Gotham Gets The Hero It Deserves

[rabid1st]

Dark Knight spoilers under the cut...also...some Doctor Who S4 Finale spoilers, too.

Went to see the new Batman movie today and THAT was a fantastic movie. I mean...not just really Zowie! but a well done film. A tad too long...yes! But still just lovely. And Heath Ledger should probably be nominated for something...I'm not sure if it is an Oscar but it might be a Golden Globe win. He did a very fine bit of work there as the nihilistic Joker.

My first reaction to the film was..."Hey! It's daylight!" People turned to look at me, but that's because it didn't strike them as odd. Still, if you go back...very little daylight in Batman films. Lots of daylight in this one. And that's good because bad things DO happen in the light of day. And then there is the story of the Joker's permanent smile. So affecting and yet...so very funny, as it turns out. Why so serious? Because that was legitimately disturbing.

And it ended perfectly...that was the perfect ending for that movie. And so here we see that I am not a romantic, but am instead, an idealist...or a perfectionist...or both. I didn't care if the hero got the girl...I figured they were doomed...I didn't figure it would go the way it went...but I was perfectly okay with how it went. If ever there was a lonely God...a man who makes the choices to battle endlessly and is one step from the villians he battles...it is Batman.

He is battered and conflicted but he pulls deep into himself and finds something to hold onto...his principles. He won't kill the bad guy either. And so the bad guy...wins...by breaking the best person...destroying all that he holds dear.

My point...to the chagrin and dismay of my readers...is that man is NOT the Doctor. The Doctor isn't Batman. Nor should he be Harvey Dent.

He's not all about pain, suffering and loss. Nor is he a man who is always alone. Usually, he's with someone. Still, not anymore. He's become more and more isolated. He no longer believes in hope...or Rose. Remember how afraid he was to let Donna come onboard? So, how is he supposed to connect to the NEXT companion? How or why would WE connect to her or him?

For years, the Doctor was a beacon of hope and joy for Saturday night. When he arrived you knew things were going to get better. People would be set free and have wonderful adventures. Sure...people did die in Doctor Who...but mostly he STOPPED the dying by really solving the problem.

We wanted to travel with him...be him. Now, he's become a lone vigilante...one step above the monsters he fights...holding out his hand to the villians, while turning a cold shoulder to the people who love him. He leaves broken, sad people in his wake. He forces those who care about him into really painful situations. Yes, he is still motivated by love...he still cares for the ones he leaves behind...but not enough to listen to them. He is trying to do the right thing...as he sees it. So we have to believe that he knows best...some of us do.

I don't...because he's still running. The man who keeps running.

Is this our hero? Is this the Doctor we deserve? Is this what our society calls out for...because we barely have any connection to anything? Are we so isolated that perpetual isolation looks like heroism to us? This is my problem with the end of Doctor Who this season. It's not hopeful. It's bleak. It's the Dark Knight being chased by dogs. It is saying that there really is no bright light...only lies and empty rooms. And yet...we do hope. All over fandom there is hope. Hope for Rose and 10.2...and their altVerse. Hope that there will be a sequel. Hope that Moffat or someone will save us.

Batman sacrificed himself for the greater good...but the Doctor sacrificed the better life of everyone around him so he could keep running...from himself and from any loss he might have to face.

Batman? Can you hear me, Batman?

Comments

[bohemianrose24.livejournal.com]

I always figured they would kill Rachel Dawes. Especially since they showed the line in the trailer when she asks Bruce not to make her his only hope for a normal life. She would have been his one reason to quit being Batman, and that just can't happen. That's the whole reason he became Batman....to be the one who could be villainized and still be a force for good. (Incidentally, I completely agree with you about the ending.)

The Doctor was never meant to really be villainized, I don't think, and so there's no reason for him not to have some happiness. He's not a superhero, he's just a man (timelord) that has enough information to make him want to step up and keep things going. He's admitted several times that he's not supposed to be making all these choices and having to fix it all alone, his people were supposed to be helping him. Well, sort-of anyway. Regardless, he's not meant to be this character he's becoming.

I think, based on my own observations of society and (super)heroes, that these days a hero is someone who makes the ultimate sacrifice. Not necessarily their physical life, though often enough that comes into play. But the sacrifice of their emotional/personal life. What makes them a person. Because that makes them willing to give up everything for a cause greater than themselves, something that most people would be very scared to do in the end, simply because it needs to be done or it's what is right. I kinda think that scene on the ferries points that out.

And you're totally right about the Doctor sacrificing what was better for everyone else to be able to keep running.

