3. Bruce Wayne Is A Manifestation Of Fear Of Change
Many people will read what Ive written so far and say, Its just fiction, whats the big deal Batman is cool! While I agree that Batman is cool, what part of that coolness makes Bruce Wayne a necessity? By making that argument, people are literally saying that someone else behind the cowl would make telling awesome stories impossible, and that because its fiction it doesnt matter. Look at it this way; you cant have fiction without an intrinsic relationship with reality. Reality and how the fantastic coexists with what we know to be real is what makes fiction so worthwhile. Superman defies the laws of gravity, which literally means that within the fiction the laws of gravity still exist. What makes superheroes so cool is that they exist in a world that is governed by the same basic rules that ours are. You cant pick and choose how reality exists in the framework of fiction; you have to navigate the waves that your changes to reality create, that is the essence of writing, the challenge of writing. Another way to look at it is that in a large way you are Batman. Batman is a normal man amongst god-like beings; he is your window into the world, and one of the few characters you can actually relate to. What, pray tell, can you relate to the most? His mortality. To recognize that he is mortal, but then keep him from dying to the point where the entire world he lives in has to basically split time between treading water and hitting the reset button, is literally slowing down time to crawl because you dont want a loved one to die. Every moment in my life that I cherish above others is always filled with two feelings, wishing the moment can last forever, and the knowledge that there will be more moments like it. Batman fans are stuck on the feeling of wanting it to last forever and wont consider all the great moments they are missing out on. Thats fear of the future, of the unknown personified in a single fictional character. What if Star Wars was the same basic story told and retold? Just episodes 1 through 6 recycled again and again. There would be no awesome expanded universe, characters that you didnt know you would love until you met them. No Star Wars Legacy, just the story of Anakin and Luke over and over again. The only other stories that are stuck in this rut are James Bond (one guy, one universe), and Dr. Who (one guy, one universe, effectively immortal). Im sure there are more but Im willing to bet they arent permanently linked to the lives of hundreds of other characters. Art is supposed to open our eyes to things, expand on our way of thinking. Comic books are a form of art, so how can this art form reinforce our fear of change?