Why Batman Is My Hero
This isn’t a review of The Dark Knight Rises. Right now, I am not capable of writing one, nor am I in the mental and emotional state to do so. I held off on writing anything about the movie for a while because of the Aurora shooting. It left a horrible mark on my mind, and the resulting debate between talking heads about violence, the media, firearms, and everything else under the sun was incredibly frustrating.
11 days have passed since that tragic day, and I am still mourning for those who lost their lives, some of whom were engaged in acts of heroism and love. I don’t think enough time will ever have passed for me to feel completely comfortable with writing a more objective analysis of the movie’s merits and flaws. So, the best I can do is tell you about how some of the movie’s themes resonated with me in a very profound way.
(Spoilers Ahead)
During the final few minutes of the movie, Blake tells Gordon about how the structure of his job did indeed become like shackles. He had spent the entire movie trying to do the right thing, and after seeing first-hand the inability of the system to ever fully meet the needs of the people of Gotham, he says goodbye to those shackles and steps into the role of Robin, Nightwing, Flamebird, or Terry McGinnis (however you want to look at it). Joseph Gordon Levitt played this character to perfection. His youthful, optimistic face became more and more damaged and broken as the movie went on. There was the pain of seeing the citizens of Gotham being manipulated by Bane’s plan. There was the disappointment that came from the inaction and complacency of the police force and the politicians. And finally, there was anger as he looked across the severed 59th Street Bridge onto the faces of others who had sworn and failed to protect the people.
This summer, as I began to reflect on the 2011-2012 school year, I realized that I felt the way Blake did. I chose to teach at the high school level because I felt like I had something to offer to teenagers and because I thought it would be satisfying to me as a profession. I still love my job, but the longer I’ve been doing it, the more I’ve been seeing how there are still just so many cracks in the system that teenagers fall through. Feeling like I’m doing battlefield triage all the time is not what I wanted in my career.
So, this summer, I’ve been spending most of my free time reaching out to some of my former students and trying to help them get through the kinds of life issues and hurdles that the education system just can’t prepare them for. Now, you may be thinking that this is what parents and friends are for. Yes, to some extent, I believe that good parenting and solid friendships can be almost all that a teenager in the middle of a life transition needs to feel supported, encouraged, and challenged. But what happens when those relationships with parents are broken or dysfunctional? And what do you do when the vast majority of students who come to you with their problems don’t have any other adults (or even peers) in their lives that will actually hear them out, reserve judgment, and respond with empathy and kindness while offering gentle advice only when necessary?
Maybe I’m not supposed to be doing any of this. Maybe I’m supposed to just teach my classes to the best of my ability, put in my time, say some insightful stuff here and there, and then stand back and watch from a distance with nothing more than my well-wishes to keep these kids company as they forge a life for themselves. This seems to be what teachers are supposed to do, and for the most part, it is kind of the full extent of what we actually can do.
But I don’t think I can live with that. I don’t know if there is a career ahead of me in counseling, ministry, or running some kind of youth center. When teenagers really hit a wall with serious mental, emotional, legal, or substance-related issues, there is a place for them to go. But there isn’t a support system in place for the ones who are struggling in less severe ways while being unable to regularly turn to their parents, friends, teachers, pastors, etc. All I know is that right now I see teenagers every day that are crying out for someone to listen to them and to remind them that they are not alone in their struggles. And I have to keep doing something about it.
The other aspect of The Dark Knight Rises that really hit me was Bruce’s relationship with Selina and how he kept telling her, “There’s more to you than that.” He says this at two key points in the movie, and each time it really affected me. Bruce isn’t being patronizing. He genuinely believes that Selina has a potential for good inside of her, and it’s especially important for him to verbalize that a few times because she absolutely does not see this in herself. And by the end of the movie, we see that Bruce’s belief in Selina is what gives her the ability to finally believe in herself and become a little bit more of who she can be.
Most of us know what it’s like to feel like we’re struggling on our own. Some of us have known this feeling so much that we tell ourselves that it’s the way life is supposed to be. Only, it’s not. All of us need people to lean on, especially if those people show us that they believe in us. I know that way too many of my friends and students have been told by adults and peers in their lives that they are stupid, untalented, worthless, and that they are incapable of really accomplishing anything in life. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve shared this same story with me. After my anger at the perpetrators dies down, and once I’m done having my heart broken by tales of insensitivity and discouraging words, I feel compelled to make sure that they know that someone still does believe in them.
But, unlike in the movies, it’s not just a one (or two) time statement that will do the trick. Being a constant, encouraging presence is the key, and I think we all know that this isn’t always easy to do. We have to look past people’s faults to their needs and realize that none of us can become who we are meant to be on our own.
So, in the end, the aspect of The Dark Knight Rises that struck me the most was Bruce’s relationships with Blake and Selina. These were microcosms of Batman’s relationship with the people of Gotham in that he both inspired and believed in those ordinary citizens so much that they were able to rise up and become even more than they thought they could be. And all of this was possible because of something that a young detective once did for him to show him that he was not alone.
“A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little boy’s shoulders to let him know that the world hadn’t ended.”
This could be me. This could be you.
