Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love.84
Batman’s romances, including his relationships with Selina and Talia, have shortcomings in all three components. He holds back in every area. His vigor and drive, which can channel into hot passion, seldom do. He has fallen for women often enough to prove he needs passion, try as he might to sublimate that desire. When Bruce, under a touch of Poison Ivy’s pheromonal manipulation, calls her beautiful and sexy, Alfred remarks, “I thought you’d left all that behind, sir. Your energy being required elsewhere, so to speak,” to which Bruce responds, “Even a Batman can dream!”
“Bruce Wayne’s very capable of falling in love. You might even say that’s his Achilles’ heel, almost his Kryptonite. He can have the greatest technology, the greatest weapons in the world, but his heart has no shield. His heart can be broken. So if you’re Bruce Wayne, falling in love is a very dangerous thing because it’s possible that the person that you fall in love with will get hurt—as a direct function of that person’s affiliation with you.”
—Benjamin R. Karney, social psychologist86
Men are generally more ready than women to fall in love, to believe love conquers all, to regard love as miraculous and mysterious, and to say “I love you” first.87 Women tend to be more pragmatic about relationships, contemplating long-term security, and more doubtful that love can overcome any obstacle.88 Focusing on the passion, on the joy of falling in love instead of practical aspects of attachment, can predispose people to fall out of love, leaving them disillusioned once they get past the exhilaration of newness,89 so men on average are both first to want exclusive commitment and first to engage in infidelity.90 Women want more out of love, more details, more thought, more communication, and more intricate nuances between them. They want better-scripted love stories in both real life and fiction.91 Romantic novels and movies may appeal more to women because men, readier to interpret passion as romance and readier to hear “Hello” as “Let’s have sex,”92 have less left to yearn for. Men tend to want side-by-side relationships based on activities performed together, whereas more women desire face-to-face relationships with deeper communication—“Let’s go do something” versus “Let’s talk.”
While Selina recovers from heart surgery, Bruce confirms her place in his heart.95 From Detective Comics #850. Paul Dini script, Dustin Nguyen & Derek Fridolfs art © DC Comics.
To which woman is Bruce most committed?
Having a son with Talia would create a connection that never goes away, but not one that unites them as a family, much as Damian wishes it could. Talia puts Batman in the same position her father always has: Join the family to run their organization, fighting crime and contamination by taking charge of the world, or go to war against one another. Talia’s relationship with Batman always gets wrapped up in both their relationships with her criminal mastermind father. Talia can have a falling-out with Ra’s and Ra’s can take time off from life itself. Alive or dead, though, with them he’s always there. Why do the al Ghuls persist in pushing Batman to assume control of the father’s deadly cartel? They’re confident they understand Batman. He keeps proving them wrong, but people believe what they want and dislike reassessing their beliefs despite evidence to the contrary (belief perseverance again). That’s why he can still surprise them. Selina understands him on more levels. Talia asks him why facing psychopathic supervillains is so much easier than facing his own emotions, but Selina can empathize with him there. She’s on her guard too, another child of Gotham who loses her parents and builds herself into something new.
Bruce often dates Selina. They go out and do things together. Talia does not accompany him to concerts or dinner parties. She doesn’t snuggle up to him for a chat in front of a fireplace in Wayne Manor like Selina93 or have rooftop sex like Catwoman.94 Selina and Bruce, Catwoman and Batman, both in their masks and out—across one universe, timeline, and retcon after another, from comic books to cartoons to three different movies, they fall for each other time and time again. As story continuity keeps rebooting so Gotham doesn’t have a 90-year-old vigilante capering around town, they get to keep falling in love. Writers craft new accounts of how these two come together because the cat-and-bat courtship is a fun fiction to create. Selina Kyle is Batman’s love story. Finger and Kane knew what they were doing.
When Bat met Cat. From Batman #1 (1940). © DC Comics.
CASE FILE 11–1 Catwoman
Real name: Selina Kyle
First appearance: Batman #1 (Spring, 1940)
Origin: While Bruce Wayne is born to wealth and loses his parents through a criminal’s brutal act, Selina Kyle comes from Gotham’s poorest slum in the city’s East End where she loses her parents one at a time, each through their own separate actions. Abused mother Maria Kyle commits suicide, abusive father Brian Kyle later drinks himself to death, and Selina’s the person who discovers each corpse. (The horror of finding Maria drenched in her own blood and the revulsion at discovering dead, filthy Brian stinking of alcohol may be why Selina one day quips, “Live fast. Die young. Leave a good-smelling corpse.”)1 Despite resentful Brian’s view of his wife as aloof, interested only in “her crazy dreams of wealth and luxury—and her cats,” the few depictions of Maria present a mother appropriately interested in her daughter’s well-being, a woman who encourages Selina’s excellence in gymnastics and who tries to shield her daughters from Brian’s abuse. Newly orphaned, independent Selina tries fending for herself on the streets of Gotham, only to get caught stealing food and sent to a facility for runaways and other underage offenders. Running afoul of an embezzling administrator, Selina strikes out on her own once again, taking residence in a condemned property at age 13. From its roof, “the million lights of Gotham beckoned like fallen stars, or the shimmer gems of her dreams, cast upon the black velvet of dangerous byways. Someday, she vowed, she would rake them all right into her cold heart.”2 She advances from brash, dangerous thefts in broad daylight to artful, clever burglaries by night.
