Post Midnight Ramble: Time, Faith and Life

DISCLAIMER - The following is a POST MIDNIGHT RAMBLE and may make no sense to most readers. Inconvenience should be regretted, but it isn't.

A very important lesson that my father tried to teach me as I was growing up, even now. Is that Time is always moving.

It seems like a rather obvious statement. If you take the time to look a bit closer, the message become much deeper.

Time is always moving. So you must keep moving with it. To hesitate is to lose time, time you will never get back again.

What I understood from my father was that every moment is precious, and every decision you make is important. Putting something off for later, may give you a moment of joy. However, that's it then - the moment is gone.

While I confess to have tried to not pay attention, the mind is a better listener than one might like to admit. In these moments of clarity, one can realize where certain thoughts have been lifted from. My personal quest to try and make each day well spent is a delicate mixture of my father's philosophy and a line I heard from someone that 'One's day is not complete until they feel that they have used it to it's full'.

I guess that's why I'm writing this post so late. The thought has sparked, it is something that I could delay until tomorrow, however that would deprive me of another task I could do then.

More significant to me however, is how that line has really influenced me. I try my hardest to get the most done each day, now if that involves doing things that I have not been asked to do, is irrelevant, all that matters to me, is ensuring that it's not going to come up sometime later and bite me.

This work ethic is flexible however, as it is completely dependent on a personal sense of prioritization. Because when it comes down to it, assignments can be pushed as late as one can, however work will always come first.

Where do friendships come into play though? Again, it's dependent on the prioritization factor. If as an individual, you are happy going by your day and spending time with those who come up in that day, it is a perfect philosophy. The only thing that matters in all of these things is that one must be happy with their choices.

Even if these choices start off bitter and horrible. You must trust your own judgement, if you made a painful decision, you must have thought it through. There will be pain, there will be wishes to reverse it. To get back lost time/misspent time, however, faith is what will get you to the point where you can stand tall and continue living.

There is no such thing as wasted time in my book, everything happens for a reason. It may not be evident, it may never be, but as the saying goes, "God doesn't play with dice" neither should we. Our decisions are made to improve our lives. If the decision is a bad one, it will teach you for the future. if it is a good one, well then it's a good one! don't expect a pony!

What I'm trying to say, is that, if life takes a turn for the worst, don't despair, don't beg for a do over. There is a greater game at play, if you made a bad decision, life will sort it out. If something is supposed to happen, then it will happen despite your mistake.

'The Killing Joke' - Classic or Just Popular?

Critical Analysis of a Classic

Batman – The Killing Joke (1988)

When one is given the opportunity to take a publically perceived classic, and analyse it, the mind immediately aligns itself towards typical examples of Movies, Music, Paintings and the other usual suspects. However, of late, I have begun to realize the amazing art-form that exists in the realm of Comic Books. Let me elaborate, when I use the term ‘Comic Book’ I am referring to what some would consider ‘Graphic Novels’ not cartoons like ‘Archie’ and ‘Tinkle’.

The ‘Comicsphere’ is much larger than anyone would be willing to even imagine, with independent projects to successful publishing houses, there are no shortage of Comics today. The challenge is finding one which is considered a ‘Classic’. The connection of the phrases; Comics and Classic immediately brought one subject to my mind, and that was Batman. However, there is a saying that it’s the clothes that make the man, and indeed, Batman is who he is, because of his rogue’s gallery – the most popular and well known being the Joker. It is with that reasoning, that I chose ‘Batman – The Killing Joke’. (Moore, 1988)

           ‘The Killing Joke’ was described by IGN as “the greatest Joker story ever told” (Goldstein, 2005). Not the best Batman book, mind you, but the best Joker story. There is a reason for that. When Brian Bolland was given the opportunity to have a book of his own choice, he chose the Joker and to write the script for that was arguably the best comic writer, Alan Moore.

          What makes the book so brilliant is not simply the story that it tells, but the way it is told. The decision of the team to expand it from the regular 32-page one shot issue and make it a 50 paged Prestige Comic allowed Bollard the artistic liberty to spend more time on the subtler details of the story when it comes to setting, artwork and colours. The script that Moore wrote complemented this as the story is able to move through parts that are slightly irrelevant with no dialogue. However, when the story is in motion, Moore’s writing is exemplary, it is engaging, and does something that books today cannot even do, it makes the reader think.

         Moore’s story has also been heavily commented on, while feminist activists attacked him on the seemingly ‘weak’ portrayal of Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, the only female character in the Batman series. Barbara is shot in the stomach (eventually paralysed from the waist down), stripped and photographed by a deranged Joker who, upon being asked why coldly replies, “To prove a point”. This senseless act at the time makes no sense to the reader; however, considering the deeper themes and messages of the story, it plays perfectly into the overall concept of the comic.

