Skip to main content Bruce from the Block: Chris McKay helps the Caped Crusader get in touch with his inner belfry in ‘LEGO Batman Movie’Subscribe to ComicsAlliance on How far would you go to earn the affection of someone you love? Send them a roomful of gifts? Surprise them at their doorstep? Advance the science of neurotechnology to a whole new level by developing mind-controlling head accessories? Through the practice of animal experimentation (of course), scientist Jervis Tetch has found a way to manipulate neuronal connections of brains in order to “control another creature’s mind.” But rather than use this new power to increase his wealth or destroy the Batman like most of Gotham’s Rogues would do, Jervis decides to use mind control to manipulate his office assistant, Alice, into falling in love with him. As he heads further and further down the experimental rabbit hole, however, Jervis realizes more drastic measures are required to win Alice’s love.
Home invasion, kidnapping, and mind control take this episode of Batman: The Animated Series to a new level of creepy; writer Paul Dini ingeniously entertains the imagination of young viewers with Alice in Wonderland themes while also suggesting levels of subversion — possessiveness, coercion, stalking — that adult viewers find unshakably disturbing. In this episode of The Arkham Sessions, we explore the delusions and dangers of obsessive, unrequited love as only personified by the Mad Hatter. Living in Wonderland: Dream or Delusion? Technologically brilliant but shy Jervis Tetch often escapes into the dream world of Wonderland, the only place where he feels accepted. As Paul Dini described in an interview about BTAS, Jervis’s escapism and social disconnection comes from a painful place: as a child he was ridiculed and seen as different because of his unattractive appearance and awkwardness. In Jervis’s mind, someone like Alice could never love him, so he resorts to manipulation and mind control in order to be with her.
When he is wearing the Mad Hatter costume and reciting Lewis Carroll poems, he seems to be convinced that he is the Mad Hatter. Can he recognize reality from fantasy? Persons who hold strong beliefs that they are someone else (e.g., a fictional character, a religious figure, a famous person) may have moments during which insight is poor, and they may not realize the irrationality of their beliefs. Insight is a person’s awareness that they are suffering from a mental disturbance. Insight also includes more specific awareness that certain experiences including beliefs and perceptions (e.g., “I’m the Mad Hatter”; “We live in Wonderland together”) may not be veridical, and further, that those beliefs could be part of an illness. Our understanding that Jervis’s insight is poor helps us see what Dini saw in Jervis: in his efforts to feel love and acceptance, Jervis developed a world where it is acceptable to take what–or whom–he wants, and he may be psychologically removed from knowing how harmful and destructive his behaviors actually are.
Lessons from the Mad Hatter: The Seriousness of Stalking One out of 12 women and one out of 45 men will be stalked in their lifetime. The majority of persons who are stalked know their stalker. Like we see in “Mad as a Hatter,” stalking includes following someone, showing up at their workplace or home, sending unwanted gifts, letters, cards or e-mails, damaging their property, and trying to control, track or frighten them. The emotional toll on stalking victims is significant: According to The National Center for Victims of Crime, a person who is stalked may likely feel unsafe, anxious, irritable, depressed, on edge, have difficulty concentrating, sleeping and may even have nightmares, flashbacks, or intrusive thoughts about their stalker’s attacks on them. Studies on interpersonal violence reveal that the majority of stalking victims show signs of psychiatric problems like severe depression, anxiety, and somatic symptoms, and a third of victims experience repeated thoughts about suicide.
Despite confusing messages in our culture that stalking is normal, unpreventable, or humorous, stalking is illegal and has serious, long-lasting consequences. Additional information, including a stalking incident log and safety planning can be found at the Stalking Resource Center. More episodes of The Arkham Sessions can be found on iTunes as well as on Under The Mask. Dr. Drea can be found Twitter at @ArkhamAsylumDoc. Brian can be found at @Bward028. The Arkham Sessions’ official Twitter feed is @ArkhamSessions.The Arkham Sessions | Of Mysteries And Martians: The Best Silver Age Sci-Fi Covers Ever 10 Worst Superhero Games The Wild, Tear-Filled World of Heartbreak: The Best Romance Comic Covers Ever [Love & Sex Week] 10 Greatest Superhero Video GamesAllow Facebook friends to see your upcoming events? No, keep my events secret“The Lego Movie” made a splash — it was whimsical, fun and more than a little silly. Not to mention, it was lucrative;
so much so, Warner Animation and DC Entertainment formed a conglomerate power-block to give the film’s standout character, the caped crusader, his own flick to frolic and play. And, boy, does he! Batman (Will Arnett, so juvenile it’s Oscar-worthy) blows past the fourth wall, narrating the introduction and cribbing a quote from Michael Jackson along the way. A sullen, emotionally underdeveloped man-child with a penchant for ultra-violence and bouts of explosive egotism, this particular incarnation of Gotham’s own superhero is a special wreck of Freudian anxiety. He beats the baddies and whoops ass, but the Bat can’t quell his own desire for family. After a day spent thwarting the Joker’s plans (again), Batman ventures home to the Batcave. He settles in, microwaves some lobster thermidor and eats his meal in an empty dining room. (At this point during the showing, a little boy in the audience leaned over to his mother and stage-whispered, “He’s lonely!”) It’s true — after rejecting the Joker’s overtures of enemy-ship, Batman is starting to feel the isolation.
So, when the Joker and all of Gotham’s worst villains turn themselves in during Barbara Gordon’s (Rosario Dawson) police-chief inauguration, Batman panics. Without criminals to punch, what’s a Batman to a city? In an ill-conceived revenge plan, Batman mistakenly adopts uber-cute local orphan Dick Grayson (Michael Cera) and mounts a raid on Superman’s crib to steal the Phantom-Zone generator and perma-banish the Joker from Gotham. Can’t he just ask to borrow it? Well, that would involve a little something called “socialization.” Director Chris McKay understands, instinctively, that this Batman is a maladjusted child at heart. Nothing goes as planned. Batman flails, wails and plunges the city into a full-scale disaster as a direct result of unresolved childhood trauma. And it’s really, really amusing. McKay infuses this romp with winking verve, ridiculous pop-culture references and callbacks to Batman’s past, and the mixture works. Bruce Wayne busts crazy moves, spins mad raps, shoots the villains and bonds with Grayson — his very own Robin!
Somewhere, somehow, he also finds time to mature, too. The animation is a step up from “The Lego Movie.” McKay blends traditional 3-D visuals with the distinctive blockiness of Lego, and the sets seem plausible as creations of a particularly imaginative child. The same rampant inventiveness is at work here, and Batman gets to flaunt his “master builder” chops by constructing vehicles out of buildings and stacking blocks on a whim. Occasionally, the backdrops are almost painterly, bursting with color and activity. However, “The Lego Batman Movie” is at its most charming when it gives in fully to its zaniness. What’s the password to the Batcave? Who runs the Phantom Zone? A glowing brick that resembles a stoplight, of course. This kind of dream-logic infuses the film with more good humor than any well-placed wisecracks could. Pull on your mask, Batman, it’s time to go nuts! Starring: Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, Ralph Fiennes