Got some free time this November 9th at 7:30pm EST? Then join me and several other awesome geeks as we chat about The Bat! I will be part of an online panel discussing everyone’s favorite fictional genius billionaire playboy philanthropist this Thursday. Please stop by!
One of my earliest memories as a child is watching Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. It came out all the way back in 1993 when I was just five years old, so I have to imagine either my parents took me or we rented it on VHS. I remember being a wide-eyed youth, precocious and probably too young to understand everything, but what I did understand was the following scene:
Even at that young an age, I was captivated by Kevin Conroy’s performance as Batman, particularly this moving scene of Bruce begging his parents to forgive him and let him out of his vow and promise because he unexpectedly fell in love. It is one of the most beautiful things ever created that relates to Batman and to Kevin Conroy.
I met Kevin Conroy at a con back in 2013. I was so nervous that my hands were shaking as I walked up to his table and greeted him. I told him that his portrayal of Batman was the definitive one for all time and that his Bruce Wayne and his Batman were figures of my own struggling mental health. Whenever I became suicidal, the only thing that would stop me from killing myself was imagining Bruce Wayne telling me to be strong and live through my trauma to be a better person and a good soldier. Kevin Conroy was visibly moved by hearing that and offered me encouragement and gracious thanks before being kind enough to take this photo with me.
Later on, I attended the panel that he had and I asked him what his performance as Batman has taught him over the years. He gave the most beautiful, eloquent answer that I’m so blessed to have witnessed:
For my entire life, Batman has been my constant. He has been my pillar of strength given that I struggle with depression and anxiety. He has been my touchstone, as odd as it sounds, and Kevin Conroy is why. He is our Batman. He is the sole embodiment of good and justice and kindness and strength and love. I loved him with all my heart and I will mourn him for the rest of my days. We were so blessed to be a part of his life, to love him and support him, to share his amazing work and the work of the DCAU team. We were so inspired by the way that he lived his life. The world has lost a beacon of light and decency. It’s so hard saying goodbye to such a good man. He lived a life that was an example of the best that a man can be and we will miss him always.
Thank you for what you’ve given us, Kevin. Thank you for giving me the strength not to end my life. Thank you for inspiring generation after generation. We love you so much.
I love you so much.
Rest well, beloved.
“There’s one thing I gotta know: why’d you stay with me all day, risking your butt for someone who’s never given ya anything but trouble?”
“I know what it’s like to try and rebuild a life. I had a bad day too, once.”
-Harley Quinn and Batman, “Harley’s Holiday” Batman: the Animated Series
Disappointment is a part of life. It’s an ugly part, but a part nonetheless. In that respect, I suppose I should just accept the fact that Dr. Harleen Quinzel finally premiered on the silver screen in Suicide Squad and unfortunately wasn’t what I always dreamt she would be. I’m sure there are arguments that they were adapting the more recent comic book version of her rather than where she came from originally in the animated series, but you have to understand that Harley’s been in my Top 10 Favorite Female Characters list since I was a kid, and for her to be anything less than her zany, colorful, tragic self is like getting emotionally knee-capped.
In my full review of Suicide Squad, I broke down why I consider that version of Harley to be a failure, but that’s also the hyper-angry fangirl who just came out of a premiere. I’ve had some time (and coffee) to think about why I’m so disheartened by DC’s choice to portray her that way. I think it’s because it continues with the pessimistic misunderstanding of the comic book characters by the directors/writers/producers DC has chosen to start off the DC Expanded Universe as we progress towards the Justice League movie and then branch out to solo films.
Harley Quinn made her debut in episode 22 “Joker’s Favor.” She became quite a character in and of herself playing off of the Joker, who was pretty damn hilarious in his own right, but the fact of the matter is that he’s a serial killer and it can plunge the show into some truly dark material when he’s the main focus of an episode, and Harley manages to lift the veil somewhat with comic relief. As the show progressed, the writers realized that she had a ton of potential to be more than a quippy sidekick–much like how Shego from Kim Possible gained tons of attention when Nicole Sullivan made her such an enjoyable Deadpan Snarker that they expanded her role. The fact that the Joker is so evil and so crazy that he could turn a smart, young, ambitious psychiatrist just as crazy as him enhanced not only his character, but it allowed the show the opportunity to explore a truly damaged woman in the quintessential toxic relationship. The show makes it quite clear that Joker is only faking his attachment to her, playing her like a fiddle whenever he gets the chance. To be fair, he knows she’s actually quite useful and she can hold her own against some nasty adversaries (my personal favorite being her fight with Lex Luthor’s bodyguard Mercy in “The World’s Finest”), but most of the time he just enjoys stringing her along for his own sick amusement. Poor Harley seems to always come back from more even after he rejects her or lets her get caught while he escapes.