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

And interestingly...I think the Doctor, too, must make a sacrifice...I think he has to give up being afraid of death and loss. I think he has to give up running. He needs to live that life he's never had...and let 11 take the body and the TARDIS and go on.

This Doctor is not heroic...he's a coward...he's afraid to face Rose and Donna dying...also River dying...so afraid that he makes their lives a misery so he doesn't have to face his fear. That's just wrong.

Rae

[princessblue791.livejournal.com]

I think Moffat will save it. Appearently he's giving up a huge amount of money and something that will make his career move forward to do it. Thats a HUGE sacrifice. He also discussed it with Spielburg, how many of Spielburgs movies had a JE ending?

Have you seen Scrubs?

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I've seen Scrubs. I don't think Moffat will have to save it. I think that he believes in a hopeful flashy Who. And I think that he and RTD mean to give us that before RTD bows out.

We must remember that while this episode was called Journey's End...and it had all of the earmarks of the END. It wasn't the literal END. And RTD told us a long time ago that he had this conversation in a car with everyone about what he would do in S4...where it would go. And Moffat got onboard with that vision...and was really onboard with it in the River Song storyline.

I was looking at River and thinking...jeepers this is Moffat's idea of a the perfect woman...again. But I think that I might have been wrong to have placed all the blame on him...because I think he and RTD ARE working together on this now.

RTD isn't gone yet...he's not going until NEXT year...and he is cowriting two of the upcoming scripts. One at Christmas...and then another...and there will be two more...the obvious thing to do...is to finish this storyline...at Christmas. To show the Doctor where this path is leading...and have him have just enough heroism left to try to stop his slide into villiany.

Then...we have three episodes to set up whatever Moffat has planned...I view it as 3 episodes to make the people accept that 10.2 is really 11...and the savior of the franchise. You can have him do what 10 couldn't do...bond with the human race. And then...I think the Time Lords can save themselves.

Rae

[astitchintime-9.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you've seen (Joss Whedon's) Dr. Horrible's Sing A Long Blog yet, but if you haven't please watch it right now, because they'll be pulling it down shortly (any minute?) and I want to discuss it with you in the context of DW, and I as I know how you hate spoilers I am waiting for you....

[catyuy.livejournal.com]

Have a question for you.
There's been discussion for which villian would be in the next Batman movie and who should play him.
Riddler has popped up as a popular vote.
The comic version, not the tv or movie version.
What do you think about David playing that role?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Riddler

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of David playing the Riddler. For me, the Batman franchise just really stepped up with this latest film. And I think David should step onto the world stage right now if he ever means to do it. But...I feel like he is going to go down with the show...and end up doing blog-tv like Joss Whedon.

Rae

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

So...I admit that was funny. I watched episode one. I am sure Penny is going to die at the end, because this is Joss Whedon we are talking about...and while it would be far funnier and more original if Dr. Horrible ended up being nitpicked to death by her as she fought to save the whales. Chances are a real villian will kill her just as Dr. Horrible looks like he will turn good or something.

Still...it was funny. And Doogie Howser does a pretty good Spike.

Rae
not caring if you spoil me, really...but I will try to watch it all by tomorrow.

[astitchintime-9.livejournal.com]

I watched the first ep earlier in the week, and "Acts" II & III on Sunday.

And yes, Joss, so yes.

(And you got Spike out of that role, too?! Good!)

One spoiler only: notice when he says that he's fine, and think of DoctorDonna.

I think that you might find that DrH's story is yet another version of the paperthin line between good and evil, as in Batman and in new-Who. That's why I dropped it into this post.

These days, where's the line between Joss and RTD? Is there any? Or do they just build and feed on each other? And do we want to live in any of the universes of their creation? Or are they holding a mirror up to our reality?

[astitchintime-9.livejournal.com]

FROM THE BLOG:

"ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.) "

[sensiblecat.livejournal.com]

Is this what our society calls out for...because we barely have any connection to anything? Are we so isolated that perpetual isolation looks like heroism to us? This is my problem with the end of Doctor Who this season. It's not hopeful. It's bleak.

Precisely, and beautifully put. We really don't need any stories like that. Stories should lift us up, not pull us deeper into darkness.

Apart from any moral objection, it's not good drama. An endless loop watching a hero who learns nothing gets tedious to watch. Every time he pulls the emo trick, even when it's totally justified, a part of the viewer tunes out and thinks "Oh God, not again". I felt that happening to me in Doctor's Daughter, and all that beautiful writing and acting couldn't quite overcome it.

[astitchintime-9.livejournal.com]

And .... it's down.

