The Dark Knight Returns Response

     

    
 #1. 
      In Frank Miller's comic, The Dark Night Returns, we the audience are introduced to a Batman, and by extension, Bruce Wayne, that is significantly different than we knew before. The story opens on a 55 year-old Bruce Wayne who's been out of the vigilante business for ten years after the loss of Jason Todd on the job. He's a little bit older, a little bit more experienced, and noticeably more unhinged. 
     When we're first introduced to Miller's Wayne, he is in the middle of a race and wrecks his car doing so. It's clear then that he's having trouble adjusting to life without the thrill of being Batman and after all this time hasn't managed to settle down in his retirement fully. When the opportunity arises to return to the Batman mantle, he barely hesitates, heading out into the streets to track down Harvey Dent and find out if any of them can really escape these masks they crafted for themselves.  

     I for one like this version of Bruce Wayne; not because he's a good person mind you, the opposite, actually. I like this version of Bruce because it does seem very close to what I imagined an older Bruce would be like after years of fighting psychotic villains all over Gotham only to lose one of the few people close to him along the way. He's old, he's angry, and he has a vendetta against the criminals in Gotham and doesn't plan on letting anything get in his way. This certainly isn't the most morally good version of Batman ever given to us, but it is one of the more interesting versions we've had. 

#2
     One of the biggest questions raised by this new portrayal of Batman, and by extension, Bruce Wayne is "Is he good?". Throughout the comic, Batman is significantly harder on and more brutal towards the enemies he fights. He shows little mercy and puts more emphasis on fear and brutality when he fights. It's not only the criminals who have to deal with this either, the police and Gotham's citizens do as well. As Batman's brutality and recklessness increases, so does the damage done to Gotham's police force and anyone who gets caught in the middle.
     This new brutality is seen most clearly when Batman is dealing with the Mutant gang. He decides that to truly rid Gotham of the Mutant gang, he needs to make an example out of their leader who outmatches him in speed and strength. This leads him to challenge him to hand to hand combat in a mudhole in front of the entire gang. He then brutally beats the Mutant leader and leaves him with several major injuries to make his point to the rest of the gang, fully demonstrating the new levels of brutality he has resorted to.

      While Batman's new, more brutal methods might not have flown in the Gotham most of us know from the films and other comics, it seems a bit necessary in Miller's Gotham, at least from Bruce Wayne's perspective. The world of Gotham ten years after Batman's retirement is far more brutal and unforgiving than it once was. This Gotham seems to require a more vicious hand in order to quell the chaos and violence it has fallen into since Bruce's departure. Rape, murder and assault happen on a large scale nightly and it has become a kind of terrible norm for the people of the city and the gangs don't seem to be willing to give up control. This gives Bruce only one option: He has to take it from them. 

What Media Says About Us

     When it comes to media and television, everybody has guilty pleasures. Things that you watch that you know aren't necessarily "good" or "popular" but you still enjoy it anyway. Even I'm guilty of it-especially so. One of these, for myself, for the longest time, has been the internet commentary show Tosh.0.

     Tosh.0 is one of those shows that can be incredibly indicative of North Americans as both a media producing and media consuming society. The show is explicit and unforgiving and can be cruel, violent, and disgusting when it wants to be (Which is to say, always...). It also simultaneously, at times, displays a degree of genuine truth in it's shock humor and biting vulgarity. 

     As for what it says about us, it is very plain in displaying what we enjoy as a media reliant society. While many people may put on a kind face and pretend to be averse to humor relating to thing like racism, rape, disability or gore, Tosh.0 deals it in spades and yet still maintained a healthy fanbase in mainstream media. This is because, as much we may deny or ignore it, we are a society that enjoys laughing at the pain of others, taboo topics, and things you probably shouldn't talk about in a professional setting. 

Comedy at its purest

     For example, Daniel Tosh's show consists mostly of himself riffing off, commenting on, and insulting viral videos on the internet. Most of the videos revolve around people getting into fights, or accidents, by their own fault or not, but all usually end in what the audience can assume is at least mild injury. His jokes are always insulting, often citing the person's stupidity for doing those things in the first place. It makes up a large section of the show and is never anywhere near nice or SFW and yet even I often find it hard not to laugh.

    You can see for yourself here; beware of pop-up ads, of course.   (http://putlocker.is/watch-tosh0-tvshow-season-4-episode-7-online-free-putlocker.html ).

     Not even Tosh or the others who work on the show are safe from pain and humiliation. Regularly, the show's staff and often Tosh himself are put through ridiculous situations and inconveniences for the sake of a joke, whether through Tosh's pranks or ridiculous stunts. He himself even takes a bowling ball rolled down a water-slide to the crotch for the sake of a bit, with a massive bruise to show for it. Normally, some might take this kind of treatment and behavior as something to be concerned about, but here, the audience loves it and no joke is too far.

     In the end, our enjoyment of these kinds of things beg one important question: Does it make us bad people to enjoy this kind entertainment? Many people debate this, some believing that the enjoyment of this kind of media makes us bad people. 

     I for one dispute this; while laughing at and making fun of things like this may not make us good people, I don't believe it makes us bad necessarily. In fact, I believe it can be healthy not just individually to laugh at these kinds of things and make the kind of jokes that Daniel Tosh and those like him make. If difficult or taboo things like this are avoided and ignored it becomes harder and harder to talk about them when it becomes necessary. If we can't as a society or individuals learn to discuss and even laugh at the hard things then we build barriers between us and the important issues, whether it's rape or how funny we find someone lighting themselves on fire through their own stupidity. In the end, our choices of entertainment within the media may shine a more negative light on us as people, but I believe it's a necessary one none the less.

Laugh through the pain. It's better than crying or talking about the weather