Epiphany

After taking a few hours in Alton Bay to monitor the Biker situation in Alton Bay yesterday (and by the way, for whatever damage they might cause and however seedy they might look, the sight of a few hundred bikers, and their bikes, the moving works of art, arriving en masse, is among the more impressive things I've ever seen), I went out to Merideth to go see Batman Begins. The movie itself is totally fabulous, and with the combination of how good the X-Men movies have been, the success of Hellboy and the quality of both Spider-Man movies (particularly the second), gives me hope for the future of comic book movies of both big companies, including the Fantastic Four.

Those who know me know that one of the things I particularly enjoy reading about and am keenly interested in is mythology. I always loved reading about the characters and stories of Greek myth, and I've always been fascinated by Norse mythology, particularly the concept of Ragnarok, which is unique among the more famous sets of mythological beliefs. Tolkien always talked about the reasons he created Middle Earth, and you particularly see this in the Simarallion, was that the English people lacked the mythology other people's had. We Americans are similar. While we have our own myths, like Davy Crockett and Paul Bunyan, but these are mostly either historical exaggerations of real people or simple tall tales. We lack the same kind of myths the Greeks, Celts and Norse had. Or maybe that's not true.

Like Bill, or David Carradine, I've always been fascinated by superheroes and comic books. What made Batman Begins so effective is that it showed what makes the superhero so fascinating for people in America. They represent about the only way we can have larger than life symbols that stand for something. Christian Bale's performance though , gives the lie to the statement Bill made to Beatrix at the end of Kill Bill, Volume 2. Bill makes the point that unlike every other hero, Superman is always Superman, he puts the mask of Clark Kent on and assumes different characteristics. But Bruce Wayne is also a mask. The moment that his parents are killed, Bruce Wayne, or the person that Bruce Wayne might have become, died as well. What is left is the boy that would become Batman. Billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne is the mask. Its merely an affectation for the benefit of the people of Gotham, and as a really effective way to protect his identity. But the Brice Wayne that's not partying, or jumping on rooftops is still his world's ultimate mind, and the epitome of a person perfecting himself through hard work (and inherited billions). This is why Batman holds much more of a hold on people than the guy with the big "S" on his chest. Superman is entirely "un-human," literally and figuratively. He has a moral code that no man could possibly always uphold, and the things he does makes him more of an uber-man. He fights because its what's right, with no other motivation. Batman has the most obvious motivations of all, an all consuming thirst for vengeance and contempt for criminality.

I realized something else while watching the movie. For those of you who don't know, many of the exterior shots for the movie were filmed in Chicago. When the bridges are raised, those of the five or six bridges spanning the Chicago River. The Wayne Building is a modified Board of Trade, and the area leading up to it, LaSalle St. . The chase scenes were filmed in many of Chicago's streets, and in one of the first scenes where we see Batman, he's standing on top of one of the Gothic spires of my former place of employment, Tribune Tower.

I never made the effort to make Chicago home. When I got there, I was consumed with finding work and going to school during the week. The weekends, I was in Kalamazoo. After the breakup, I just sat in my room, feeling trapped in my own emotions and thoughts, which I unfortunately transferred to feelings about the city itself. But as I watched the movie and mentally ticked off places I recognized, and as I talk about my experiences in the city with my co-workers, I realize that my time there was never as oppressive as it seemed at the time. That was all my doing. The city, by and large, was good to me. It served as a playground, and a place to escape when I needed to get out of my apartment and think. Now that I've had the time, now that I've had the space away from town, I understand what I missed out on. Maybe in the future, when I'm more settled into a career, and have a family, I can return, and more fully appreciate all that Chicago has to offer. So consider this my mea culpa to the city of the big shoulders.