Not free any longer. :(

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

It's okay. I saw it. I was not overly impressed. It was funny in places. And there is the wall thing with he and Penny...very Doomsday. And the songs were good. But the storyline was pure Joss Whedon. And yes, there is a sure element of this in RTD's work as well...the total breakdown of all that is good about our protagonist. And we end with the lonely, sad, isolated geek...and his inner "cleverness." So these are two really sad and isolated people? RTD and Joss, I mean?

Only RTD has to go on...his show is supposed to reinvent itself. Yet...Moffat and the BBC are desperately clinging to David Tennant...so...maybe any hope of it reinventing itself...comes down to if RTD is going to do what I hope he does or not.

Rae

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

You know, truthfully, I feel myself sort of relating to Doctor Horrible...just like I related to the Doctor in Midnight. I, too, tend to be one of the "smart" or "clever" people trying to explain things because I see too much.

And there is a lot of hopelessness in the world. But I also tend to see that Penny could be right and...there is good in people. I see that the pain isn't particularly creative or beautiful or even all that there is to look forward to in this life.

I think that really RTD and JW have no excuse for what they do...if this is all they do. It is definitely all JW does. I think the final jury is still out on RTD...because he could still be working toward a point.

Rae

[princessblue791.livejournal.com]

They need to have 10 switch with 10.2. 10 is just too tired. It reminds me of this story my step-grandfather told me about a British pilot during WWII. This man was so badly wounded that he could barely stand. They wheeled him out in a wheelchair to his plane. He ended up passing out in midflight and the rest is obvious.

Exactly...THIS loss was affecting for us...

[rabid1st.livejournal.com]

...but only because we had already invested in Rose and CT and RTD managed to get us to invest in Donna. But now...we know better...a lot of us. Some of us are still going to invest. This is what people are telling me all over the interwebs. Fans of Moffat for example are thinking "He will save us." And maybe he will...but we still have THIS...just sitting here. And we can't really fix it by going forward into the same old life. We can't think that Jenny will make it all work...or the Time Lords or River Song. I mean, people DO think that...but that's just silly because we know how all of those stories end with this guy.

Maybe Old School Who was always coming to this end...because it was seen in Old School and planned out with Six being half-mad at his regeneration and then Seven going darker. Maybe from the point where he starts meddling the Doctor is moving toward his own personal darkness...but still...he wasn't a dark guy in this way...he wasn't without hope. He hoped to come back to Susan when he locked her out of the TARDIS. And Susan DID love David. She was staying with him out of a sense of obligation...which I don't think really is what motivates Rose...but I can see how the Doctor might read it as that. He keeps trying to give people normal lives...and his doing so has gotten more overbearing...you have to wonder what it is that will stop him. Slapping some happy band-aid on it...in whatever form that comes...new companion...Jenny back...Time Lords...River...all of it is just something we've already done.

Rae

Re: Exactly...THIS loss was affecting for us...

[princessblue791.livejournal.com]

Jenny can't help the Doctor, because she doesn't need him and probably won't stick around. Riversong is a good shag, but noone that can help him either. She's too far in his future anyway. Mickey can't and won't save him. You can't help but wonder if he may have some resentment over the fact that the Doctor stole Rose away intentionally, only to throw her back. Jack can help a little, but everytime he gets too close it costs him miserably. I also think that maybe he feels the Doctor is getting dark too. I wouldn't be surprise if thats the real reason he keeps tabs on him. He's a con-artist remember.
No, Rose is the only one that can save him. 10.2 doesn't need her like the Doctor said he did.Except for a good shag. He loves her because he has the Doctors mind. He was fine burning off the Daleks. He was the way the Doctor used to be.The guy we saw telling the Slitheens not to fart when he's trying to save the world. The one we fell in love with. 10, needs Rose and like the wounded pilot I told you about, he might crash if he doesn't get a chance to heal. This would help noone. It would be odd if we go into the Moffat era and act like none this happened and didn't have a resolution. Yet, what I think is common sense RTD may think is rubbish.

[webeh.livejournal.com]

I kind of want to see this franchise tackle Catwoman. The Joker just turned out so fantastic, that I'm curious what Christopher & Jonathan Nolan would do with that character.

[webeh.livejournal.com]

I just saw the film today and was really impressed with the finished product. Even without the shadow of Heath Ledger's death over it, I'm fairly certain that it still would have gotten all the positive reviews. For one thing, it's the smartest hero flick I've ever seen. The writing explores human nature and the Joker is incredibly scary because he exploits the weaknesses in it. (Ex. How people react when they're scared.)

Also, I really love how the story wasn't just about Batman, but rather also about those surrounding him. (Ex. Commissioner Gordan, Rachel Dawes, etc.) By fleshing out the characters, you actually fear for the safety of everyone. I was on edge for the entire film.