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St. Paul and Batman in Real Life
Nov. 2nd, 2008 04:48 pm1. Even the best behaved children need to be corrected. So this morning I found myself saying, "You know what you are supposed to do, yet you are doing the exact opposite. What are you? A little St. Paul?"
2. Unlike the movies, the Batman animated TV series (the one from the early 1990s, not the later one) always struck me as being exceptionally uncompromised, so Andrew has seen some of it. Consequently he is happy to play at being Batman. At the park today he wore his Halloween costume cape (supposed to be that of a gladiator, though the costume consisted of legionary lorica segmentata and galea so it was hard to place it in the arena, but with a black cape) and assumed the accompanying persona, graciously allowing Madeline to be Batgirl (who uncharacteristically spent most her time running and flapping her wings to fly like a fairy). Then another girl showed up, about 6 years old, together with her parents (they looked like bikers). She was eager to join in playing, and made her first pronouncement about the price of colored plastic she wore on a necklace: 'This is a magic gem which can destroy everything!' I thought that was very odd for a girl to have a power fantasy like that, and Andrew warmed to the idea all too readily. When Andrew suggested she could be Batgirl too, she instead announced that she would be the Batdog (Andrew had seen the reincarnation of Ace the Bathound in Batman Beyond, but he did not bring that up--the original Ace wore a cape and cowl Just like batman). She had Andrew (all through pretending), put her collar on her, give her a bone, and feed her her breakfast in a bowl. I wondered if I was something that was going to be played out again in either his or her college dorm rooms? The she announced that she was really the Joker's dog and was now in control of Batman through hypnosis. She went on to order him to go and grab Batgirl and drag her over to the playground equipment she had made her lair. I had to stop that. Her next idea was that Batman and Batgirl should be put in handcuffs and subject themselves to her mercy. Her parents saw this as going too far and hustled her off. The girl made a great deal clear at one point when she broke out of her dog character and spoke in a frightening growling voice that would have been evidence of demonic possession in antiquity (or in Hollywood): 'When I take my meds, I am a monster, and evil, and bad!"
2. Unlike the movies, the Batman animated TV series (the one from the early 1990s, not the later one) always struck me as being exceptionally uncompromised, so Andrew has seen some of it. Consequently he is happy to play at being Batman. At the park today he wore his Halloween costume cape (supposed to be that of a gladiator, though the costume consisted of legionary lorica segmentata and galea so it was hard to place it in the arena, but with a black cape) and assumed the accompanying persona, graciously allowing Madeline to be Batgirl (who uncharacteristically spent most her time running and flapping her wings to fly like a fairy). Then another girl showed up, about 6 years old, together with her parents (they looked like bikers). She was eager to join in playing, and made her first pronouncement about the price of colored plastic she wore on a necklace: 'This is a magic gem which can destroy everything!' I thought that was very odd for a girl to have a power fantasy like that, and Andrew warmed to the idea all too readily. When Andrew suggested she could be Batgirl too, she instead announced that she would be the Batdog (Andrew had seen the reincarnation of Ace the Bathound in Batman Beyond, but he did not bring that up--the original Ace wore a cape and cowl Just like batman). She had Andrew (all through pretending), put her collar on her, give her a bone, and feed her her breakfast in a bowl. I wondered if I was something that was going to be played out again in either his or her college dorm rooms? The she announced that she was really the Joker's dog and was now in control of Batman through hypnosis. She went on to order him to go and grab Batgirl and drag her over to the playground equipment she had made her lair. I had to stop that. Her next idea was that Batman and Batgirl should be put in handcuffs and subject themselves to her mercy. Her parents saw this as going too far and hustled her off. The girl made a great deal clear at one point when she broke out of her dog character and spoke in a frightening growling voice that would have been evidence of demonic possession in antiquity (or in Hollywood): 'When I take my meds, I am a monster, and evil, and bad!"
