instead of sexy, s/he needs to fight the disenfranchised rather than legitimately evil people, and they have to show their softer side by only permanently maiming these poor people instead of killing them. AKA, Batman.
He’s a great character of a horrible person; an anti-hero like Walter White or Hannibal Lecter. People like these characters because they give us a safe outlet for violent fantasies. They’re not completely without risk, however, because some people struggle with the boundaries between fantasy and reality.
I don’t think he’s aspirational at all however. He’s lonely and obsessive. He has many of the same mental health issues that his villainous rivals struggle with. The only difference is that he acts out his violent fantasies against criminals instead of the general public.
I think this glosses over a bigger difference that lets his character off with a little less shit on him than he deserves: the only difference is that he can afford act out his violent fantasies against criminals. If beating up criminals paid the bills, I’m sure more of the criminals would do it. In fact, it’s so obvious that crime-fighting isn’t lucrative in Gotham, evidenced by the astounding number of dirty cops. The big baddies punch down on the general public because they can squeeze out money that way. The only reason Batman continues to get away with cosplaying as a villain is because the general public lets him get away with it.
Batman will have billions no matter who he beats up and he can afford privacy and security in his private life. If Batman tried beating up a villain and then went home to find out that someone killed Alfred to send a message and that Bruce Wayne couldn’t afford to feed himself, I’m sure it wouldn’t take long before his inner rage unleashed on some innocent bystander and he’d realize that beating up anyone feeds his violence addiction and that stealing money and food feeds his hunger.
And let’s not forget: these “criminals” are mostly people who were ostracized and desperate before getting caught on some charge that landed them in Arkham. When they were finally released, they were even more radicalized, unemployable, and destitute. If crime is their only perceivable career path, they can’t be faulted for that. And all of this begs the question: what kind of fucked up economy exists in Gotham that “villainy” is the second richest employer behind “self-employed billionaire bare-knuckle boxing bastard.”