Memo to Batman: Please Retire Now!
By: Bean Jones
With The Dark Knight recently making a killing at the box office, I recalled that I was such a Batman freak when I was five.
I had a grand time with my superhero obsession, until my eldest brother Nick (who was about 14 at the time) told me why Batman became a superhero. "You can't be Batman, Bean," he said after I made a mess on his bed doing Batman moves. "He became a superhero just because bad guys killed his mom and dad. He's out for revenge."
Nick was shocked when I started to sob. The thought of losing my parents was terrifying and the fact that such a bad thing had already happened to a seemingly-indestructible superhero made it even more horrifying to me.
From then on, I felt sorry for Bruce Wayne. Even as the rest of the world has enjoyed his revenge-driven exploits, I still wince whenever I watch a Batman movie (and I've watched them all).
Thus, I winced at the line uttered by the character Harvey Dent in The Dark Knight: "You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." To appease the five-year-old boy in me who doesn't want to see Batman dead or become bad, I've come up with the perfect solution to end his revenge-fueled misery: He should retire.
Here are three good reasons why he should quit being a superhero:
1. Revenge wrecks lives. In her 1948 essay, "The Value of Vindictiveness," psychoanalyst Karen Horney classifies the desire for revenge as a "chronic illness." She writes: "This drive can be the governing passion of a lifetime--to which everything is subordinated, including self-interest. All intelligence, all energies, then, are dedicated to the one goal of vindictive triumph."
2. Revenge breaks hearts. In his book Beyond Revenge: The Evolution of the Forgiveness Instinct, psychologist Michael McCullough reveals, "When people think vengeful or vindictive thoughts about someone who harmed them in the past, they experience increases in blood pressure and heart rate. Holding a grudge for years or decades could contribute to wear and tear on the cardiovascular system. This could be one of the physiological mechanisms by which hostile thoughts and feelings cause people to die prematurely."
3. Revenge is not fate. Evolutionary scientists say that just because humans are genetically predisposed to vengeful behavior, it doesn't mean that they're solely at the mercy of their genes. "It's possible for humans to design environmental conditions in which people are motivated to forgive [rather than get even]," says McCullough.
That being said, I sure hope Batman won't think less of himself when he finally gets to lead a normal life as Bruce Wayne. (He could still continue to do good by contributing to worthy causes.) I'm pretty sure that's what his parents would have wanted for him. After all, isn't living well supposed to be the best revenge?
Comments
Where will the Batman franchise end? Will there be a Batman 97 where he has an orthopedic Bat suit, corrective bat cape? Will he need a Bat cane to make his landings a bit less wobbly? I hope he retires soon.
Bean, bean, bean...You've got it all wrong man. Your BROTHER had it all wrong and mislead you! Batman is not out for revenge. He is out to 'avenge.' I got that idea from a recent 1 hour documentary that appeared on the History Channel: "Batman Unmasked: The Psychology of the Dark Knight." Now, before posting this I looked in the dictionary to confirm "Avenge" was the correct term...there seems to be some discrepancy though in the definition as some say it is revenge...In the 1 hour documentary however it was proposed that while revenge is to "Get back at someone or something for some sort of crime or misdeed against you," avenging is to "prevent others from having the same experience as you did." So in the case of Batman, if he was after revenge, it would be for the purpose of getting back at crime for the hurt that was caused to him by the murder of his parents. But, that is not how Batman is going after crime! He's going after crime to protect Gotham City. They even touched upon that in Batman Begins when they showed that at first he wanted revenge, and in fact he WAS going to take his revenge by killing the man who murdered his parents...but as fate would have it, the man was killed moments before Bruce Wayne had the chance. We then experience Bruce Wayne going through a shift in character from being revengeful, to realizing he needs to go away and 'find himself,' to becoming a man who wants to protect others from crime: The protector of Gotham City.
So there you go Bean. Batman IS a hero and it isn't time for him to retire, because he is out to protect us :)
I recommend you check out that film I mentioned above on the Psychology of Batman. It was really interesting and entertaining. It also touched upon the psychology of the villains.
--Sean
There will always be a revenger in us and we can't kill him, but we can listen to him and his story and try to understand that he has a role to play like all the other "voices" in us. Like the controller, fear, the great fool, the seeking mind, the dualistic mind, the victim, the vulnerable child, the damaged self etc. Zen Master Dennis Genpo Merzel has written "Big Mind - Big Heart"...a beautyful book about this subject.
Thanks Bean. I think this well sums up why I object to the new Batman movie, though I couldn�t have articulated it.
I�ve never really been all that in to Batman, and what you write may just be why.
I appreciate Sean's distinction between revenge and avenging, but still - give it up Bruce Wayne and live a big, generous, loving life. Whether he's protecting us or not (as superhero or otherwise), he's not living life to the fullest because he's pre-occupied with fighting the battles of others. And he's doing it all alone - what a sad existence.
Besides, I don't really believe in villians like the one's in these movies, nor do I believe one person can do the job alone. Combatting evil and creating a beautiful world takes the synergistic efforts of many. Unity is plural, a minimum of two.
Cheers y'all.