That’s one version of her origin, recent and more enduring than others. Previous variations include other men who harm her as well, from Earth-2 Selina’s abusive first husband to Batman Returns Selina’s boss who tries to murder her when she uncovers his crimes, violence that drives her to stand up for herself, mistreatment that justifies her lifestyle and keeps her character sympathetic. She has never been a fiend out to hurt anyone who couldn’t afford it, nor some bored socialite who turns to crime to get a few sociopathic kicks.
Batman: Year One presents her as a dominatrix who turns to burglary wearing a cat costume after witnessing Batman in action gets her to thinking. In each canon, Batman inspires her to create the costume. If he could be a bat, why couldn’t she be a cat? Whether she was ever a prostitute is a subject of heated debate. After publishing only a few stories presenting her as a prostitute, DC took the position that Catwoman was never a prostitute, that she hung out among prostitutes while hiding from authorities and sometimes posed as one to rob would-be customers. Moreover, a dominatrix or pro-domme—a woman paid to perform the dominant role in BDSM (derived from overlapping terms bondage/discipline, dominance/submission, sadism/masochism) with a submissive—is not usually a prostitute. Plenty of dominatrices have no sexual intercourse with their clients,3,4 their work involving less erogenous contact than a lap dance. Many people pay to get back rubs; others pay to get whipped and spanked. Psychiatrically, sexual sadism (the need to inflict pain upon others in order to achieve sexual gratification) and sexual masochism (the need to receive pain to reach sexual gratification) are only clinically pathological when they’re so invasive that the person is unable to experience or enjoy relations without these behaviors.5 The majority of people who engage in consensual, non-coercive BDSM activities do not suffer these deep-seated sexual disorders.6 Occasionally shouting “Spank me!” falls within the range of variety in bedroom behavior not known to increase anxiety, depression, lifestyle difficulties, or any other pathological issue for most people.
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br /> As a thief, does Catwoman qualify for a mental illness? Despite her saying, “Yeah, well, I’m a regular kleptomaniac,”7 no, she’s not. Kleptomaniacs don’t steal for instrumental purposes. Selina does. Kleptomania (compulsively stealing items not needed for personal use, monetary value, anger, or revenge) is a type of impulse-control disorder. As with many addictive behaviors, the kleptomaniac feels rising tension beforehand, then pleasure, gratification, or relief upon committing the deed.8 It’s an adrenaline rush without practical function. Kleptomaniacs don’t fence stolen goods. Frequently they give away or discard the items, in some cases pointlessly hoarding (e.g., a drawer full of unused combs) or surreptitiously returning their loot. They often have additional (comorbid) problems in areas of impulse control, substance use, anxiety, and mood disorders.9 Kleptomania as a diagnosis for nonsensical shoplifting is controversial. One argument for considering it a mental illness is the fact that medications that treat obsessive-compulsive disorder seem to reduce some kleptomaniacs’ urges to steal,10 so perhaps professionals should view it as a variant of OCD.11 On the other hand, the recidivism rate (committing more offenses after getting punished for a crime) among impulsive shoplifters is low, which deals a strong blow to the notion that it’s an irresistible impulse.12 Once arrested, most quit. Do most alcoholics give up drinking after their first drunk driving or public intoxication arrest? No. If kleptomania exists, it’s rare. Most shoplifters interviewed freshly after apprehension do not meet its clinical criteria.13 As a professional thief who knows what she’s doing, Selina now engages in adult antisocial behavior, illegal activity that is not due to antisocial personality disorder, an impulse-control disorder, or any other mental illness.