The fullest extent that her character has been explored in the show was definitely when we learn her origin story in “Mad Love.” After a flashback that shows how it all started–with her trying to treat him in Arkham Asylum and he manipulates her into falling in love with him–Harley decides that in order to get her happily ever after, she has to take care of Batman for her Puddin’ instead of waiting around for it to happen. She takes one of his schemes and applies it with a little twist, and the most interesting part of all is that it actually works. Batman ends up captured and facing certain death, and the only way he manages to save himself is to convince Harley to call the Joker to prove she caught Batman. The Joker goes apeshit when he learns she tried to kill Batman herself, and he thinks she did it the “wrong” way, and poor Harley gets tossed out of a window for her trouble. She almost sees the light, but unfortunately, the Joker butters her up and she falls for him all over again.
What really struck me about “Mad Love” is the complexity we see in the scene between Batman and Harley after she’s caught him. She is a surprisingly capable little actress, which is why Batman fell for the trap, and I think that’s why he tries to talk to her. The conversation they have about the Joker using her is actually kind of heartbreaking, especially when you consider very few of Batman’s villains will hold a full conversation with him. Batman genuinely cares that the Joker is using her and that she’s thrown away her life chasing after him, as he reveals the fake backstory the Joker used to seduce Harley into thinking he was just a victim of an abusive home life who just wants the world to laugh at his antics. Batman didn’t have to do that. He could have tried another way to get himself out of the trap, but he really did try to get through to her, and that says a lot about her potential. He even rubs it in the Joker’s face later, saying she came closer to killing him than the Joker ever did, and I think that also says a lot about what he thinks of her.
Another truly fantastic episode is my personal favorite, “Harley’s Holiday.” In this episode, Harley finishes her rehabilitation at Arkham Asylum and is declared sane and gets released. She goes to buy a dress, but doesn’t notice the security tag is still on it, so when she tries to leave, the alarm goes off and a security guard tries to get the dress back to remove the tag. Poor Harley gets spooked since it’s her first day out and overreacts, running away and inadvertently kidnapping Veronica Vreeland and leading Batman and the cops and a mobster on a crazy chase. In the end, Batman catches up with her and they have another conversation where he tries to convince her to turn herself in before the misunderstanding gets overblown. The whole thing is sealed with a truly sweet moment where after he brings her back to Arkham, Batman gives her back the dress she bought, and that’s the quote that you see at the top of this blog post.
Plus, she rewards him with a kiss and it’s possibly one of the funniest moments in the show’s entire run.
My point is that Harley’s entire character arc and intention is based around the fact that she’s both light and dark. She’s insane, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t capable of still being a person, of still being human, and honestly one thing I’ve always wondered is if you can consider her to be evil or not. Are her actions solely dictated because she’s got a screw loose? Is she still in control of what she does in relation to the Joker after he broke her mind? Is she a victim, or did we cross over into free will after a certain point down the line? Where does the real Harley end and the Harley that the Joker made begin?
The reason I dislike the Suicide Squad Harley so much is that they took away the most vital part of her by making the Jared Leto Joker in love with her, going through great lengths to get her back, and his entire character shows no signs of interest in anything else aside from just having his girl by his side. That robs her of so much weight. If the Joker really did love her, then there’s no longer a struggle for her to be put through like there is in the original cartoon. She actually spends time away from him, like in the above episode, or in “Harley and Ivy” when she becomes best friends with Poison Ivy and they go on a Thelma and Louise style crime spree without him. Ivy even encourages her to forget the creep, and unfortunately she still can’t resist him and he screws her over like always. Harley is dangerously codependent, and she’s supposed to be this way as an example for a lot of unfortunate women who stay attached to a total abusive creep. It’s something that kids would have needed to learn about back then, and that’s always something the animated series excelled at: teaching kids life lessons and exposing them to issues that would become important when they got older. Hell, the reason I’ve got the Bat-symbol tattooed on my shoulder is because of this show. It never talked down to me. It took my mind seriously and gave me a phenomenal show with memorable characters like Harley and it broke it down into terms I could understand when discussing big issues.
Suicide Squad Harley doesn’t have that. They stripped her of that weight and importance the same way they stripped her out of the outfit we loved so much and replaced it with booty shorts and stilettos. Placing the emphasis on her being in love with Jared-Joker and him appearing to love her back is just a complete misunderstanding of their entire dynamic and why it’s stuck with fans of the original iterations. It’s also poisonous to those who are easily led, because in my opinion, the film actually doesn’t even make it seem like their “love affair” is all that bad. He tortured her and made her throw herself into the vat of chemicals that turned him into what he was, and yet the film places so much attention on their union that it doesn’t even seem to understand how unhealthy it is. Sure, the average person has enough sense to know that they’re both crazy criminals who should not ever be seen in a positive light, but it still doesn’t sit right with me. Especially when you consider how hard the film focuses on Harley’s sexuality instead of anything else that she can do aside from hit people with a baseball bat.
(Keep in mind, I’m not saying Harley’s not sexy in her original form. I mean, come on. Remember the pie scene?
(Of course you do. Everyone remembers the pie scene.)
