Interrogating: Batman
Earlier this year, when I took a boy I liked to see the film he liked, Batman, I didn’t think the experience would stay with me for so long. In particular, it was Riddler’s monologue that has stayed with me since that date. “All it takes is fear and a little focused violence,” he explains to Batman, rationalizing why he’s assassinating Gotham’s rich and powerful players.
What is “focused violence”? Based on the film, we can deduce it refers to an act that induces fear and chaos with widespread effects at the individual and group levels. However, more importantly, it’s goal oriented. An act of violence with a purpose, but that purpose isn’t as simple as chaos, hence “focused”. Riddler is seen to use methodologies like assassinations, doxxing, and destruction of property. He is most certainly a terrorist, villain isn’t enough of a good description.
The purpose of his madness is to cleanse Gotham of those who profit from defiling it at the expense of the downtrodden. To destroy all that is wrong with it for the people to take back their city. In his opinion, there’s nothing wrong with what he’s doing. He believes himself and subsequently his followers to be seekers of vengeance. Interestingly, Robert Pattinson’s Batman refers to himself the same way.
By definition, vengeance is “punishment inflicted or retribution exacted for an injury or wrong.” Clearly, the benefits of vengeance are dependent on who’s doling out punishment. Batman wants to improve and rescue Gotham, while Riddler wants to punish Gotham with a secondary goal of the city improving.
As a woman living in Johannesburg, every passing day supports the theory that we’re living in an alternate reality where South Africa is actually Gotham City. It feels as if a number of South African Ministers of Parliament would be characters like The Joker, Riddler, Penguin, and the like. However, unlike Gotham, South Africa doesn’t have a masked vigilante attempting to save the people. Nhlanhla Luxe might be enjoying a media run that would make him out to be the next great revolutionary out to protect the people - but we saw the same media run when EFF member Mbuyseni Ndlozi first stepped onto the politico scene.
The South African equivalent of Batman is not an orphaned white boy spending exorbitant amounts of money to save the city from the shadows. To be honest, the local equivalent of Batman would have to be Black women. This isn’t to paint Black women as superheroes with inhuman strength, but to acknowledge that they’re the ones agitating the system, demanding change, and achieving their goals without the luxury of maintaining their anonymity. Every footstep out of their door, and often inside their homes, Black women face the threat of certain death.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that I might empathize a bit more with Riddler than I should. Now, I’m not interested in his methodologies of focused violence, but I can identify with the desire for vengeance - retribution. Women are so often policed when it comes to legally performing their outrage or using violence to achieve access to their human rights. Instead of addressing their issues, the narrative seeks to police the performance of their pain. Women are judged based on the morality of their response.
Fundamentally, I don’t believe in violence, but it’s ridiculous to believe that power responds to morality. In fact, power often manufactures morality to legitimize violence. A prime example of which is the treatment of “bastards” during Medieval times or the idea that Black people weren’t human beings which legitimized chattel slavery.
While Gotham City is a fictional hotbed of societal woes, the idea of a Batman coming to its rescue is comforting. In the South African context, however, it’s almost always been women whose lives are on the firing line in the fight for human rights. Unfortunately, unlike their male counterparts, women are not often recognized for their contributions until they die unexpectedly or become martyrs. And even in death, men find ways to bastardize our memory. So, if we were to consider the reality of power, it’s time to consider that Riddler may have had a point in saying that all it takes to achieve a few specific goals is “fear and a little focused violence.”
