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Tweak says, "listen oh deaf one!!!!"

runespoor7 (runespoor7) wrote in scans_daily,
@ 2009-06-07 21:34:00

Entry tags:

char: batgirl/cassandra cain, char: batman/bruce wayne, creator: dylan horrocks, creator: rick leonardi, series: one perfect moment week, title: batgirl

Cass Cain's one perfect moment
From Batgirl #50.

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	bluefall 2009-06-07 02:57 pm UTC (link)
	I'm like, the only one who hates BATGIRL #50, then? (Reply to this) (Thread)

	runespoor7 2009-06-07 02:59 pm UTC (link)
	On scans_daily you're never alone, but this page would redeem a lot for me (and Horrocks isn't my favourite Cass writer either). Any reason why you hate it? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bluefall
2009-06-07 04:26 pm UTC (link)

Well, "hate" is probably too strong a word, but for me it's actually this very thing that everyone else seems so big on, that being the Bruce/Cass fight and the whole "who do you belong to" that bugs me so much. It validates Bruce's treatment of Cass; his crazy-kill-each-other therapy being the only kind of therapy that she'd understand, and the thing that brings her around and gets her back on an even keel... It says "Bruce does understand Cass, he gets her better than anyone and in the end, was the only one of them who had any idea how to act in her best interests and help her out with this." It says "repeating her relationship with Cain with pain as the only effective form of communication is the healthiest thing for her."

Which is already annoying taken in isolation, but when you add to that the fact that Babs is never given a moment of connection with and understanding of Cass or victory over Cass' demons like this, and that all of Bruce's other behavior toward Cass throughout the series is utterly appalling and like, precision custom-designed to most effectively increase her dependence on him and further aggravate her psychoses, while Babs screws up much more infrequently and makes a concerted effort to make Cass healthier and more functional, then this idea that Bruce does get Cass and does do the right thing for her and nobody else really has that ability... it's incredibly creepy and wrong. It justifies his abuse of Cass (after all, him doing something crazy and apparently abusive helped her here), and by implication, dismisses Babs as wrongheaded in her positive behavior (because he's pretty constantly telling her she's doing it wrong when it comes to their co-parenting).

Plus, his questioning of her loyalties here has always seemed a) gratuitous (like she hasn't proven her loyalties a dozen times over), b) a destructive reinforcement of her existing self-esteem issues (like she doesn't kill herself trying to prove herself to him already), and c) sort of adversarial and undermining of Babs (if there's a difference between loyalty to Babs and loyalty to him, that's kind of telling Cass she has to pick a side).

I mean, that she's loyal to the concept of the Bat more than any one person is a very cool Cass moment, but Bruce's behavior and the way the meta-narrative interacts with that behavior leaves a pretty foul taste in my mouth.

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mooppoom
2009-06-07 04:34 pm UTC (link)

Hey. I agree with you 100%, but I still like Batgirl #50. I just ignore the sanctimonious Bruce in the last part of the issue.

It's a perfect Cass moment - where she gets through some of the crap she's been through with her father, where she defies the rules by embracing what she knows she has to be, and where she also pledges her loyalty to an ideal, instead of the guy behind that ideal.

It's not a perfect Bruce moment. We don't have those, anymore, since the Batgod Can Have No Faults Movement. It saddens me.

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jarodrussell
2009-06-07 05:06 pm UTC (link)

It says "repeating her relationship with Cain with pain as the only effective form of communication is the healthiest thing for her."

I'd argue that, like it or not, that kind of communication is the healthiest form for her. You're argument here is tantamount to me saying, "I don't think it's a good idea for Diana to hang around Artemis, because whenever they hangout, they end up fighting each other."

	xdoop 2009-06-07 04:38 pm UTC (link)
	I hated this scene. "He never let me touch him... hold him... Just fighting... and hurting..." (Reply to this) (Thread)

	xdoop 2009-06-09 02:01 pm UTC (link)
	Except that scene was one of Cass's memories. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	goodfellow_puck 2009-06-09 11:34 pm UTC (link)
	Refer to #3. :) A person can remember one good memory in childhood, and then completely forget it (or discard it) when thinking of the overall experience of their abusive father. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	icon_uk 2009-06-07 06:04 pm UTC (link)
	Heavens no. She's a fighter, and that's admirable, but that's barely a fraction of what it takes to be Batman. She's not a detective, she's illiterate and generally appallingly badly educated. NOT the sort of Batman Gotham needs. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)