The Bluestocking 2022-23

Alice Song | Grade 9 Justice is Served: A Case Against Batman

There’s one thing that’s infuriating about the Batman series – the theme of unneces sary sacrifice. To adhere to his principle of not killing, Batman allows the Joker to con stantly hurt innocent people when he could have killed the villain long ago. However, the most unnecessary sacrifice in the franchise was the emergence of Batman himself. Bruce could have saved Gotham using his power and influence as an elite, but instead, he became Batman, a masked vigilante that promises justice but never quite achieves it. Consequently, the determination for altruism, a constant theme in the comics, never really pays off and only serves as fodder for a never-ending plot. Bruce Wayne should have used his status to help Gotham because it is more effective at achieving reform, it is better for Gotham’s wellbeing, and it is more legitimate in principle. It’s simply more effective to attain change within Gotham through Bruce Wayne, not Batman. Crime in general is caused by structural factors like poverty, poor education, and high unemployment, all requiring institutional change. Institutional change can only happen through wealth and power. Bruce has shown us how ridiculously rich he is: he constructed Batman’s lair, the Bat-mobile, and all of the high-tech weapons he uses. Not only does he have the money to execute any vision, as an elite, he also has social clout within the city to enact change. Bruce could also have used his status to attract the help of investigative journalists and federal government agencies to address issues within Gotham. With his money, Bruce could have prevented crime caused by poverty in future generations by building schools, investing in social programs, and erecting safer neighborhoods. In comparison, Batman does not work to cut the roots of crime in Gotham. His top priority is fighting villains, not saving innocent people or working with the law for justice. Consequently, Batman has only made a small degree of change within Gotham because he is fixing the effects and not the causes of crime. Bruce is the one who can target institutional crime, and this will always be more effec tive than targeting the criminal flare ups indicative of a broken city. Moreover, it is better for Gotham’s wellbeing for Bruce not to have become Batman. Every time Batman fights, there is collateral damage. Batman’s vigilantism means direct confrontations with criminal(s), resulting in more bullets being fired, more buildings getting blown up, and more civilians getting caught in crossfire. Even though the criminals ae stopped, because Batman fights fire with fire, he leaves behind a trail of de struction. Although Batman’s intentions are only to stop crime, his actions destabilize Gotham even more, socially and financially, because of the casualties and damage to the infrastructure. Gotham is already in a bad financial position, as reflected in the number of people committing crime, so the money required to reconstruct infrastructure will drain the resources from social programs and produce more administrative corruption. Batman is supposed to keep people safe, but his priority of neutralizing immediate threats only worsens the existing problems.