We are all on a journey in life, and we are all at different places. We all get to choose where we go next and what we do. Avenging as in protecting others is a good deed, and in fact many communities exist because of the protection of our law forces. And there is the key, law forces, there are laws that we live and move in and around. Time tends to keep us in line, and challenges us in our 'balance' in and of life. While I may want some particular thing to change, I don't initially want to interfere with someone elses choice. I might ask them to think about where they are and what they are doing -- and then it is up to them to decide, what their life is about and how it is to be lived. If they choose poorly then there will be results to suffer and they may cycle around and down. If they choose wisely, they may suffer some, but they will come through it all.
Thougthful Replies! I'm impressed!
You know, I just saw that Dark Knight. I am bothered that Hollywood routinely portrays life so cheaply. There was a time when a single violent, painful death was enough to be gut wrenching.
In my mind hollywood has made the thing too dark, made life too cheap. Several clearly good people were painfully and graphically killed in the film, and many others killed in a way that showed total disregard for life.
I wish the bar for what is considered evil didn't have to be set so high for people to consider it evil.
There's a better way, Hollywood. When even one person dies, show all the people who care, and that one death would be heinous enough.
Sadly, Dolly, I have known a truly evil person (evil enough to eventually become a murderer), and seen him be able to get people to aid them in him in his sadism. So I know there are villians like the ones portrayed in the movie (not so colorful, perhaps, but every bit as cunning and sadistic, for no other apparent reason than the power trip they were on).
All that being said, I still like the mythos. I like Sean's distinction between revenge and avenge. And I like the idea that someone who could easily, leisurely, have it all, has instead devoted his life to something that he considers worthwile, for the good of humanity.
Is it lonely, maybe, but maybe not. Between Commissioner Gordon, Rachel, Harvey and Alfred, Bruce wasn't really alone.
I don't want to see Batman retire. But I do wish Hollywood, in general, would consider that even the life of one person is immensely valuable, and one innocent life willfully destroyed is plenty enough to brand the murderer a horrible evil.
Bean,
I can see the point that you're trying to make here. It took me a while (and still is a little bit) to get over some of the various stuff that my ex-wife put me through. For a long time I thought that she needed to pay for what she was doing.
Ironically one of the things that helped me to get over it was Mark's book Simpleology. Helping me see all the different mental falicies that we all use has done a lot for me. Heck it even lead me to start the Parent Custody blog to help other parents see what's out there, that their not alone, and to give them resources to help them deal with their own issues.
There is pretty much no good use for revenge, but one saying that I've always like that comes from the Chairman of the Board himself (Sinatra) is "The best revenge is massive success"
The idea of Batman, was to set things right in a world gone crazy. With an overbearing nefarious government and evil big business in bed together,
he is trying to right a wrong.
Batman is trying to even the odds. Most times the man on the street can't see who the bad guys really are. The average citizen is continually being made a salve with the brain washing of the boob tube and the government run schools.
See the movie "V For Vendetta" with the tag line, 'Citizens shouldn't be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of its
citizens'.
Then think about Thomas Jefferson's words... "When you give up freedom for security, soon you will have neither."
Think about who it is that really is taking away most of your hard earned money and who is taking away your freedom. Really think about it, because that is who the enemy truly is.
Batman should not retire, he needs to multiply and work to get our freedom back from the nefarious ones.
Vengefulness is closely akin to resentfulness, and Malachy McCort said, "Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die."
Revenge really is bad for your health, notwithstanding whether or not Batman should retire.
Batman is simply that part of us that sees the bad guys, gangs in my case, having their way with society. The good guys are hand tied by laws and lawyers. Batman simply does what needs to be done. He doesn't ask permission. He doesn't consult his lawyer. He doesn't seek a court order before he breaks down a door. He understands fighting fire with fire. The next time some punk kills people in a drive by, tell me you don't, at that point, wish you had a bat suit!!!
Thanks Bean,
I really wish this sort of information was mainstream.
When you see that so many people beleive it is normal to be that way, unknowingly stessing thier bodies at the same time.
Then, when you try and teach your kids that two wrongs don't make a right, well....if this sort of stuff was taught in school, then it would be much easier.
I agree with Tony that there is way tooooo much violence and darkness and its time Hollywood quit killing so many people. I came away from the movie very depressed and saddened by the extreme violence. I was depressed that is until I saw the most beautiful smile on my wifes face coming out of an ajoining theatre. She went to see Mama Mia with a friend while the "guys" went to see Batman. She had a mile wide smile and a mood that lasted for days. The music and the spirit and the fun truly made her feel great and helped me get over Batman. She is taking me to see Mama Mia soon. Yes Batman find another way to save the world or put your wings in mothballs.
I have seen only a few of the Batman movies - the most recent ones to be specific. I saw the Dark Knight because it was Heath Leger's last and I felt a need (like a lot of his fans do) to pay him my last respect.
As far as Batman's retirement goes, I doubt that guy will retire anytime soon because the world is not ready to let him off anytime soon. I am not in support of him killing people for vengeance but, realistically, what are the chances that Hollywood will stop rolling Batman movies out? I doubt he'll retire anytime soon no matter what we think here...
Just look at how you feel the next day after a night of anger or wishing someone would suffer.
Picturing others paying for your pain or darkness nagates the very real truth that you are yourself deciding the thoughts you think.