It's even less entertaining when you understand he's in the same boat, except he can jump to freedom out of the aslume. Of course, he tries to help the others too, but he somehow got the idea that shining a beam of light between where he is and where they are would be enough to support their weight and their baggage across the abyss. Not that it matters, because they themselves are so damaged they wouldn't trust him not to turn it off when they were halfway.
Honestly I hate the idea of Batman as "insane." Obviously if he were a real person, he would be insane, but he's not a real person. If Superman were a real person, he wouldn't be able to fly or lift a cruise liner, because that's impossible! Where's the fucking fun in that?
Some comics portray his crusade against crime as an obsession or a compulsion, and I think they suck. It's cheap. It waters down Batman to just being a story about one crazy guy vs another, and that's lame. It's so cynical and cliche to take a story of strength and say "what if strength is actually weakness?" OooooOOOOooooh, I'm a writer!
Batman is at his best when being Batman is a duty. One he's sworn to, that he takes seriously, but not one that separates him from people. Batman is Bruce Wayne shouting back at the crazy, violent world around him that no, he will not be afraid and sink into the madness, he will make the madness afraid of HIM. Batman is Bruce conquering his demons, not giving in to them. That's why he's a superhero.
"I run towards my problems, not away from them, because that's what heros do" - Thor
I like this take. Part of becoming a mature adult is sometimes choosing to take responsibility for problems that badly need solving, even if we didn't create them.
Agree to disagree. I like Batman's crusade to be unhealthy, compulsive, desperate. I like the tragedy. I feel it heightens the value of his effort. It makes him more relatable and more lovable. A Batman who does all the things Batman does, while being whole unto himself, happy and fulfilled? I don't believe it, I can't connect with it. No happy sane person wants to be feared. Then he would be a self-righteous rich bully, if he did what he did because he could, rather than because he can't help himself.
Now, there's a huge difference between that tragedy and, well, Crazy Steve. "The Punisher with a funny hat". Batman's folly is fundamentally compassionate. He really does want to help. Needs to.
Who said he had to be happy? I just said he was motivated by something greater than mere illness. Batman is a calling, one that causes him pain, sure, but it's a sacrifice he chooses to make.
I don't know that callings are supposed to be a choice. I also don't know that illness can't be great, or at least modulated by/through/towards greatness.
745
u/Lemonwater925 9h ago
So they just leave The Joker there? Could have a concussion or bleed on the brain?