Batman: The Killing Joke has never been a bright spot for Barbara Gordon, she was used as a story device and then forgotten about by the book. Luckily Barbara would have a great future as Oracle. A smart woman who has command over watchtower and solving the Bat-family’s problems at every step. And with the news out of San Diego Comic-Con this week that Batgirl and Batman have a sexual relationship in the upcoming Animated adaptation throws a whole mess of more problems into this already controversial story. When I first heard that Bruce Timm, Mark Hamill, and Kevin Conroy were returning to bring this animated world full circle I was on cloud nine –It was right after BvS, so I need a pick me up.– And once I read the news that Barbara and Bruce would have a sexual relationship I was a little perturbed but nothing that would ruin my excitement for the movie.
Bruce Timm and Co. have always pushed a sexual or at least romantic relationship between the two characters even though I have always seen it as a Father/Daughter type deal. Even in the animated TV universe, it’s implied and outright said that they had a thing together even though she seems to be the same age as Dick Grayson the first Robin. That being said maybe this is a different universe. I mean the Arkham games have Oracle, and she’s dating Tim Drake. In Batman: Year One the only Barbara is Jim Gordon’s wife. So It’s just a new take and Barbara is older and wiser in this interpretation. And I want to stress I hate when people overreact to something that has yet to release and is based solely on trailers or simple ideas. That being said it’s a little disheartening to hear people talk about the clips shown at Comic Con and come out with a positive spin for me.
https://twitter.com/AcroNite7/status/756542233424388096
So this is what happened. Fans knew from the beginning that new narrative would need to be added to a movie version of The Killing Joke; the comic is iconic, but it’s also very short. Producer Bruce Timm has said that he wanted to use that time to improve Batgirl’s role in the story, to make her a true character and not a footnote. Stop! That sounds great! And if their is anyone I trust when it comes to Batman it’s Bruce Timm. Here’s what he told Empire: “We thought if we were going to expand this to feature length, we didn’t want to just pad out the original story… So we took that opportunity to tell a Batgirl story, which we don’t often get a chance to do these days. And it was great because we could spend more time with her as a character and get to understand what she’s all about and how she’s similar to Batman in some ways, and really different in others. …. The good side of that is we get to spend more time with her and learn that she’s an interesting character. The bad side of that is that we get to like her so much that when The Killing Joke part of the story happens, it’s, like, “Oh, no!”, because we really like her.” Awesome I love Batgirl, and she doesn’t get enough movie or TV love. This all sounds great what could possibly go wrong? It eventually did go wrong in that panel. The screenwriter later shouted at someone and called them a “Pussy.”
Well, Reports from fans who saw the movie at Comic-Con indicate that the first 30 minutes are an all-new prologue, (which is awesome.) before the remaining 45 minutes address the storyline of the original graphic novel. In that opening, we meet Barbara Gordon as a young librarian who has started donning the Batgirl costume in order to attract the attention of Batman—not just in crime-fighting prowess, but sexually, telling co-workers that she has “a man in her life” (throughout, Batman is apparently portrayed as emotionally distant from Barbara).
This is the point my head and heart sink. I get Batgirl want’s to impress Batman that has been Batgirls MO for a while. And it’s not even the fact that she finds him attractive. It’s the fact that she sounds delusional and desperate. It seems degrading, especially for a character that will later be used as a point in jokers scheme. She’s now not only Jokers pawn, but it’s as if Batman needed some form of reason to go after him like shooting a young woman and paralyzing her wasn’t enough. I understand I like the idea of expanding the story to give Barbara a more fleshed out arch, but now it seems as if she’s ‘Single White Female’ing it all over Batman.
Batgirl is more than a Plot point to be used to on Commissioner Gordon, and she’s more and has always been more than a Romantic interest of Batman. No one loves Bruce Timm’s work more than I, and No one enjoys the DC animated movies as much as me. I’m just worried that this film could betray What Batgirl means to so many people on top of an already controversial story. I’m still of the mind that this movie will be great, and I hope it all makes more sense in context, but it’s certainly hit a rough patch in mine and many other minds.
