The Unchosen Hero

 

Alfred: Now, detective Gordon has promised you that he will find the person that killed your parents.

Bruce: Do you really believe he will?
Alfred: He will try. Of that I am certain.
(Gotham, The Balloonman)

I'm not following American TV drama recently, so I don't know what's up there, but on my flight last week I happened to see drama entitled 'Gotham' in the entertainment list, and, as a Batman fan, I automatically opted to watch it. And I wasn't disappointed at all. Well, it's not about Batman himself - Bruce Wayne was still the frail kid, and even Selina Kyle was still 13, even though she had been able to kick some asses :-). It portrayed many of the main characters in the series during their early days (well, once everyone were young, even Batman or Joker :-) ). Anyways, I won't spoil the fun for those of you who haven't watched it, I just want to tell you why I like it: it was filled with good messages. Like it can be seen from the quote above, it shows that Alfred decided to tell Bruce the truth rather than giving him a false hope, despite how he wanted to reassure the kid that the murderer of his parents would be brought to justice. Moreover, it conveyed the same message as the Batman trilogy by Christopher Nolan about the principle of a hero (it can also be inferred from the quote above): it is 'the efforts' that tells whether someone worth to be called 'hero' or not.

Other movie/drama on superhero usually give a 'standard message' on this: the hero is the chosen one (Superman return: "Even though you've been raised as a human being, you are not one of them."; Spiderman: "With great power comes great responsibility"; Green Lantern: "The ring, it chose you"; Flash: "I don't think that bolt of lightning struck you, Barry. I think it chose you."). Thus the logic was, you are chosen, so you are the hero. On the other hand, this drama used a different logic: you do heroic thing, so you are the hero. It is all up to us to start it, without the need to wait for some superpower to be bestowed upon us.

In a wider sense, it is also all up to us to be or to get what we want, without the need to wait for everything to be set ready for us. Anyways, opportunity comes to a ready mind, when we start to get moving, all the pieces will fall into their places, at the right moment. I don't tell you that it would be easy, the obstacles might make you grumbling and ranting (cough), but once it all passes, all that remains would be a fine memory to cherish.

So, master Bruce, 'wipe your tears' and get yourself ready for the battle ahead. I'll be here (to get all the grumbling and ranting :-) ).