But Harley is more than that, and it bothers me to know that millions of people who aren’t hardcore comic book fans will think this is all she has to offer as a character when the original has so much more to her than that. My hope is that the Average Joe will go home and Google her and find out that she IS more than that, and they’ll appreciate it even if they enjoyed the Suicide Squad version of her too. I’m of course not saying there’s anything wrong with people enjoying that version of the character. To each his own. But I do think they took the easy way out and as someone who’s really enjoyed Harley’s romps over the years, I think she deserves better.
Here’s to you, Harl.
Hi. My name is Kyo. I’m a nerd. I’ve been a nerd since I could walk. And I really, really liked DC growing up, what with the DC animated TV shows and the original movies and then the Nolan films. You guys were pretty great.
But now I am literally contemplating boycotting all of your movies.
Why?
Take a peek at this little article.
This had better be a rumor. It had better be, because if it isn’t, you and I are done professionally.
There is something you two chuckleheads need to understand before I explain why this “no humor” method is completely wrong and why your approach to these heroes me and my friends and total nerdy random strangers have loved since we were in diapers is going to bankrupt you at the box office.
A few years back, a fellow named ItsJustSomeRandomGuy created a story arc called “Happy Hour,” in which the Joker injected all the heroes with nanites that controlled their brains and caused them to become dark and tormented like Batman. This arc was a deconstruction of the idea that all heroes need to be brooding in order to be successful. This arc was poignant and intelligent because it brought up the point that the Nolanverse Batman films were not box office record breaking movies just because Bruce Wayne is a tormented soul. The reason why we have dark heroes is so that they can be complimented against light-hearted heroes like Wonder Woman or Spider-Man or Captain Marvel (either one of them). If all our heroes in the DC universe had dead parents and psychological trauma, guess what? It would be boring. We wouldn’t have the excellent chemistry that we have in the Justice League. You need a Straight Man character only so that you can appreciate the Wacky Loon character. It’s just common sense to have personality differences–to have one character who is stoic and another who cracks jokes, so that way if the stoic character finally does loosen up and say something funny, it’s then hysterical considering their history.
What in God’s name makes you clowns think we want 100% serious DC superheroes?
Because I can tell you right now, if you do that, you’re going to be trailing behind Marvel for the rest of your lives.
And you might not even live that long.
I get it. Marvel is raking in the dough by the billions, and you want to make your films look unique. But guess what? Sucking all the joy out of the DC characters is NOT going to set you apart. It’s going to make us hate you. There is nothing worse than a film franchise that takes itself too seriously. A perfect example is Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Do you know why that movie is doing terribly? Because unlike the first Sin City, it took itself seriously. The first Sin City is a riot. It’s littered with incredible one liners and cheesy effects and noir stereotypes and cliches, but it’s poking fun at itself the entire time. There are plenty of serious, gut-wrenching, soul-slaying moments in that movie, but they work because you can compare them against the hilarious scenes of violence, gore, and sex.
Your idea of making the heroes all serious is even stupider when you consider the fact that all three of the Nolan Batman films–you know, the ones that made you literal billions–are perfectly frosted with some of the funniest moments in superhero history. Batman Begins, for instance, is loaded with excellent humor. Remember when Bruce was trapped underneath a huge support beam and in danger of dying while his beautiful mansion burned to the ground around him…and Alfred had the nerve to insult him?
Alfred: What’s the point of all those push ups if you can’t lift a bloody log?!
Did you see the look on Bruce’s face? The disbelief that he’s fighting for his life and getting yelled for his trouble? That was hilarious.
Or remember the scene where the batmobile makes its incredible debut and the officers think the guy on the radio is nuts and then the batmobile pancakes their car and then this happens:
Cop: Well, what does it look like?!
Other Cop: It was a black…tank.
Or, what about the pinnacle of black comedy in The Dark Knight when the Joker “makes the pencil disappear”? That was the instant we all knew that Heath Ledger was going to knock this role right out of the park. To this day, I have never again heard an entire theater full of partially-horrified shocked laughter. It was unforgettable.
So what in the name of Maxie Zeus’ beard makes you think that you will meet any success by making all the DC films from Batman vs. Superman onward serious? That’s not what these characters are about. Yes, they all have serious moments, but that is not who they are.
Are you really going to look me in the eye and tell me that an alien from a planet of human look-alikes who was raised on a farm in Kansas and wears his fucking red underwear outside his tights is supposed to be 100% dead serious?
Or an intergalactic space cop trained by a giant, foul-mouthed alien pig creature isn’t supposed to have a sense of humor?
Honestly, did you ever pick up a DC comic book or graphic novel in your entire life? Obviously you didn’t or we wouldn’t be having this conversation.
