Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight (Wiley Psychology & Pop Culture)

by Langley, Travis

  61. Anderson & Friedman (1997), 1063; Keniston (1983), 29.

  62. Batman #657 (2006).

  63. Batgirl #7 (2010); #17 (2011).

  64. Detective Comics #38 (1940).

  65. Batman and Robin #16 (2011).

  66. JLA/Titans #2 (1998).

  67. Identity Crisis #5 (2004).

  68. The New Titans #100 (1993).

  69. Nightwing #4 (1995).

  Case File 10–1: Red Hood

  1. Batman #424 (1988).

  2. Explained in Batman Annual #25 (2006).

  3. Batman #650 (2006).

  4. Batman #426 (1988).

  5. Batman #641 (2005).

  6. Batman and Robin #23 (2011).

  7. Green Arrow #71 (2007).

  8. Red Hood and the Outlaws #1 (2011).

  Case File 10–2: Dr. Fredric Wertham

  1. Donald (n.d.).

  2. Quoted by Sharrett (1991), 38.

  3. Batman #84 (1954).

  4. Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954).

  5. Wertham (unpublished manuscript).

  6. Ellison (1953/1964).

  7. Wertham (1954/2004).

  8. Hajdu (2008).

  9. Wertham (1954/2004), 237.

  10. Wertham (1954/2004), 192.

  11. Wertham (1954/2004), 189–190.

  12. Fisher & Greenberg (1996); McCullough (2001); Mills (2005).

  13. Medhurst (1991), 51.

  14. Wertham (1954/2004), 193.

  15. Wertham (1954/2004), 191.

  16. Kane & Andrae (1989), 108.

  a“Really, whose mother would allow her child to be Batman or Robin, anyway?”—Danny Fingeroth, Superman on the Couch (2004), 67.

  bThe obvious exception, Stephanie, is Robin only briefly before Batman fires her. She didn’t fit.

  cThe Cluemaster, for example, returns to Gotham City meaning to avenge his daughter’s supposed death and later covers his prison cell’s wall with photos of her in action as Batgirl (Batgirl #24, 2011).

  dBest-selling author Brad Meltzer’s limited series Identity Crisis happens to be the story that kills Jack Drake and orphans Tim.

  e“It was left vague as to whether or not Jason pushed someone off a balcony. The writer, Jim Starlin, thought he did—I thought he didn’t.”—Dennis O’Neil, interviewed by Pearson & Urrichio (1991).

  fThe 2010 animated film Under the Red Hood, which follows the comic book story arc closely in dialogue and plot, presents the Lazarus Pit as the source of the resurrection itself.

  gAn explosion moments later is what kills Jason, but the preceding beating by crowbar is the defining image.

  hNone of whom seriously said yes, Batman’s gay.

  iI can’t flatly refute everything Wertham insinuated about Wonder Woman. Psychologist William Moulton Marston, who created her under his pseudonym Charles Moulton, was all in favor of lesbians and bondage.

  11

  The Women

  Why the Cat?

  “I’ll be direct. There have been many women in Bruce Wayne’s life, but only two he has truly loved—you and I.”

  —Talia to Selina, Gotham City Sirens #2 (September, 2009)

  Why does Batman go for “bad girls”? Why does anyone? They’re trouble. Maybe he likes dangerous women because he is dangerous. A better question might be why anyone would go for him. Aside from his intelligence, good looks, strong voice, interesting friends, generous nature, big house, sprawling estate, cool car (“It’s the car, right? Chicks love the car.”),1 massive fortune, aptitude for everything…. Okay, there are reasons to date the guy2 but don’t expect that relationship to last. And buy extra insurance: life, health, dental, auto, fire, theft, dismemberment, abduction, the works.

