Critique: A Dark Knightmare · 2:04am Jan 24th, 2015
So! My objective with these critiques is to go through the entire story without saying the words 'good' or 'bad'. I am not going to talk about the story's quality at all! Instead I'm going to try to get inside the author's head and see if I can get at what I think they were thinking about. I'm going to treat these stories respectfully, as though they were classics and I was paying money to be in a class where I could talk about it.
So let's begin by doing exactly what I always dreamed of doing when I finally earned my English degree: Overanalyse a MLP/Batman crossover.
This is a story about Batman in a state of unprecedented vulnerability.
Batman has been in more danger, yes, but that has never made him vulnerable. Physical peril is not really an issue to Batman because Batman's chief weapons are willpower, intelligence and symbolism. But the threat that Equestria offers is invasive - it doesn't challenge his physicality but it works to sap his mental weapons. Really, the key issue here is that this isn't a threat to Batman - Batman is invincible - it's a threat to Bruce Wayne. It's such a threat to Bruce Wayne that when the narration starts calling him 'Batman' it feels like a lie.
Luna is the symbol of this invasive threat. She's in his head, in his past, in his dreams. She's always watching him and when she commands, he obeys. Batman talks about the peace breaking him but it's clear that Luna is breaking him - she's showing compassion, vigilance, and unquestionable authority. In a way she's what Batman's been trying to be all this time, and has been missing all this time - a parental figure.
The story then comes up to an interesting choice; Luna and Batman are both in danger, fighting together against a common evil. My expectation was going to be that this was going to lead to one of two things:
1) A reveal of Luna's own flaws and darknesses, showing that she is not the parental figure Batman is coming to trust and rely on. She is a person as well, as flawed and weak as he is.
2) An examination of Batman's trust issues with Luna, where he rejects her aid when he needs it most and suffers a terrible defeat for his isolation and arrogance.
Instead Batman asks Luna to leave, she does, and he overcomes the threat on his own - just as he always has. He successfully and instantly becomes Batman again, will and intelligence and symbolism undiminished. He fights using the tools he's always known, the weapons he had before he came to Equestria. And he wins. Equestria has taught him nothing. He might not have ever been for all he thinks about it the second after Luna vanishes.
This puzzled me a lot. I think that what the author is trying to say here, though, is that Batman isn't actually vulnerable at all. I think what he's saying is that Batman is the real person and that Bruce Wayne is the mask - and a weak, confused one at that. While Bruce Wayne dealing with his internal trauma, and fear of peace and the loss of his parents is interesting and all it'll never once for a second stop Batman from being Batman. This scene draws a sharp dividing line between all the turmoil Bruce Wayne has gone through and what Batman is capable of doing. When Bruce Wayne questions if he's still sharp or if Equestria has made him soft he's full of shit - Batman doesn't need Bruce, and Batman sure as hell doesn't need the practice.
When Luna does return to the story I've almost forgotten she was ever present. And although she returns in strength it feels more like a moment where Batman is aided by a fellow super-hero than by the powerful, watchful, invasive parental figure of the first part of the story. And that's where it ends - this is a work in progress.
I'm confused by this, deeply confused. The story sets up questions about parenthood and then doesn't answer them. It asks a lot of questions of Bruce Wayne and then tells us that he doesn't matter. It tells us Batman is weak and then has him triumph in every struggle alone. It's a story that feels more like a dream in the chapters where Batman is fully awake.
And for my own money, I think Batman is the least interesting part of any story involving Batman. Batman never feels like a person; Batman is a weapon created by Bruce Wayne to overcome his own limitations. This story, like so many before it, tells us that the weapon that is Batman is perfect - it does not need help, love or friendship. But it also tells us that Bruce Wayne can call on that weapon even in his darkest and most confused state, meaning that Bruce Wayne as a human being has all the importance and significance of Optimus Prime's truck form.
THE LIST:
Discord's First Very Faithful Student
Plus some given to me via PM/Gdocs.
Interested in having your story overthought? Post a link in the comments and I'll add it to the list!
Well I definitly picked the right time to log into Fimfiction! You actually touched on quite a few things that I'll be going into later in the story. But through the beginning chapters, my thought processes were definitely not much deeper than "Batman kicks ass!"
Thanks for taking the time to write this!
2743024 My pleasure. It's getting me back in sync with my own writing so I can already see that these are going to be as valuable to me as the people I do them for.
I've noticed that reviews that are useful to the writer are the reviews with as little of the reader's opinion in them as possible. "This sucks" is worth exactly as much as "this is the best thing ever" - zero. Reviews that instead tackle the subject matter directly, take it seriously, and discuss what is going on - reviews that show comprehension and creative reflection - are the most useful and flattering things ever. Even if they're really harsh, like this one was, people still thank you for giving them!