You are alienating the very people you are trying to attract with your pretentious nonsense notion that the only way to make it while competing against Marvel or any other summer blockbusters is to make all our heroes morose. Your job as filmmakers of the superhero genre is to accurately portray these heroes as we have come to know and love them through the comics. We don’t want your “artistic vision” or your preconceived notions of what you think people want to see. Take the comic book, pin it to your storyboard, and copy/paste. Hell, if you’re too lazy for that, go back and watch “The World’s Finest” episodes of Superman: The Animated Series. Superman is not serious. Batman is. It’s that easy. Yes, they have issues with each other, but guess what? They only hit each other ONE time in that entire hour and a half. They draw a line in the sand and then they go after the bad guys. It wasn’t called “Batman v. Superman” because they were never against each other. They disagreed with the other person’s methods and they each thought they could get the bad guys alone, but then they realized they were wrong. It should never be a versus thing. That is where you will fail, I guarantee it.
Honestly, I get now why Nolan bailed. These kinds of decisions show a remarkable lack of foresight and understanding into not only your own audience, but any audiences you hope to ever invite into your circle.
My final point is this: stop being so concerned with “competing” against Marvel or making yourself distinct from them and just make damn good movies. That’s literally the only thing you need to do to be successful. You don’t need to go to the complete opposite side of the spectrum and make boring, soulless heroes who never crack a smile and don’t believe in the people they are saving. That’s why Man of Steel was mediocre, and that’s why people don’t ever feel excited about anything you announce because you keep giving us this idea that our perceptions of our own heroes is wrong and you need to show us the “realistic” heroes you think we want. We don’t. I assure you we don’t.
Take a Xanax, read a comic book, and make some goddamn DC movies already.
Love,
An Angry Fangirl
In the midst of the news that Man of Steel 2: Electric Bugaloo or Spotlight Stealing Squad or whatever the hell they’re calling the Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman movie is getting pushed back to 2016 (which I called a year ago and am smugly prancing around my apartment like a ponce since it was announced), I feel it’s necessary to give my thoughts on the matter. This is just my opinion and no more. It has nothing to do with the rest of my blog. I’m going to break my usual form and give my personal take on the manner, considering the fact that I’ve been a fan of Batman since I was about six years old and I have personally modeled myself after him.
I’m livid.
Beyond livid, if we’re being honest.
However, I’ve had enough time to calm down and rationally explain why I believe Ben Affleck is a horrible choice for the Caped Crusader.
First off, I mean no disrespect to him or any of his fans. If you’re excited about it, hooray for you. In fact, I don’t even think Affleck is that bad an actor. I think he’s alright.
But here’s the thing: I don’t think they chose Affleck because he’d be a good Batman. DC/Warner Bros announced at San Diego Comic Con that the World’s Finest movie would be out in 2015. So, think about it: they announced the release of a movie almost exactly two years before it would come out…and it’s not even in pre-production. Hell, I don’t even recall hearing the rumor of there being a script yet. All they had at the time was Zack Snyder and Henry Cavill. Then, at the press release for Bat-Affleck’s reveal, they claimed production would start in 2014. That means they are attempting to make a high budget superhero film in less than the standard two years it takes to make a summer blockbuster.
It is my personal opinion that DC/WB panicked. Just…flat out panicked because they’re so focused on making money and “competing” with The Avengers/Marvel that they made a hasty, stupid decision. I’m in the geek circuit. I did not hear anything about auditions for the new Batman. NOTHING. I don’t even think they bothered looking. They just put the word out and the first big star to say yes (notably, AFTER Christian Bale said no) is who they chose.
This infuriates me to my absolute core.
What DC/WB doesn’t seem to understand is two things: (1) why the Avengers is so profitable and (2) that the DC fanboys and fangirls don’t want a World’s Finest movie if it’s rushed and slapped together.
The Avengers became the third highest grossing domestic film in the United States for dozens of reasons–great casting, great directing, a fantastic script, gorgeous effects, and a general sense of fun and camaraderie between the actors, production team, and the fans. But here’s the main reason: Marvel actually seems to give a crap about the fans. They listen. They took their time and they picked the actors who fit the characters, and who would do the characters we love justice. Do you know why they could afford to do this? Well, that’s part two. Marvel knows that we will wait for it. Marvel understands that fans WANT to see the Avengers represented as awesomely as they appear in the comics, and that they don’t need to slap together a title and some actors and shove it out on the silver screen just to make money. Marvel knows that if they make a quality film, we WILL go see it. So they made one. They got one of the best writers/directors around and they did the damn thing, and they didn’t care what DC decided to do in retaliation.
Whereas DC sat with its thumb up its ass, snootily believing that the Batman franchise would carry them through the next decade. The Nolan Batman trilogy was nothing short of brilliant, but guess what? That’s the only good thing on DC’s recent hero track record, until Man of Steel came along. They seemed to not realize this fact until Iron Man 3 came out and kicked the 2013 box office in the face with a big smile. So they panicked and they said to themselves, “Oh my gosh, guys, if we don’t do something quick, Avengers II is going to win 2015 and since we literally have not even tried to make films for any other members of the Justice League, we’d better do something about it! Uh, yes, we’re totally going to make a Batman/Superman movie a mere three years after the Nolan film! No need to actually take our time like we did with Henry Cavill and narrow down our choices so that we pick someone who looks, sounds like, and can embody one of the greatest comic book heroes of all time. Just slap a mask on anyone with a square chin and we’ll be golden!”