  Sexy Devils

  Empirical research reveals more about bad boys’ appeal than equivalent bad girls’. Those who study “bad boys” in this context mean rebels, males whose temper and antisocial actions make trouble and who don’t treat women with the kindness, sensitivity, or reverence “nice guys” will show. While bad boys usually have more sexual experience than nice guys, sexual activity isn’t the foremost defining criterion for being considered a bad boy, whereas researchers who write about “bad girls” distinguish them from “nice girls” in terms of sexual expressiveness and promiscuity. The women most important to Batman, though sexually active, are not wantonly promiscuous. They have standards. No, they’re bad girls in much the same way Batman’s a bad boy, and therein lies the mutual attraction. “You are part of the night, just like me. We’re not afraid of the dark—we come alive in it,” Catwoman tells him, “we’re thrilled by it.”3

  Confidence is attractive, as is a dominant, take-charge manner.4 The man exhibiting dominant behavior (not to be confused with domineering) comes across as poised, strong, masculine, and capable of facing challenges, fulfilling his role as provider and defender, and fighting off the wolves. If a problem calls for heroics, the good man who seems timid, unassertive, and full of self-doubt, like Superman’s alter ego Clark Kent, might appear less capable of successfully rising to the occasion than the bad one who’s bold, aggressive, and free from doubt. Right or wrong, a brute may seem more capable of performing a gentle act than the gentleman seems able to succeed at a brutal one. Mild-mannered Clark Kent spends years adoring Lois Lane while she ignores him. No woman ignores Bruce Wayne. Superman is a good boy who honors his birth parents and embodies his adoptive parents’ values. Batman is a bad boy with a good cause: avenging his parents whether they’d approve or not.

  Gender roles (originally called sex roles but that sounded sexual, which confused people) are behavioral expectations for males and females, varying across cultures and over time, with some biology-dependent consistency.5 They’re not exactly stereotypes (beliefs as to what the members of specific groups are like), but rather expectations for how members of each gender are supposed to act. Gender role masculinity consists of the behavioral traits considered favorable for men; gender role femininity, those considered favorable for women. People expect men to be forceful, assertive, aggressive, dominant, independent, willing to take risks, and ready to defend their beliefs (a set of characteristics Bruce Wayne fulfills in every way where Clark Kent often does not), and women to be understanding, sympathetic, sensitive, compassionate, warm, tender, eager to soothe hurt feelings, and loving toward children.6 A psychologically androgynous person has many characteristics from both sets, which can be attractive as well—probably among the many reasons Batman finds Catwoman so appealing. Clark’s love interest, Lois, raised to best the boys like the son her father General Lane never had, shows even more traditionally masculine traits while remaining all woman.7

  People tend to become more androgynous with age—many men warming up over time, many women growing assertive and independent—and this gives hopes to many a woman who starts off with a bad boy and dreams he’ll become a better man later on. Part of the bad boy’s appeal can be that the woman hopes to save him, as if helping him fulfill his potential would make her feel more accomplished as a woman and net her the ideal man. Hoping the hypermasculine man picks up some of her feminine strengths may seem more achievable and more fun for her than trying to “be the man” in the relationship while prodding a softer guy to take on that role. Neither Talia nor Selina wants a kinder, gentler Batman. It’s he who talks about reforming them.

  Nice guys have fewer sexual partners. Part of being nice is the fact that they’ll place manners, respect, conversation, and concern ahead of passion. More willing to wait until long after the first date to seek intercourse, they therefore have sex less often because of times when there is no second date. By waiting for the perfect time to talk to a woman, to ask her out, to kiss her, and more, they miss opportunities—not that they all mind waiting, but expecting perfection in any human interaction guarantees failure and disappointment. Rebels take the lead. They’re confident, bold, and indifferent. They’ll test limits and push boundaries in all areas of their lives. If a woman spu
rns them, so what? Instead of moping and pining for one person, they’ll go on to the next one. Numerous women prefer bad boys for immediate sexual gratification and nice guys for serious, committed relationships.8 Niceness or agreeableness affects relationship success in several ways: Those interested in long-term relationships tend to seek nicer partners, plus the less agreeable individuals are more interested in casual sexual relationships with less commitment anyway.9