Investigators generally understand burglary, “the unlawful entry of a structure to commit a felony or theft,”14 as a sane act, a crime committed for material gain.15 Most commonly it’s an instrumental act, one performed in order to achieve some other purpose, driven by extrinsic (external, ulterior) motivation. The majority of burglars are not stealing items that hold intrinsic value (interest in the item itself) for the thieves. Most take money or things they can sell in order to meet other intrinsic needs or desires, whether they use the money to pay rent, buy drugs, or party hard. Intrinsic motives exist but are secondary in importance for the majority of burglars. Thrill, excitement, curiosity, peer approval, revenge, power, or control16 will drive those who commit the crime primarily as an expressive (emotional) act. Expressive thieves are less likely to sell their stolen goods, in some cases discarding or vandalizing the items and in other cases keeping trophies. Expressive burglars fall into three main types: The feral threat destroys and defiles items throughout the residence; riddlesmiths show off their technical skill to the victims and investigators by setting up puzzles, mysteries, and booby traps, inventive in the way they leave enigmatic messages (in other words, if the Riddler stuck to burglary); and dominators violate the sanctity of homes because they find it empowering to threaten their victims, to leave them feeling terrified and unsafe.17
Selina’s motivation, though usually practical, is not purely instrumental. Stealing serves emotional needs for her as well. “Mother, father, child, and cat-goddess guardian—everything I never had,” she says, “and now it’s mine. A home of stolen happiness.”18 Rich boy Bruce Wayne, free from worry over the most basic needs toward the bottom of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (see chapter 6), can afford to let his mission fill the void created by his parents’ deaths. While he’s hiring specialists to train him, young Selina’s focusing on her survival—procuring food, clothing, shelter. For the sake of her own self-esteem, she owns her thievery emotionally instead of letting it own her. Cat-burglary becomes such a part of her that even when she has gone years without needing to steal to survive, even when she wants to stay on the right side of the law, she keeps becoming Catwoman so she can feel like herself. “I’m a thief—and stealing is what I do. Not so much for the prize or the possessions or even the profit, but for the art of doing it. Because I can. And because I’m good.”19 She tries running a business, she tries running for mayor, she tries dabbling in other legal and mask-free enterprises, but she keeps going back to running around as Catwoman. After one of her numerous faked deaths, six months out of costume makes her restless. Discussing Selina’s sleeplessness, Dr. Leslie Thompkins suggests, “Your subconscious is probably trying to sort out who you are without that mask. It doesn’t take Freud or Jung to figure that out.” Thompkins, never one to endorse the mask-and-cape way of life, wouldn’t take pride in knowing her advice for Selina to contemplate who she is without the mask instead inspires her to wear one again. Prowling rooftops by night, Selina weighs this decision while watching Batman fight the Riddler in the street below:
Without him, I wouldn’t have become who I am. And I owe him so much. But we’ve been at odds from the start … because my world is all just shades of grey, Batman. That’s why you’ll never really understand me. It’s about good people being forced into bad situations. That’s my territory—in between right and wrong. Which is a place you can never go. And we both know it. Just like I know I’ll finally sleep tonight.20
Selina is fiercely independent. Before her bad experiences with an orphanage and juvenile detention, self-reliant Selina chooses to try making it on her own instead of seeking help from the state after losing her father. She may actually leave home or run away from previous foster care sometime earlier, after her mother dies but before she goes home to find her father dead. Her younger sister, Maggie, enters an orphanage without Selina, who says she “can’t feed us both.”21 Stories about mentors who teach Selina fighting and thieving skills come and go, moving in and out of official canonicity as the stories change, because those teachers don’t define her. Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne each raise themselves on their own terms. She doesn’t want the state running her life any more than he wants to surrender himself to the custody of people who seem more interested in the orphan boy’s inherited fortune or any well-meaning adults who might get in the way of his life’s mission.
Her independence distinguishes her from most female burglars. Older males operate alone more often than females and younger burglars do.22 Most female burglars fall into two groups: accomplices (those committing the crimes out of subservience to others, usually males) and partners (equal participants in planning and committing the crime, co-offending but not taking orders). Otherwise, the offending patterns of female burglars resemble those of males.23 More women get arrested for burglary than other serious felonies.24 Gender discrepancies marginalize women’s access to and participation in patriarchal criminal networks.25 Aside from pragmatic reasons for stealing from criminals (like the fact that they won’t report her to the police) or moral reasons (hurting only those who deserve it), one reason Selina likes to rob them may arise from resentment toward any boys club that won’t let the girls play the same games—similarly to how the homeless little girl grows up to infiltrate and rob high society. Sometimes even she wonders why she has bothered to climb the Gotham social ladder when most of her real friends are on the East End.26
Selina Kyle is a strong human being. The cat identity becomes a symbol of her strength, so as Catwoman she becomes her own totem animal. Batman crosses the cat’s path at a time when she needs a focal point to help her fill herself with the strength she already has inside. The sight of Batman fighting in the street is to Selina what a bat flitting into Wayne Manor once was to Bruce. Seeing a man fight dressed as his own totem, in a costume that lets him wear his strength on the outside, she knows she could, too. “A long time ago, before I put on this mask, I was afraid of everything.”27 The cat is her inner strength made visible. Like her, no matter what he might try to believe, Bruce Wayne doesn’t don a costume only for its effect on others. Selina and Bruce wear costumes because of how those animal skins affect themselves.
Notes
1. Yes, I quoted the movie Batman Forever.
2. Pantozzi (2010).
3
. Catwoman #40 (1996).
4. Norton & Pettegrew (1977); Sadalla, Kenrick, & Vershure (1987); Touhey (1974).
5. Bem (1974); Bem (1976).
6. Calvo-Salguero, García-Martínez, & Monteoliva (2008); Colley, Mulhern, Maltby, & Wood (2009).
7. The Adventures of Superman #424 (1987); Smallville, episode 68, “Gone” (September 29, 2004).
8. Herold (1999); Urbaniak & Kilmann (2003).
9. Urbaniak & Kilmann (2006).
10. Langley et al. (2011).
11. Aronson & Mills (1959).
12. Festinger (1957); Gerard & Mathewson (1966).
Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight (Wiley Psychology & Pop Culture) Page 29