I mean it. It is 2014. We have no Flash, no Wonder Woman (independently, anyway), no Hawkman, no Martian Manhunter, no Aquaman, no Green Arrow, no Black Canary, and Green Lantern’s been in the freaking Phantom Zone because everyone hated the movie so much that they can’t decide if that universe even exists anymore. There was no attempt in the Man of Steel movie to create any sense of continuity. Why? Because DC doesn’t have faith in its own damn work, and it has even less faith in us fans. That is unacceptable. They believe in the “wait and see” approach, and that is what is killing their brand and their profits. They waited to see how all of the Avengers’ solo films would do, and then they waited to see how the Avengers would do, and then they waited to see the response to the Avengers II plot and character reveals, and now all of the sudden they want to act because they want their piece of the pie. No. That is not how you should be treating a franchise and characters that have been beloved since the 1930’s.
You hire people who are right for the job. You read the damn comics. You talk to the fans. You listen to the criticism that you have received from your previous films. You sit down and you do your damn homework and you make a great film. It’s that damned simple. If you do all of that, THEN you get to make a billion dollars globally. I’m not saying DC needs to copy Marvel’s exact methods. They need to understand what Marvel is doing correctly and emulate that if they want any of the other heroes aside from Batman to make money and do well.
Having said all of that, I’ll now address my problem with Ben Affleck.
He’s not Batman.
Just…he’s really not.
Now, this isn’t to say all the men who have played Batman in the past via the silver screen have been Batman. However, each of them brought some aspect of Bruce Wayne to the table that you can at least argue is true to the character. For instance, Michael Keaton brought the intensity to Batman, but he was a pretty lousy Bruce. Val Kilmer brought the quiet intelligence and tortured soul of Bruce, but he was a lousy Batman. George Clooney brought the playboy aspect, but he sucked as both Bruce and Batman. Christian Bale perfected Bruce Wayne and played an excellent Batman, but he did miss a few beats here and there with his voice problems.
What in the hell is Ben Affleck going to bring to the table?
That’s what made me so angry when I heard the news. I’ve watched some Affleck films. The guy is a good comedic actor and a decent dramatic actor. But he looks and sounds nothing like any incarnation of Bruce Wayne that I can even try to picture in my head. I’m not talking about physicality alone. I’m talking about presence. Ben Affleck could walk up to me in my room right now and wrap his hands around my neck and threaten me, and honestly? I really don’t think I’d be all that intimidated. It’s not just the buttchin and the big blue eyes. The way he walks, the way he carries himself, the way I’ve seen him act in other roles, is why I’m against him as Batman. I simply cannot see him putting on the mask and actually scaring superstitious cowardly lots of criminals.
It is here that I have to bring up a tiring discussion that will no doubt make some fanboys hate me: Daredevil.
I hated that movie.
Granted, not with a passion. More like disdain. I just thought it was badly written, poorly shot, dreadfully cast (with the exception of Michael Clarke Duncan as Kingpin, rest in peace, sir), and all around awful. And I know all the little fanboys and girls insist, “Watch the director’s cut! It’s much better!” but guess what? They didn’t release that version in the theater. You can’t undo that. You can’t fix all your mistakes after the movie screwed a dead horse. If they wanted to make a better movie, they’d have released a better movie. And honestly, I’ve never seen the director’s cut, but I sincerely doubt it fixed the nine billion problems with that movie anyway. It was just not well done.
My point is that Daredevil is also supposed to be an intimidating comic book hero. He’s not as dark as Batman, but he’s intense and driven. And I saw Ben Affleck trying to pull that off and he failed miserably. I understand that he was still young in his career, but I truly don’t believe that he has the presence to be Batman.
I don’t believe that I can see him with his hair slicked back wearing a million dollar suit running a billion dollar corporation. I don’t believe that I can see him training with Ra’s al Ghul, or Lady Shiva, or Zatara. I don’t believe that I can see him out-thinking the Riddler, or flirting with Catwoman, or battling the Joker to save someone’s life. I. DON’T. BELIEVE. IT. It’s not because he’s a bad actor. He’s not. It’s the character that doesn’t fit.
Bruce Wayne is a dichotomy of concepts. He’s brooding and hurting, but he’s also got this wondrous sly sense of humor. He’s constantly insisting that his mission is solo, but he naturally attracts people to him because he has a noble heart and despite all the darkness in him, he loves people. He is a wide spectrum of emotions and beliefs and ideas. He’s got a depth to him that has kept him as one of the most popular heroes since his creation in 1939.
And all of that I am supposed to see in the star of Gigli?
No.
I cannot accept that.
So, there you have it. If that makes me a close-minded, awful person, then so be it. I’m keeping my $10.50 in my pocket where it belongs. I hope the movie doesn’t suck. I hope that people who want to see Bat-Affleck enjoy it.
I will just not be one of them.
Kyoko
What I look like when customers try to return outdated products.
