Cape and Cowl (Why Batman?)

Cape and Cowl

      When I grew up watching cartoons Saturday morning cartoons were TV show with action, entertainment, and morals. Saturday morning cartoons, now, are about pure violence and no concern for good and evil, right and wrong, selfless and selfish. Cartoons like “Space Ghost”, “Birdman”, “Justice Friends”, and “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers” all were entertaining and always ended the show reinforcing things like: “Crime doesn’t pay”, “Family, friendship, and teamwork are the most important things”, “Justice always prevails”, and “Never kill”. This is what, to me, made cartoons worth watching; cartoons are one of the top places that kids, today, learn their morals.

       Cartoons today are all butchered. The animation doesn’t carry with it the ambiance of the show (or maybe it’s just not interesting). They have no depth of character or emotion to them. Over the years I have seen good cartoons come and go as the terrible ones have taken their place. There was one cartoon that has stood the test of time, and to this day remains as one of the best cartoons of all time: “Batman the Animated Series”.
      
       Batman was a revolutionary cartoon. It was the first cartoon to be featured as “mini movies”. It was a show that had something for everyone. If you were a kid, you had that role model to look up to, the hero to admire, and if you were an adult, you had that emotional story of Bruce Wayne and Batman to follow.
Not everyone watched Batman growing up or thought they were too old by the time this show came on so I am just going to give a little bit of background about him. He was born Bruce Wayne to parents Dr. Thomas and Martha Wayne. Bruce was 10 years old when his parents were killed, in an alley on the way home from the movie theater, while getting mugged by a small time crook named Joe Chill. After watching both his parents get shot, he lived with the thought that he should have been able to do something and at 10 years old he stopped being a kid and took on the weight of world on his shoulders. He inherited his father’s billions of dollars and this paved the way for him to study martial arts, create the Bat cave, and create all of his gadgets (i.e. Batmoblie, Batwing, Batcycle, etc.). It took him many years to believe he was ready to steadily go out into the night and stop the injustices that took place in Gotham City. Using his fear of bats he had idea that he would embody the symbol of his fear, "Criminals are a superstitious and cowardly lot so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible...” He used his dark persona to blend into the night, to allow the innocent to walk their streets, live in their homes safely and without fear, to be a guardian angel to the innocent and a nightmare to the wicked.

       The story of Batman goes far beyond the typical hero story of loved ones dying and vowing to stop the injustices of the world. Batman’s story is darker. He cannot move on from his parents’ death. Watching the show you can hear the difference in the voice between Batman and Bruce Wayne; Batman’s voice is deep and dark, where as Bruce Wayne’s voice is soft and calm. Many believed, myself included, that his mysterioso voice was his actual voice where as his softer voice was his voice he used as a cover up. In many episodes you can see Bruce without the cape and cowl on and still talking in that dark voice when around Robin or his butler and long time family friend Alfred Pennyworth. In an episode entitled, “Forgotten”, Bruce Wayne lost his memory after getting hit on the head by a member of the mafia, while undercover as a street criminal, he awoke realizing that he had been taken off the street to, forcefully, work in the coal mines. When he first awoke, he spoke with his softer voice. I believe that him being in a state of amnesia, allows his true self to appear and therefore his softer voice is actually his normal voice. The voice you hear from Batman most of the time is not even his real voice. It is the voice that reflects his demons and the pain that he uses to fight. This is the complexity of Batman.

       One of my favorite episodes (they’re all my favorite) is entitled, “Beware the Grey Ghost”. It was an episode paying homage to the first person to play Batman, Adam West. This episode was about a show that Batman grew up watching entitled “The Grey Ghost”. A crazed Grey Ghost fan decides to play the role of the “Mad Bomber”, a villain on the show. Batman recognizes the RC car bombs, which were used to blow up buildings around Gotham, from the Grey Ghost show. Simon Trent, Adam West’s character, was the actor from the old television show the Grey Ghost. He ends up putting on the Grey Ghost suit one more time, in a more serious setting this time, and helping Bruce Wayne to take down the Mad Bomber. To see the Grey Ghost, knowing it was played by the original Batman, right next to the new Batman, seemed like a passing of the torch; it seemed like the right thing to do.

       I could ramble on and on about Batman, but I’ll spare the trees of the world. When I’m 30 years old I’ll talk about him just like I was 11 years old again. Batman is a timeless classic that will evolve and, hopefully get better (unless they butcher it like it is now in “Batman: Brave and the Bold”). Batman is not a man, he is not a god, he is a symbol. Anyone can fight crime, but not everyone can strike fear into criminals and relief into the innocent at the same time. Somewhere along the years, it became uncool to like superheroes and watch cartoons, unless you were six, but I think this is the best place to put all the things kids need to learn, because it’s where they look the most. Emulating Batman doesn’t have to be fighting, it can and should be about what he stands for. So moms and dads, let your kids watch superheroes; let them expand their imagination into a world far beyond our own; let them want to rectify the maladies of the world, it will only make them a better person. Those of you who read this to laugh at the “losers” who watch superheroes just remember that this is a relatively long paper. Something must have kept you reading. Give it a chance and understand what it brings to people’s lives. Watch Batman, watch Superman, and really pay attention to the subtle undertone and the personal stories of the characters and then tell me it’s not only interesting but somewhat beneficial. Don’t let cartoons consume your life though, but allow them to glaze the imagination and make an impact in your life because everyone needs a hero.