morning musing.
the figure of robin in the batman story is a direct, though likely unconscious, attempt to place some coded hint to the struggles of closeted and/or pathologically diagnosed (all) gay men in the post- WWII pre-stonewall era.
batman and bruce wayne are both intensely antisocial and antipersonal personalities. they don't have friends. they don't have lovers. batman, however, because he is a secret life, is allowed a protege, in the ambiguous historical tradition of pederasty, which, actualized or not from case to case, always has and always will have sexual notes and tension.
the struggles of countless men (and women) to suppress their "sickness" of desiring persons of the same sex is shown in miniature allegory by a clearly miserable and guilt-laden (feeling his duty is to save the world) and powerful but unempowered man who must keep even his unactualized, tense, and almost equally miserable second life and only friendship (unless you count alfred, who is a servant, and is really just an externalized conscience who's often ignored and always held at a distance) a complete secret. if anyone were to find out, not only would he be ruined, but the world would come crashing down, without anyone to stop it.
also, i had a really long multipart dream last night, in which i went to japan to take a test, although i was supposed to go to china after that for some kind of program. i was me and i was heather at the same time, and i learned that (our) father was not, and that (we) were half japanese, even though the father we met was gaijin. way wacky.
batman and bruce wayne are both intensely antisocial and antipersonal personalities. they don't have friends. they don't have lovers. batman, however, because he is a secret life, is allowed a protege, in the ambiguous historical tradition of pederasty, which, actualized or not from case to case, always has and always will have sexual notes and tension.
the struggles of countless men (and women) to suppress their "sickness" of desiring persons of the same sex is shown in miniature allegory by a clearly miserable and guilt-laden (feeling his duty is to save the world) and powerful but unempowered man who must keep even his unactualized, tense, and almost equally miserable second life and only friendship (unless you count alfred, who is a servant, and is really just an externalized conscience who's often ignored and always held at a distance) a complete secret. if anyone were to find out, not only would he be ruined, but the world would come crashing down, without anyone to stop it.
also, i had a really long multipart dream last night, in which i went to japan to take a test, although i was supposed to go to china after that for some kind of program. i was me and i was heather at the same time, and i learned that (our) father was not, and that (we) were half japanese, even though the father we met was gaijin. way wacky.