Disclaimer: this post is not a response in regards to Ben Affleck being cast as the Caped Crusader. Believe me, I am getting to that soon enough. Boy, am I.
So tonight I had a particularly horrific experience at my day job. I work retail. If you’ve ever worked retail, I know your feels, bro. I work retail because I’m still a self-published indie author and my net gross selling books has only been enough to buy me dinner and a movie. Depressing, but them’s the breaks when you go into this thing on your own. Not my point.
I won’t go into detail, but I ended up spending over half an hour being screamed at by a couple who were returning over a thousand dollars’ worth of technology for undisclosed reasons and my store’s register wouldn’t work properly, and so it ended with them accusing me of stealing and calling the cops. Yeah. Fun times were had.
At some point during their tirade, I caught myself thinking what I’ve thought for a long time while working this job: this is not who I am. As angry as this couple made me—and believe me, I had to walk away from them three times in order to keep my temper in check—I almost got a case of the giggles when I stepped back and looked at my life. I just turned twenty-five. I’ve got one toe in the grave. I haven’t done much worth repeating in my years, sadly, but one thing is that I have a relatively firm grasp of who I am as a person.
For instance, for my birthday, I accomplished yet another thing on my Bucket List—I went out and got a tattoo. No, not a tramp stamp. I got something important to me, inspired by a man who has always meant a great deal to me since I was a kid. Sure, he’s fictional, but what he represents is really what got me thinking tonight after the meltdown at my store.
I think being an author is a lot like being Batman.
At least, that’s what it’s been like in my experience. Let me explain. Bruce Wayne is a persona. He’s a rich, snobbish fop. If you’re a big Batman fan, you know that Bruce Wayne is actually the mask and Batman is the man beneath it. He uses Bruce to operate in normal society, to get around, to keep people from suspecting that there’s something more to him than what’s on the surface. He’s the handsome, shallow face on the package of a product. He’s necessary, and useful, but the truth is that he is just a façade.
Batman is the cause. Batman is the answer. Batman is the real man beneath the mask. He does all the things that really mean something—saving lives, seeking justice, putting fear into the hearts of the wicked, and inspiring hope and goodness to those without it.
I could never compare myself to such a great character, but I do think that his duality is something that most writers/authors experience. In our day to day lives, we are often mild-mannered wallflowers. Some of us blend right into the crowd. Some of us are shy and withdrawn. Some of us are fun once you get to know us, but we keep our real selves below the surface. Part of what I realized about myself while this French lady and her husband insisted that I was a thief and a charlatan was that they had no idea who the hell I really was underneath. Maybe it was just my ego, but I almost wanted to snarl at them, “Do you know who I am? I write stories. This job is not who I am. I weave entire tapestries of conflict and horror and wonder. I dig into the ribs of monsters and expose their guts to the world. I am not some retail monkey. I am powerful. I am fearless. I am the one who writes monsters. I am a goddamn writer, you putrescent simpletons.”
So many authors are cursed with menial jobs that they don’t enjoy because sadly, this calling of ours isn’t always lucrative or fair in the money department. If you go into the writing business to make money, you’re going to starve. It’s a labor of love, pure and simple. However, nothing’s worse than being stuck doing something that you’re good at, but you don’t enjoy it. Tonight more than ever, I felt the call of the night, the call that I think Batman always feels when he’s trudging around wearing the grinning mask of Bruce Wayne.
Hell, one of my all-time favorite poems by Paul Laurence Dunbar speaks to this exact problem:
“We wear the mask that grins and lies
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes
This debt we pay to human guile
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile
And mouth with myriad subtleties
Why should the world be over-wise
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us while
We wear the mask
We smile, but O great Christ our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise
We smile, but O the clay is vile
Beneath our feet and long the mile
But let the world dream otherwise
We wear the mask!”
As a writer, it’s hard to suppress that raw creativity and stuff it into something suitable for public consumption. I am a die-hard introvert, and so I never once raised my voice or lost my temper with these relentless assholes, but the entire time I felt like donning a cowl and bursting out into the cold night to fight criminals. The average person doesn’t know that I’ve written four novels. The average person doesn’t know that I gobble up stories like Pac-Man. The average person doesn’t know how many hours I spend a week meticulously planning to make my characters suffer. They can’t know, because it’s not the kind of job that everyone understands. Writers do something that’s important, but isn’t always celebrated like it should be. We get a lot of hate—especially those who’ve gone to college and gotten degree in the “useless” English major—and a lot of condescension. (“You write books. I’ve always wanted to do that. Maybe I will someday. Can’t be that hard, right?”) Our love of literature and poetry and abstract concepts are so often swept under the rug because it’s not important to mass media and to the general public most of the time. It’s sad, but it’s just another fact of life.
I say all that to say this—the Bruce Wayne mask can be stifling sometimes. But when the sun sinks beneath the horizon and the moon calls your name, it’s all worth it. Lace up your boots. Put on your Kevlar. Tie on your cape. Go out there and kick some ass, writers. Who gives a shit if the world only sees Bruce Wayne? Batman makes headlines, dammit.