Alan Moore fans, did not appreciate this comic as they drew comparisons to Moore’s other work, ‘V for Vendetta’ and ‘Watchmen’ which are both publically and critically acclaimed. However, there is undeniable praised to Moore for the delivering of a story that eventually kick started the ‘thesis – anti-thesis’ relationship between Batman and the Joker. The reason for this is that ‘The Killing Joke’ marks a turning point in the relation between the two characters. This is seen by Batman’s realisation that the two of them are destined to remain on a consistent collision course, while the events of ‘The Killing Joke’ make the anger the Dark Knight has for the Clown to move to a personal level. This is seen to continue in later comics, as the Joker would progressively ensure that he causes Batman as much despair as possible.

The story is downright disturbing with its dark theme; the limits of one’s sanity and the nature of madness. The Joker’s ultimate objective to drive Commissioner Gordon insane by traumatising him and showing him nude photos of his daughter, who passes into shock as she is photographed, would be enough to drive any person, any father insane. But this is where Moore introduces another underlying concept that madness does not exist in everyone. It exists in some of us as a way out from the reality that we cannot face. Moore’s grasp of deep and complex psychological concepts as commendable as the dialogue used to convey it to the reader.

As a comic, ‘The Killing Joke’ has perhaps the least focus on Batman, it is at the end of the day, a Joker comic, an origin story of sorts as the Joker seemingly reflects on his own personal ‘bad day’ that drove him insane. The comic successfully expands the characters in the Batman series, details that shaped the characters for the three decades and longer.

Interestingly enough, while Batman fans will proudly state that this is one of the best comics, its creators do not feel the same way. Bollard never got to complete his artwork and was disappointed with the final product. Moore, sulked about the fact that he did not like The Killing Joke, his reasons were that it’s a very character oriented story, “there’s no important human information being imparted” (Khoury, 2003) and thus the reader doesn’t take anything back from it.

When Moore was asked about the role of Barbara Gordon in the comic, he replied stating that when he approached his bosses to ask for permission, he was told to “cripple the bitch”. (Lonely Gods, 2012) While an extremely cynical statement, it is a theme that was only echoed in the following years with the “Women in Refrigerators” phenomenon that was seen in 1994. In retrospect, however, I feel that it was a decision that allowed the character of Barbara Gordon to grow from just another sidekick and become a character of her own.

However, seeing the displeasure that both the stories creators had in the final product, should ‘The Killing Joke’ be considered a Classic? After all, if Beethoven was to ridicule his 5^th Symphony, would we stop recognising it as the epic work that it is? The answer is that we would not let the words of the works creators dissuade us from our personal opinion. The Killing Joke may not be the best Batman comic, but it has an extremely unique style with regards to how the story progressed and the central character being the Joker and not the Batman.

While ‘The Killing Joke’ would be chronologically considered as a fairly recent work, it is in fact a very old comic in the ‘Comicsphere’. ‘The Killing Joke’ can be considered as one of the being a part of the Modern Age, or more fittingly, part of the ‘Dark Age of Comic Books’, an era where comics began getting darker and involving more personal stories for the Heroes often pushing them to the brink of their functionality, while villains grew from ‘bad people’ to sociopathic lunatics. This is where The Killing Joke broke ground as it truly established the relation between the Joker and the Rest of Gotham. He moved from the laughing criminal to the demented schizophrenic whose lust for killing is senseless and uncontrollable; this paradigm shift is what makes ‘The Killing Joke’ such a timeless classic.

Stories about Heroes are a dime a dozen, they have thousands of pages to show their characters and grow as individuals, their Rogues, however, are not privy to such an option. Their journeys, though much more intense and thrilling than any hero, are forced to have their stories told through the life of another. ‘The Killing Joke’, in this sense, reintroduces the Joker to Batman readers, turning him into a character of his own by giving him a human side, a trait that had seemingly been absent from the character since his introduction in the 1940’s. ‘The Killing Joke’ as I have said is not the best Batman comic, but it is undeniably the best Joker comic and certainly a comic that many have tried, and failed, to duplicate in dialogue, artwork and plot. I feel that despite the displeasure the creators have shown towards the comic, it still is a classic. Because a classic is a work that will be remembered for its originality, its unique style and the amazing impact that it had on the comic book world.

Post Script: Got a 14/15 for this assignment, if you feel that I've left something out, please comment!

Batman #13 - Knock Knock

After a year of absence, Batman #13 marks the return of the Joker to the DC Universe, and simultaneously kicks off the start of the newest Bat-Family Crossover Event titled 'Death of The Family'.


