Whatever, my point is that a writer writes. However, while that technically fulfills the definition of "writer" I feel it's not enough. I propose an addition to Mr. Crystal's words of wisdom.
A writer shares.
I'm probably not the first one to say that, but you can go ahead and credit me anyway (maybe I should tell Danny DeVito?). And since I coined the expression I felt I should actually do that by making this blog. But enough about that. We have more serious things to talk about.
If Batman gives a hobo a couple hundred dollars and the hobo uses it to buy smack and dies from an overdose, is Batman responsible?
Believe it or not that actually happened in a Batman comic recently. Seriously. And it kind of bugged me because in the book they never address it after the hobo dies. The story just moves along like nothing happened. However if Batman had given the Riddler the cash and he died from the overdose, it'd be a flagship book and the next 11 issues after it would be all about whether or not Batman is responsible.I'll be honest, I have no problem with the hobo dieing from a smack overdose. I mean when you think about it it's a great message for kids - doing drugs will make you a hobo and/or dead. But it just rubbed me the wrong way that no one, not even Batman, seemed to care after that point.
I don't know, maybe I like hobos just a little bit more than that.
I was pretty upset with this blog before reading your first entry. How dare you reveal to all those ameteur, wannabe writers that brilliant inspiration is only found during "no pants time".
ReplyDeleteRegarding your entry, Batman is at fault. I remember receiving a panicked call from my sister in which someone had stolen money from her and a friend while shopping. My immediate thought was that someone had stolen a wallet. My train of thought came to a halt when my sister concluded that the money had been stolen by a an elderly woman. What? She approached them and said she was starving, and asked for $3 to buy a hamburger. Being respectful and sympathetic they gave her the money. The lady thanked them and then immediately walked to the closest lottery booth and bought a scratch ticket. Nice! Prior to that happening Ive always fabricated a similar situation in my mind whenever asked for money by panhandlers. If I had been in my sister's place I would have probably been disgusted by the ladies addiction and later guilty that I naively contributed to it. I always feel skepetical of handing out money to "hobos". If I were living on the streets panhandling to survive, there would have to be a huge loss of control in my life for me to be put in that situation. I would venture further to say I would also be highly irresponsible and irrational. Handing money to a strange whose potentially unwilling or unable to make the right decision is just careless, on the behalf of whoever is well off enough to be handing out money.
Batman does tend to be a darker series, with often an underlying "this is who i am, deal with it" attitude. i am not a batman buff, but it seems to me with the exception of Mr. Freeze all other villians are villians because they were born insane, some crackpot science experiment made them insane,or they're horribly disfigured and made fun of which later turns them insane. Its hard to relate to someone that has a crazy obsession by destroying the world via say, plant infused bio warriors who can only say "BAAAAAAAANE!". You're suppose to be so wrapped up that Batman has such a terrible life because he can't catch the villian, score a date with the girl, or get over his parents death (even though he is financially stable enough probably grow the perfect bride, and have enough test tube super babies to thwart all super villians before dinner.) that you aren't sensitive to "pointless" things like some minor faceless character being offed. This is getting too long winded. Batman should have just splurged and taken the hobo to Red Lobster, and then dropped him off at Arkham.
On a side note this entry makes me want to watch se7en, and I think I will. Happy Friday the 13th :)
lol i hate the internet.
ReplyDeleteHey Aria thanks for the comment, I definitely appreciate it.
ReplyDeleteThat being said I think you need to re-look at homeless people. Not very closely mind you, they can be rather unsightly, but the path that got them there usually isn't as out of control as you'd think. The homeless also aren't necessarily "irresponsible and irrational". Chances are they just made one bad decision. Whether it was to do drugs or make one shitty investment or they fell for the same scam repeatedly that doesn't make them irresponsible and irrational people.
It just makes them people.
Happy belated Friday the 13th!
Welcome to blogspot. You've been followed. :P
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