Trio

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

A Blogger's Voice

If you're reading this blog, then you should definitely check out this article by blogger Reginald Johnson called, "The Psychology of Batman."

I didn't even read this article before writing my hello world article and yet we talk about many of the same things; for example, how Batman is just a man. Johnson writes, "Batman, if anything, is the possibility of what a person can be." He talks about how Batman "is a man...with no superpowers." Notice how Johnson uses the italicized 'can' to emphasize his point or his use of a trailing off '...' to drive the point home that Batman literally has no superpowers...and we love Batman for that!

Another example of italicized sentences being a powerful tool of conveying a meaning is in Johnson's line, "The obsessive manhunter is balanced by the humane knight." In this instance, Johnson talks about the mind-frame of Batman and the parallels between the dark knight and Two-Face, a split-personality disorder patient. Batman, in essence, balances his psychotic and obsessive hunt for crime with his humanity, thus separating himself from his enemies.

Often, Johnson will write a dense paragraph, skip a line, write a single sentence, then skip a line and start a paragraph anew. This adds great emphasis on the points he is trying to make. The single sentence floating in-between two paragraphs jumps out at the reader, screaming importance. In three, long and detailed sentences, Johnson writes about the Joker and his challenge to Batman - how he challenges his intellect, wit and sense of justice. After this paragraph, Johnson writes, "But that should be no surprise" alone after the previous paragraph ended. Immediately, the reader picks up on the Joker's identity being shrouded in secret (the subject of the previous paragraph). Not only does it add emphasis, it also poses a sort of question to the reader; "Why isn't it a surprise?" It gently pushes the reader into the next paragraph. Johnson's use of long and short paragraphs, as well as spaces between paragraphs, makes him a strong writer.

I also like how Johnson addresses the reader. He writes, "Right now you may be thinking this sounds ridiculous." I appreciate this sort of writing because the blogger is writing as if he is speaking in an informal and sociable way. While writing this blog, I want to be as personable as possible, so using second person in a sentence is something I want. However, I don't want to write in an unscholarly way and Johnson clearly is personable yet scholarly.

About halfway through the blog post, Johnson uses a graph to show the reader an exchange of dialogue between Superman and Batman. It's really interesting and detailed and Johnson chooses the right lines to examine. For instance, Johnson discusses the dichotomy between the Dark Knight and the Son of Krypton and how the two are reacting to near-death experiences in the graphic novel "Public Enemies." While I liked the use of direct quotes in his blog, I would take it a step further and perhaps show a photo of the desires pages of the comic. Otherwise, Johnson's examination of actual texts of the Dark Knight is greatly appreciated and shows an understanding and knowledge of the source material.

I highly recommend this blog post by Johnson; its insightful, easy to read and just interesting. For now, I'll leave you with the teaser of The Dark Knight Rises...

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Thoughts on a Blog

Ferdy on Films is a great blog for a number of basic reasons - First, the whole intro blog is a personal and insightful view on Ferdy's take on films. Personally, I like a blog that is formal in writing yet personal and informal in it's core language.

Secondly, Ferdy doesn't rely on his readers to view or read about the material she is talking about. For example, if she is reviewing a film, she doesn't expect her readers to know the material. In fact, if she does a good job of describing and analyzing the film, it shouldn't be a problem for her readers. It may even stir more curiosity for the reader to explore the film him or herself. This reflects what I am doing in my blog - I do not expect all my readers (if any at all) to know everything about Batman, because I certainly do not. Instead, I will try to keep the blog interesting, keeping in mind that readers may not know what I am talking about.

Ferdy ends the blog by saying she will review things that she has not seen before. Thus she is exploring material unknown to her and maybe to her readers. Like Ferdy, I hope to explore Batman and psychology material that I am not too familiar with. This will keep the blog interesting in the future and hopefully be educating for me and the reader.

Hello World!

It’s an eerie bright night with the full moon looming overhead, a giant eye in the sky gazing down on the city. You’re walking to your car, the only car in the parking lot at this late hour, with your clinking keys in hand. You can’t help but notice a group of men eyeing you from across the parking lot. You count them – five in total. Their faces are painted black in the night, but you feel their white, piercing eyes studying every inch of your body. Their figures are mere shadows under the street lamp. As you make your way to your car door, you hear their footsteps coming towards you. Your frosty white breath, clearly visible, begins to quicken and shorten as you fumble for your keys, desperately trying to open the door. One of the thugs grabs your arm and your muscles tighten, not due to the cold, but to the fear – the fear that something awful is going to happen and nothing can stop it. And just before you scream or yell or fight or whatever your body can muster at that horrible moment, the hand limply slips from your arm. You turn to the five men expecting the worst but instead see them on the floor, unconscious, carefully arranged around your person like a flower arrangement. You look up and see a shadow move across the sky. Was it a man? You blink – maybe it was a mirage. Before thinking anymore, you find your keys and drive away, as fast as humanly possible.

There are literally hundreds, no, thousands of super heroes. Maybe even millions at this point. And what makes a superhero? Well let’s take a look.

Wolverine of the Marvel universe has blades in his hands that can retract and extend at will. His five senses are heightened, like an animal, and can recover from wounds within seconds (depending on the severity of the wound of course). How about Spiderman? Spiderman’s five senses are heightened, like an animal (or insect in this case) and can shoot “spider-webs” from his hands. What about the granddaddy of all superheroes, Superman? Well, again, this superhero has the famed heightened five senses (he has supervision, super strength, super hearing, super-everything, you name it). On top of that, Superman can fly AND is invincible.

And so, let’s look at Batman. What can he do?

Does he have five heightened senses? No.
Does he have blades in his hands he can retract at will? No.
Can he fly? No.

Doesn’t seem like superhero material. But that’s where you’re wrong. There’s something Batman has that every other superhero sorely lacks – passion for the job. Batman loves his job so much, one could argue he is as mentally unstable as the villains depicted in his comic books.

There are so many reasons why Batman has grown to be my favorite superhero comic book character in just a matter of years. Unashamedly, as a twenty-one year old male with a healthy social circle of friends and family, I proudly read these comics – not in my mother’s basement, thank you very much. I’m still learning about the mythos of Batman, and through this blog, I hope you will learn about him too. This blog will mostly cover psychological issues that is relevant to Batman topics, such as D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder), psychopathic/criminal reasoning, bipolar disorders, and much more. Some days, we’ll also explore the history of the publication of Batman comics over the years, the wonky television show in the 60s, the Burton films and the Nolan films, and maybe a video game review.