  The bad boy poses a challenge. Superman makes people feel safe, but safe doesn’t feel like a challenge. Security isn’t mysterious. “It’s wanting something you can’t really have,” actress Lee Meriwether (Catwoman in Batman: The Movie) commented when discussing why a woman would want a long-term relationship with Batman or any other bad boy.10 We value the things we work harder to get. Procuring a collector’s item after months of meticulous searching makes it a greater prize than if you’d ordered it online within three minutes of first Googling. Things that come easily to us, we undervalue. The more we suffer for something without sufficient external justification, the more we increase its perceived value so we don’t feel like idiots for putting up with it. Members of groups who undergo harsher initiation rituals express greater loyalty afterward as a way of rationalizing their experiences; abandoning the group you suffered to join can make you feel foolish for having gone through that suffering in the first place.11,a When Clark Kent runs off to turn into Superman, his unreliability and perceived cowardice make him unappealing, and yet when Bruce Wayne lets people down, he comes across as indifferent or aloof, which might enhance his attractiveness to those who need to believe they’re not hanging around for his money.

  Leon Festinger’s cognitive dissonance theory says feelings of tension (dissonance, the opposite of consonance or harmony) arise when you’re conscious of two inconsistent ideas—like “I love him” and “he’s so rude to me.” We could downplay one idea (“ah, that wasn’t really rude”) or upgrade the other idea to justify tolerating the situation (“I love him so much, he’s worth it”), each of which means altering an attitude so our actions make sense.12 Where some theories might predict that we wouldn’t like anything we associate with reprimands, cognitive dissonance theory predicts some circumstances in which we’ll value those things, like when children who receive strong admonishment to leave a toy alone want the toy more than if admonishment is mild.13 The boy or girl your parents warn against becomes sexier. Forbidden fruit becomes more appealing.

  Danger is sexy. “Batman feels most intensely alive when he’s in danger and he’s in danger when he’s with bad girls. They help him feel alive,” says psychologist Robin Rosenberg.14 Arousal from one source fires up our feelings about other things, a process of excitation transfer (mentioned in chapter 5), which may account for the popularity of makeup sex or having sex while still angry. Danger makes people sexier. The excitement of riding a roller coaster with someone who’s not your romantic partner can make that person more desirable.15 Any male movie lead who encounters a femme fatale can count himself lucky if he’s still breathing and not behind bars at the story’s end. The thrill of danger makes her more exciting along the way, then cognitive dissonance makes some of those saps decide, “She was worth it.”

  Blinded by Beauty

  What’s more attractive, physical appearance or personality traits? Appearance is visible first. Discovering the personality takes time. Physical appearance is therefore the number-one determinant of initial attraction to someone else. People tend to choose romantic partners who are a “good match” for themselves in attractiveness and other traits, the matching phenomenon.16 In happy couples who are not equally attractive, the less attractive partner usually has compensating qualities or assets.17 Attractiveness exerts greater influence on those who seek short-term, less committed relationships.18 Standards of attractiveness, varying somewhat between cultures, show some universal standards in that signs of health and fertility are attractive, especially symmetry: When one side of the face neatly mirrors the other side (e.g., eyes line up, ears match, one side of the skull isn’t bulbous relative to the other) or likewise with the rest of the body (e.g., shoulders the same height and width), people not only find this physical balance pleasing19 but also tend to expect people who have these even features to be more sociable, intelligent, lively, confident, and mentally balanced.20

