Damon Lindelof - some find him to be a brilliant writer, including all of those in Hollywood that keep giving him job after job. Others of us think a bit less of the man, annoyed with his tendency to use intentional obscurity to spice up his scripts. But whatever you think of him, he has his fame and when he has something to say, people listen. And he does have something to say right now, and it's about how Breaking Bad's Walter White and Batman are the same character at their core. Check it al out after the jump:
In a recent editorial with Vulture, the man had these things to say to prove his point. He begins with his assertion that Batman was, in his soul, always the person he ended up becoming:
"Bruce Wayne was already Batman.
"Because millions upon millions of people are murdered by criminals all the time - especially in comic books. But the sons and daughters of those people do not become Batman. But Bruce Wayne?
"Bruce was different. There was something inside him. Lying dormant. He just needed something powerful enough to awaken it."
Well, that's kind of a painfully obvious statement, but where does Lindelof take it from there? He makes the point that Walter's origin catalyst was his cancer and that even when the cancer went away he did nothing to put his life back to normal, comparing that to a hypothetical Batman situation:
"But then the cancer goes away.
"This is the equivalent of Bruce Wayne's parents suddenly reappearing to him and saying, 'We had to fake our deaths when you were a kid and we've been in witness protection all this time, and we're so sorry, but the guy who shot us was actually an FBI agent helping us and he wasn't even a criminal and we love you, so can we have our pearls back and NOW YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE BATMAN ANYMORE!!!'
"But would Bruce stop being Batman?
"No. He would not. Because he is Batman. And once the catalyst has ... well, catalyzed? There is no going back"
He then goes further into demonstrating the comparison by making some rather stretched connections:
The first scene of the season-three finale, "Full Measures" is a flashback, which, as you might surmise, I have an affinity for. In this moment from the distant past, we see a newly married Walt and Skyler being shown a house by a real-estate agent. This house, of course, is the one they will end up living in for the next couple of decades...
So here's your homework. Go and watch that scene. Hear Walter White's voice as he frowns upon the modesty of the home he has not yet purchased. Look into Walter White's eyes when he says, "I don't think this is gonna be enough." Is it ambition you see? Or is it something else?
Of course, by Lindelof's reasoning, you can compare Walter White to absolutely any character that finds themselves in extreme circumstances and manages to rise to the occasion. Thus, pretty much every super hero and super villain. So why choose Batman specifically? Who knows?
You can head over to Vulture and check out the entire editorial, but it reads a bit like Creative Writing 101. Still, you might get something out of it that I didn't.
Thanks to blastr for the heads-up.
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