Don’t want us writers to be famous?
Make us infamous.
-Kyoko
So I spent about three hours last night on Skype having a debate with my writing sensei about major character death.
Occasionally, my sensei has enough time to drop in and give me advice about my novels–particularly brainstorming ideas on how to get the story unstuck, smoothing out character motivations and actions, or giving me a good kick in the seat of my pants to get me back on track with my word count. I honestly wish I weren’t a vagrant and could pay him for it. He’s a kick ass screenwriter and independent filmmaker so he knows a thing or two about damn good writing and how to whip a story into shape.
Still, we disagree on certain points and this was a huge hot button issue that neither of us had talked about before, hence the three hours. It got me thinking about myself, my writing, and my general philosophy about fiction. This post might be a long one so I pray that you’ll stick with me as I try to explain my position on major character death in fiction.
Disclaimer: I’m not against it.
I do, however, believe that it is overused and often simply a cheap trick to squeeze some tears out of your readers. Not always, mind you. I can name examples of fiction that did it correctly. By the way, BIG FAT STINKIN’ SPOILER ALERT FOR A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT BOOKS AND MOVIES SO PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL.
Here are the examples of using major character death properly (in my opinion):
-Dumbledore from Harry Potter
-Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop
-Trinity from The Matrix Revolutions
-Susan Rodriguez from the Harry Dresden novels
-Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (*debatable, though, because I loved him so much I couldn’t continue watching the show after he died.)
-Shepherd Book from Serenity
-Sam Winchester in Supernatural’s fourth season finale (I had to specify since he’s died at least three times in the show’s run, if not more. Yeah, it’s that kind of show.)
-Captain Roy Montgomery from Castle
-V from V for Vendetta
-Jason Todd from the Batman comics (granted, they brought him back, but whatever.)
-Rue from The Hunger Games
Each of the above deaths, to me, served definite, thematic purposes. These characters meant the world to the people they were supporting and their deaths caused major shifts in the narratives. It deeply affected the protagonists in various ways–motivating them to defeat the bad guy, to seek revenge, to end a conflict, to inspire greatness, or simply because there was no way for them to continue in the world they existed in. These are deaths that make sense on paper and naturally draw emotions out of the audience because we’ve come to know and love them, and have to say goodbye whether we like it or not. These are deaths that feel organic and not forced. To me, a good major character death doesn’t have to be one that you see coming, but it should be one that you can understand and justify in your head even through your hiccuping sobs (seriously, Capt. Montgomery and Spike’s death scenes made me sob like an infant.) They should die for a reason, and one that is more layered than “it’ll make your audience bawl like three year olds” because that is cheap emotional manipulation. I’m against that. Which brings me to my next point.
Here are the examples of using major character death improperly (in my opinion):
-90% of the characters who have died on Supernatural (but if you want to get specific, Meg, Gabriel, Balthazar, Jo, Ellen, and Pamela)
-Wash from Serenity
-Robert Neville from I Am Legend
-Captain Pike from Star Trek Into Darkness (I could be persuaded otherwise, but my initial reaction to this was that it was misused.)
-Majority of the characters who died in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
-Primrose from Mockingjay
-Irene Adler from Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
-Billy from The Expendables II
-November 11 from Darker Than Black
The deaths of the characters listed above may be for one or more reasons that I disagree with from a writing standpoint. That is, using the death as a cheap trick to make your readers/audience cry, not wanting to develop the character further, using the death as a lazy method to make the hero worth harder for his/her end goal, using the death as an easy way into a revenge or hunt-for-the-killer plot, or trying to shock your audience with a high body count.
To illustrate my point, I’ll use the three examples that make me the most irritated: Sherlock Holmes, Supernatural, and Serenity. Irene Adler was literally the best thing ever in Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes. No disrespect to RDJ and Jude Law, I adored them, but she was the most bad ass woman I could remember seeing in recent films. She was smart, quick-witted, resourceful, manipulative, and brave. There was none of that sexist crap that you see in stuff like the new Riddick film. She was beautiful and dangerous and powerful and everything that a well-written female character should be. She showed all shades of being a woman. She was balanced. She was interesting. Above all, she was important to the plot. And they just killed her off in the first ten minutes of A Game of Shadows despite being the third biggest character in the first movie. And she doesn’t even get a meaningful death scene or a tear out of her lover. The movie just sweeps her under the rug like she was nothing. That is an injustice I simply cannot stand. Her death should have meant something more to Holmes. It should have enraged him, made him hunt for Moriarty even harder and want to kick the son of bitch right off that waterfall at the end of the movie. Death needs to have an impact that resounds throughout the rest of the story, whether it’s a movie, a TV show, or literature. It’s not something to be taken lightly, which brings us to example numero dos.