One year ago, Batman fans were left in horror as at the end of Detective Comics #1, as an incarcerated Joker had his face delicately removed and nailed to the wall of Arkham Asylum. But while the later issues of Detective Comics followed the 'Dollmaker' the man responsible for removing the Jokers face, the actual fate of the Joker was left vague and unanswered.

In reality, Detective Comic readers knew that the Joker was alive with him staring at his face from the shadows saying "That felt... Fangasmic", the denizens of the DC Universe crafted their own rumors. Some said that the Joker was dead, murdered by Batman or the GCPD and the face was a macabre trophy. Batman knew that the Joker had gone for good, but then again, he couldn't really dwell on it as he was drawn into his next crisis with 'Night of the Owls'.

Batman #13 starts with a monologue about how Gotham was due for something sinister as nature seemed to be turning on itself with rivers reversing course and lion cubs being born with two heads. The main story begins light hearted, and almost comical as Commissioner Gordon has staked a day off to any officer to find his packet of smokes in the GCPD.

But nothing good really ever stays good in Gotham, now does it?

I won't go into the integral details of the Comic, to prevent spoilers. However, what I will say, is that the very character of the Joker has changed. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD)

Some people would associate the Joker as the Clown Price of Crime, who at the end of the day, is a clown. He is funny, his crimes always 'leave a smile' on everyone's face. However, this is not that Joker. This Joker is evil from his core to his exterior. Since he lacks a face, he no longer has the signature smile, which causes him to visit the GCPD.

As Batman would later mention, the Joker is much more savage than he has ever been, killing mercilessly and brutally, by snapping necks. To anyone who has read Batman comics with fights with the Joker, he usually uses giant hammers, tricks and the odd sucker-punch. But here his deadliness can be compared to that of an assassin, a laughing, joke cracking one at that. And we can all agree that the only thing that is scarier than a Silent Assassin, is a noisy one. (It's much more terrifying to hear the man about to kill you than to never realize until it's already over)

The Joker has gone through another character change, and the writers of this book are making it very obvious by having the Joker revisit his old crimes, (refer to Batman - The Man Who Laughs). They've used similar instances to show that the Joker is not the Happy Clown any more, but something else, something even more terrifying, as he leaves a room not of 'happy' victims but of frowning victims.

The last few pages can only drive home the message of this book, The Joker is back, and he's not who he was. But we are still left wondering what his plan is! As Batman tries to get himself out of another deathtrap, he hears the plan, but while Batman seems to want specifics, we know exactly what the Joker wants. He wants to help Batman return to who he was, a Loner. The only way to do that, is 'The Death of The Family' Quite literally, the Death of the Entire Bat-Family is in the cards.

The Joker has always been unpredictable but the last page is sure to leave the reader even more bamboozled and dying for the next issue.

On a side note, one can only but admire the marketing strategy of DC Comics, this Crossover Comic Event is a brilliant strategy as it keeps events to not more than 3 months and while the main story is contained in the main title (in this case Batman) the smaller instances and battles, what really makes an event are in other titles, so it ensures that people will buy other titles and might possibly get people to become interested in those too. Ensuring that the demographics that read Batman might just start reading Nightwing. Oh and they'd also end up paying for that too, so fans are now buying books that they might have not bought, but are doing so, because they want to know what is happening!

That's it from me. What a comic. Can't believe I have to wait a month till the Batman #14

Happiness

"Be Happy"

It's a very simple statement, one which is both the easiest and the hardest to achieve.

How do you define Happiness? Is it Joy? Pleasure? The simple act of smiling? Or is it the content one feels with their universe and thus, themselves?

But in order to have this statement told to us, we have to not be happy, i.e. we must not be content with our universe at the time. If something is wrong, should we not be told to solve those? Or does the statement of 'Be Happy' involve the confrontation of personal demons with the optimistic objective of possibly defeating them?

I'll be honest with you, that's one scary challenge. That someone would sentence me to face my own personal demons, to plunge me into a battle that I may not emerge from unscathed. Perhaps I'm overpraising. I've been told I do that a lot. But the truth remains that when a person is sad or unhappy, the simple statement of 'Be Happy' and its derivatives are simply terms used by parties that want to see the other happy, but don't want to get their hands dirty.

I'm sure that this has happened in your life, you've seen someone sad, someone who is down on their luck. You are concerned, you want that person to be happy, but you aren't willing to stake your own happiness, brain power and time to help that person reach that point. So you smile at them and say something as simple as, "Be Happy".

Now think for a second. If this person is someone that you actually care about, someone whose well-being is a concern (maybe a minor concern, but still) then is it not worth your time to see how to make them feel better?

Again, no one should feel compelled to be an agony aunt. That is a sad and pathetic solution to very complex emotions. Be there for people when they want to talk, but you know what is the best thing to share? Happiness. All you have to do is find a connection. With a friend you’re bound to have one or two connections, simply cast that line and try and make them feel better. If they shrug off that line, they will never say that you never tried and you can say "Be Happy" knowing that you tried to share Happiness and didn't get a response. It's better to have tried and failed than to never have tried at all.

