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A review by morewitchy
Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight by Travis Langley
5.0
Marvelous. Not only does Langley offer thoroughly-sourced, in-depth analyses of the characters that populate the streets of Gotham, he has also written a text that can act as a refresher course on general psychology. Since I'm both ridiculously into Batman and constantly intrigued by the human mind, this book lit my brain up in a big way.
The highlight of the book for me was the chapter on Arkham Asylum-- I've long been fascinated with Gotham's favorite institution for the criminally insane (an institution that should have installed a revolving door a long time ago). Langley acknowledges that you've got to suspend your disbelief re: patients continually getting sent back to Arkham only to break out again (or get prematurely released) weeks or months later, but he also delves into the history of the asylum, the doctors and guards that work there, and its treatment of patients and offers some justification for its existence in the Batman 'verse. I also thoroughly enjoyed the case files concluding each chapter, analyses of Batvillains ranging from the Joker (who is frequently mentioned throughout the rest of the book as well, as is only proper for Batman's chief nemesis and the most inscrutably insane of all the villains) to King Tut.
The only part that I found a little slow was the "Batman and Robin - The Psychodynamic Duo," but that's purely personal-- though I enjoy reading about Freud's theories, psychoanalysis in practice has never been my bag.
All in all, this was a wonderful book and wonderfully-written-- Langley's voice is fresh, a little wry, and entirely unpretentious. You can tell he thinks it's freakin' cool that he gets to write a book about this, and he thinks the application of psychological theory to such prominent figures in modern popular fiction has its uses, but he knows he's not going to win a Pulitzer. As a result, his voice is laid-back and relatively informal, but don't let that fool you-- he's done his research. Lots and lots of it.
One last thing-- Langley clearly ships Selina and Bruce well over Talia and Bruce and argues that psychology says they're meant to be. Boom.
The highlight of the book for me was the chapter on Arkham Asylum-- I've long been fascinated with Gotham's favorite institution for the criminally insane (an institution that should have installed a revolving door a long time ago). Langley acknowledges that you've got to suspend your disbelief re: patients continually getting sent back to Arkham only to break out again (or get prematurely released) weeks or months later, but he also delves into the history of the asylum, the doctors and guards that work there, and its treatment of patients and offers some justification for its existence in the Batman 'verse. I also thoroughly enjoyed the case files concluding each chapter, analyses of Batvillains ranging from the Joker (who is frequently mentioned throughout the rest of the book as well, as is only proper for Batman's chief nemesis and the most inscrutably insane of all the villains) to King Tut.
The only part that I found a little slow was the "Batman and Robin - The Psychodynamic Duo," but that's purely personal-- though I enjoy reading about Freud's theories, psychoanalysis in practice has never been my bag.
All in all, this was a wonderful book and wonderfully-written-- Langley's voice is fresh, a little wry, and entirely unpretentious. You can tell he thinks it's freakin' cool that he gets to write a book about this, and he thinks the application of psychological theory to such prominent figures in modern popular fiction has its uses, but he knows he's not going to win a Pulitzer. As a result, his voice is laid-back and relatively informal, but don't let that fool you-- he's done his research. Lots and lots of it.
One last thing-- Langley clearly ships Selina and Bruce well over Talia and Bruce and argues that psychology says they're meant to be. Boom.