case: (Default)
Case ([personal profile] case) wrote in [community profile] fandomsecrets2012-05-17 06:47 pm

[ SECRET POST #1962 ]


⌈ Secret Post #1962 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.


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02.
[Ferris Bueller's Day Off]


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03.
[Community]


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04.
[Big Time Rush]


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05.
[Avengers]


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06.
[The Decemberists]


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07.
[Tim Minchin]


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08.
[The Lizzie Bennet Diaries]


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09.
[Community]


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10.
[The Hunger Games]


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11.
[Nell: The Day Before]


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12.
[Devil Survivor]


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13.
[Homeland]


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14.
[Pippin]


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15.
[Portal 2 & Left 4 Dead]


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16.
[The Avengers, 30 Rock, Psych]


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17.
[FFX]


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18.
[Mad Men]


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19.
[Legend of Korra]


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20.
[Faust: Love of the Damned]


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 020 secrets from Secret Submission Post #280.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 1 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

(Anonymous) 2012-05-18 04:19 am (UTC)(link)
But the motivations behind Batman are pretty cool- take, for example, his willingness to become a villain in the eyes of the city if it will improve Gotham's infrastructure, or destroy his reputation by appearing drunk and recalcitrant to his upper class guests. He loses his mansion and his bat-cave, which he won't get back in a hurry. He gives the Gotham little to work with in terms of his personality because his work isn't about him, it's about protecting the people of Gotham, and the lengths Batman will go to to do so. It's not about who he is underneath, but what he DOES that defines him as a person.

I did think the Joker was kind of silly the first time I saw him, until I rewatched the bit where he burnt his share of the money.... with a live, gagged man on top of the pile.

I think the incredibly impossibly rich part is mostly wish fulfillment for people, like, what would YOU do with several billion dollars? (Not that many people would actually have the drive to learn martial arts and beat up thugs after actually having that amount of money, but again, that's part of why people go to the movies)

But what about Michael Keaton? Or Batman the Animated Series? There was a pretty good animated Batman movie, too. There's some pretty rich psychological stuff going on in Batman, which is part of why I love the character.

[identity profile] curseangel.livejournal.com 2012-05-18 05:23 am (UTC)(link)
But the motivations behind Batman are pretty cool- take, for example, his willingness to become a villain in the eyes of the city if it will improve Gotham's infrastructure, or destroy his reputation by appearing drunk and recalcitrant to his upper class guests. He loses his mansion and his bat-cave, which he won't get back in a hurry.

Eh. I guess that's something? But I like my heroes flawed and beautiful, not flawless and rich and emotionless. He'll still have something, he still has.. everything, really. He's still a billionaire ffs. And he still doesn't have emotions or a personality really.

He gives the Gotham little to work with in terms of his personality because his work isn't about him, it's about protecting the people of Gotham, and the lengths Batman will go to to do so. It's not about who he is underneath, but what he DOES that defines him as a person.

And that's a big part of why I can't stand him. I hate emotionless characters who exist only to do whatever the writer wants them to (in this case, "FIGHT CRIME"). I mean, you know-- Tony Stark does that shit, too, but he's a person underneath it. Batman isn't a person. He's a cape that kicks the shit out of people and has a ton of money to do whatever he wants. Tony is a person with flaws, a complicated life, an addiction, a board of directors, and actual feelings in addition to being both a super-genius and, well, saving the day as Iron Man. Needless to say, I'll take the one that feels like a real person over the one whose function could easily be assumed by a robot.

I did think the Joker was kind of silly the first time I saw him, until I rewatched the bit where he burnt his share of the money.... with a live, gagged man on top of the pile.

Which is, well, obviously horrible, but it doesn't make me feel anything, or think he's less silly. It just amps the violence.

I think the incredibly impossibly rich part is mostly wish fulfillment for people, like, what would YOU do with several billion dollars?

I think it's less that, and more that once again, DC hates dealing with people's real lives. They hate dealing with problems that don't have to deal with being a superhero and flying around dispensing justice or whatever. So of course Bruce Wayne is a billionaire with no actual responsibilities whatsoever -- it frees them from having to figure out things like "how does he pay the rent" or "how does he afford all those gadgets and shit".

But what about Michael Keaton? Or Batman the Animated Series? There was a pretty good animated Batman movie, too.

Unfamiliar with Michael Keaton or an animated movie. I watched a cartoon some when I was a kid, but I never, ever liked Batman -- I liked Robin, Catwoman and Poison Ivy, that was it.

There's some pretty rich psychological stuff going on in Batman, which is part of why I love the character.

To each their own. I find the psychological stuff really either horrifying (when it isn't supposed to be) or somewhat stereotyped and boring (when it is supposed to be), so it doesn't interest me much.

(Anonymous) 2012-05-18 06:13 am (UTC)(link)
Tony is a person with flaws, a complicated life, an addiction, a board of directors, and actual feelings in addition to being both a super-genius and, well, saving the day as Iron Man. Needless to say, I'll take the one that feels like a real person over the one whose function could easily be assumed by a robot.

Bruce Wayne's personal life is downplayed a lot in the Nolan films, but Bruce Wayne's doofier side is played up more when he's played by Michael Keaton (the 1989 movie, and why Batman is one of the darker superheroes nowadays instead of still wearing white eyebrows on his mask) or Kevin Conroy. You shouldn't judge his entire character just on one interpretation. Nolan is good at doing things with plot and motivation that we're not used to seeing in superhero movies, but he's not actually the best at character writing.

But the first Law of Robotics is that no robot can harm a human being, or by inaction allow them to come to harm- Batman just refuses to kill people, and in the case of movie!Ra's Al Ghul, he does take the course of inaction. He also has a board of directors to deal with in the first film, and if he had no feelings, he would assimilate himself along with the rest of the shallow Gotham elite, not caring.

If you watch BTAS, there's a few episodes that entirely circle around normal people, or people living (seemly) normal lives. So I wouldn't write off DC hating dealing with people's real lives entirely. (See The Gray Ghost)

If someone acts silly and then does horrible things, they stop being silly to me. In that moment, Joker stopped being silly and became an even more unpredictable Mr Blonde. YMMV, obviously.

The thing is, you're setting this up as a 'Iron Man is totes better than Batman' thing, and that's super easy to get into wank territory over, when I like both of them (or at least Tony from Iron Man 1. 2 didn't really spark my fancy, and I haven't seen Avengers yet).