Even someone who seems gloomier than death himself has that spark of Happiness. Gauge them like a Lion assesses prey. See if they are open to outside help, if they are, grab a bunch of mutual friends and yank that bastard out of their sadness. See if they respond to certain things, if you know the person well enough, maybe you can suggest going for a movie or doing something with them that makes them feel better on a much more personal level. Turn that spark into a roaring fire of Happiness.

The fire may simply burn out; it might even carry that person into the next week. But the important thing is that you helped that person, someone that you care about, get away from their problems for the slightest bit of time.

It's a bit tough, but if you actually start looking at 'friends' and think to yourself, do I actually care about this person’s happiness? You'll get rid of the crap friends you have, and emerge with friends that you'd do anything to see them happy, even for a minute.

Happiness is a hard commodity to come across. So when you are happy, you can share it. But when others aren't happy, your tiny spark of enthusiasm can be all they need to get on their feet and push through the rest of the day.

"Be Happy" is such a pathetic concept. Cause it doesn't DO anything. It might actually make the person drop deeper into sadness as they can't get to the level of happiness that they want to reach.

Sad or unhappy people can be screwballs, but it's important to TRY to make them realize their own internal happiness rather than simply PUSH your own external happiness on them.

Try it out; I'm sure you'll get 'Happy' results!

Systems Error! - 'God Bless America' and 'Between the Lines'

A couple of months ago, I was surfing YouTube and I happened to come across a movie trailer for a film called 'God Bless America'. Never judge a movie by it's title cause this isn't some patriotic film, this is a story of a guy called Frank, and he's tired of America.

Now before I continue, it's important for me to elaborate on the term that I used, 'America'. 'America' is not the country, or the people, but the widely propagated culture that we are constantly exposed to. Don't get me wrong, the US is filled with programs that are actually worth our time, with people that we actually don't mind listening too. However, this 'America' that we see, can be narrowed down to sub-groups like 'Reality TV', 'Sensationalism Newscasters', 'Desensitized Cartoons' and the list would go on, but I can't remember more (or the fancy terms that I'm using to define some of them!)

We see examples of Reality TV on channels like VH1, Channel V, MTV (in India at least) and in the last few years this has grown exponentially, earlier it used to be limited to the crap shows like 'My super sweet sixteen' however now the arsenal has expanded to include, Jersey Shore, and Keeping up with the Kardashians, along with Indian shows like, Steal Your Girlfriend, and Roadies, and the list goes on. These shows are filled with people who's lives and who's problems are so small and petty and they make them seem apocalyptic! The kind of shows where problems are fueled and people are made to be bitchy and rude, just for TRP's.

India's TV Culture is slowly getting influenced by these kind of shows, however, I remain confident that it'll never reach levels that American Shows reached due to the fact that most Indian's would rather watch KBC and K Serials than Roadies. As my Advertising class has taught me, it's an 80-20 ratio. 20 people will watch Roadies, the other 80 will watch KBC.

Wait, let's get back to the film!

SO, Frank is your average American, he has a normal job, lives in a crappy home. Oh and he is consistently bombarded with examples of people being rude, mean and simply being walking megaphones for the media to convey it's message.

Frank is really a representation of what many people feel, people who aren't in media. But how do you spread a message without using media? When you look at the problem that Frank is poised with, a cultural change that can be comparable to a cancerous growth on a healthy person. So, how do you remove the cancer? To keep it simple, you cut it out. Kill it.

And that's exactly what Frank does.

The movie made me take a nice good look at the society that we live in. Despite the fact that I hate the sheep mentality that drives most of the population, I don't think I'd be willing to pick up a gun and kill the propagators. It's a system, and if you remove the people running it, you'll only have someone else come and pick it up and start again.

The system needs to change, we need to become more aware of the big picture. It's easy to say that the wrong people are in power, but how many of us still vote them into power? It's easy to say that this show or movie is crap but still watch it, cause 'there isn't anything else'. We need to realize, that we are more than these pathetic politicians, news anchors, and actors. Cause we hold the power.

And the moment we seize that power, or even realize that power belongs to us, is when you become empowered to MAKE something change.

My college is starting a new program, it's called Between the Lines, and it's about discussing with academics on how WE can become more enlightened. If anyone reading this is in Pune, attend, it'll be well worth your time.

God Bless America was an interesting, thought provoking movie, which in my opinion is worth a watch, but certainly isn't a must (especially if you'd like to keep your blinders on). Be prepared for some foul language, gore and in some cases, killing that really doesn't make all that much sense, but a cause that does... sort of.