Supernatural is by far the worst offender when it comes to death. It’s in season nine and they have killed over half of the recurring major and minor characters that have passed through the show. Think I’m joking? Google it. I’ll wait. Believe me now? In the first few seasons, we were devastated to lose major characters that we knew and loved and who were part of Sam and Dean Winchester’s lives. However, the writers seemed to think it was a good idea to kill literally everyone and guess what happened? I stopped caring. If you do the exact same thing with every single recurring character, what is the point of investing in them? They’ll be dead by their second appearance. Death has no sting when you use it over and over and over again to the point of accidental parody. It becomes dull when your audience is just checking their wristwatch to see when a character is going to bite it because they know this is your go-to move. The biggest disappointment in relying too heavily on death to get a response out of your audience is that it wastes the potential of the characters whom they barely got to know. In particular, Supernatural does not treat its female characters very kindly. They tend to die just because it will make the Winchesters feel guilty about being unable to save them, and it frustrates me because these women (especially Meg and Pamela) could have been welcome additions to the cast. They could have balanced out all that pouting, lying, and arguing that the Winchesters do all season long. It would’ve been a breath of fresh air to see Meg join Team Free Will, but instead, she got the shaft and now it’s back to the boring status quo.
And now, the kicker. Wash. I cannot think of a more polarizing death. Firefly was murdered in its crib and they finally managed to resurrect it and what does Joss Whedon do? He bumps off not one but two of the main characters. My writing sensei posted a quote where Whedon explained why he did it–to upset the norm, make the threat real, etc–but I disagree with the Whedon method of “kill everyone you love and in the most horrifying ways possible.” I think Book’s death served those purposes more than enough. It made everything hit home for the crew. It made them see even more than ever that time waits for no one, that the ‘verse is an ugly place, that some threats can come for you in the night and take everything you love. It was harsh and ugly and absolutely tear-jerking in every sense. But Wash’s death was just a suckerpunch. It felt like Whedon came up behind me and pantsed me and then kicked me and pointed and laughed after I fell. It was unnecessary. We already felt devastated at losing Book, and Wash died for the exact same purpose, so to me, it was an extraneous manipulative gesture. It just made us want to cry for the sake of crying, not for the sake of the story. I’m not saying Wash shouldn’t have died at all–I think he shouldn’t have died in Serenity. Wash’s death would have had more of a punch if there had been a second season of Firefly and he died at the end. The crew would have had time to come to terms with Book’s death and maybe they would have fought to be more cautious and then Wash’s death would come as a blindside to show them that they weren’t ready. But that’s a conversation for another day.
The main reason why I have no desire to bump off a major character in my own work is because of my personal philosophy about stories. It’s no secret that the world is an awful place. It’s just downright sickening sometimes. Ray Bradbury once said, “You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you.” That is a quote that I live by, through and through. Books are an escape. They can be a safe haven for some people, myself included above all. I look to them for comfort, for inspiration, for solace, for love and brilliance and creativity. That is what books mean to me. I’m not saying it’s what anyone else believes–it’s just true for who I am as a person and as an author. That being said, I don’t want my books to turn into one of those bad examples up there. I don’t want to kill off one of my main characters just to make you cry. I want my readers to feel everything–anger, sadness, joy, comfort, hope–and I believe that there is a way to do that without killing off a major character in the final novel of the series. I feel like it’s something that many writers rely on too heavily in their story arcs. I think many writers do it because it is expected of them to “raise the stakes” by murdering one of their darlings. I have already pointed out that when it works, it really works, but when it doesn’t, you just end up with a bad taste in your mouth.
Many famous authors emphasize that one should write the story they would want to read. And that’s my biggest reason against killing off a major character in the final book. There are millions of trilogies out there that have survived and become legends without killing off main protagonist characters–Toy Story 3, Star Wars (Darth Vader doesn’t count because he’s a villain, leave me alone, nerds!), The Dark Knight Rises, Indiana Jones (THERE IS NO FOURTH FILM DAMMIT), and that’s just franchises off the top of my head. I’m in no way against killing protagonists because it is an effective storytelling method, but for me, it has to fit the story naturally and be for a good purpose because the world that I’ve built for people to read should be one that I would be satisfied with reading, and I don’t believe that it will improve the work or the message behind the work if I kill that particular character. I believe in second chances. I believe in rewarding people for their faith in a story and in the characters who make up that story. I don’t believe that everything should have a happy ending, but since life is a steaming pile of camel manure most of the time, I think the least I can do is create a world where sometimes there is a silver lining. Maybe there isn’t a leprechaun at the end of the rainbow, but I really don’t think there should be a homeless man waiting there to shank you after your hard and grueling journey.
But maybe that’s just me.
Thanks for reading, darlings.
What can I say? I’ve been a fan of Batman since I was barely out of diapers, and so of course I have mad respect for the brilliant Christopher Nolan. And it’s his birthday, so the post is totally valid.
Now, calm down, I’m not going to spend this entire post worshipping the ground he floats over. I think he’s a great writer/director, but I don’t mean to put him on a pedestal. Today, I’m going to focus on his methods and their effects. Pull on your cowls and capes and join me, won’t you?
So thanks, Mr. Nolan, for your tireless work. We look forward to seeing more of it.
-Kyoko