  Physical attractiveness carries benefits beyond the obvious mating advantages.21 Attractive people and tall people fill more prestigious occupations and earn higher incomes.22 Better-looking individuals on average develop better social skills, enjoy more success, and suffer less mental illness, perhaps because people treat and judge attractive children and adults more favorably.23 When dealing with attractive children, adults use greater tact, show them more warmth, and consider their transgressions less naughty even when both attractive and homelier children have committed identical antisocial acts,24 and their teachers presume the attractive ones to be smarter and more successful academically.25 Pretty people get away with more. Researchers have found that jurors and mock jurors will consider good-looking defendants less dangerous,26 believe attractive plaintiffs more sincere,27 and recommend that they receive lesser sentences.28 Juries punish more severely those offenders who hurt beauties, awarding larger damages to attractive negligence victims29 and assigning lengthier sentences to sexual assaulters who have attacked better-looking victims.30 The strength of these physical attractiveness effects on juries depends on the nature of the crime. Deliberating over burglary, an offense where attractiveness would not directly help or hurt a perpetrator commit the crime, subjects assign more lenient sentences than with a crime like swindling, in which attractiveness would logically help the con artist succeed.31

  Beauty distracts Batman. The first time he meets Catwoman, he lets her get away while he muses over her lovely eyes.32 In modern continuity, Selina Kyle has never gotten arrested, nor has her identity as Catwoman ever been publicly exposed, none of which would be possible if Batman set his mind on locking her up. Likewise, the first time he defeats criminal mastermind Ra’s al Ghul and prepares to take Ra’s to the authorities, al Ghul’s beautiful daughter and accomplice Talia asks, “And I? Am I also to be imprisoned?” Batman replies by pulling Talia close for a big kiss before he carries an unconscious Ra’s off without her.33

  With his favorite women, Batman finds alternatives to incarceration.34 Neal Adams & Dick Giordano art © DC Comics.

  The Bat’s Black Book: Women Who Love Batman

  Bruce Wayne’s fiancée during Batman’s first year in Detective Comics, Julie Madison, breaks off the engagement in frustration over the seemingly carefree playboy’s failure to do anything more worthwhile with his life. She leaves to become an actress, taking the name Portia Storme (supposedly after a character in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, but really because Portia was the name of writer Bill Finger’s girlfriend/future ex-wife). Bruce never shares the secret of his dual identity with his fiancée, Julie. Was he saving that for the wedding night?

  While still involved with Julie, Batman becomes smitten with the Cat, a jewel thief who crosses his path during an ocean cruise, from the first moment he sees her.b After letting the Cat escape, he ends the story musing over her: “Lovely girl! What eyes! Say, mustn’t forget I’ve got a girl named Julie! Oh, well. She still had lovely eyes! Maybe I’ll bump into her again sometime.”35 Soon she returns as the cat burglar called Catwoman. Linda Page, Bruce’s next girlfriend after Julie, breaks up with him because of Catwoman after seeing him woo “Elva Barr,” a disguised Selina, during one of his many attempts to reform her.36 The character kept changing. Unlike adversaries such as the Penguin, who arrived fully formed, top hat, monocle, umbrellas, and all, Catwoman/Selina Kyle evolved over the course of several years while artists kept redesigning her and writers figured her out.

  “We knew we needed a female nemesis to give the strip sex appeal. So Bill and I decided to create a somewhat friendly foe who committed crimes but was also a romanti
c interest in Batman’s rather sterile life. She was a kind of female Batman, except that she was a villainess and Batman was a hero. We figured that there would be this cat and mouse, cat and bat byplay between them—he would try to reform her and bring her over to the side of law and order…. We felt that she would appeal to the female readers and that they would relate to her as much as to Batman. We also thought that male readers would appreciate a sensual woman to look at. So, she was put into the strip for both the boys and girls, as a female counterpart to Batman.”

  —Bob Kane37

  By the time they finally fleshed the character out, they had to let her go. 1954’s new Comics Code Authority left no room for sexy, likable crooks. “With paranoia building, DC Comics decided it would be prudent to ‘retire’ a sexy and evil female character like Catwoman until such time, if any, that sanity returned to society and its standards.”38