The Beautiful Complexity of Comics Villians

Now don’t get me wrong, I love heroes. As I wrote in my previous blog post, Batman is and always will be my favorite heroic character, with Iron Man right behind. But Batman aside the reason that initially I categorized myself as a DC instead of a Marvel girl was that I grew up watching Batman’s fascinating rogues gallery. Rather than just being evil maniacs who are only after money, many of Batman’s villains became how they were because of psychological or physical trauma. Both Catwoman and Poison Ivy both had horrible interactions with men, so now they trust only themselves and the creatures that got them through (cats and plants respectively). Poison Ivy is also very refreshingly a feminist since she is always trying to get Harley Quinn away from the Joker since he is abusive towards her; even though Poison Ivy seems cold she really does have a soft spot for Harley. Two Face personifies the duality of human nature; a politician who wanted to do good with a half that will do whatever is necessary to get ahead. And I have always had a soft spot for Mr. Freeze, who made the ultimate sacrifice for the woman he loves and the very fact that he continues to steal in order to finance his experiments to cure her contradicts his assertion that his heart has become cold as ice. I always found it wonderful that Batman truly seemed to care about his villains getting the help they needed so they could lead better lives and I suppose that feeling transferred to me. They had all done horrible things, but oftentimes they showed their human sides and to me that made it easy to emphasize with them and hope they could get better.

Given the plethora of Marvel movies that have come out in recent years, it has been the humanity of the villains that have intrigued me more so than the heroes. The first Marvel movies that I saw that I really liked (sorry Spiderman) was the X-Men series. Of course I sympathize with Professor X and his goal of bringing humans and X-Men together in harmony, but I have to admit that Magneto and Mystique are my favorites. At first, as you see in X-Men: First Class, Magneto works with Professor X to try and help humanity during the Cold War. But his experiences during World War II as a Jew who suffered in a prison camp continue to influence his thinking about humanity; that those who are different will always be feared and abused by the majority. Looking at the news these days, it is not hard to sympathize with this line of thinking and though his violence only seeks to prove those that hate mutants right it is easier to understand his motivations since at the end of the day it can be assumed that he wishes such actions were not necessary. The fact that he is played by the amazing actors Sir Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender only serves to strengthen my love for this character because they play him with such humanness and oftentimes raw emotion that it makes it hard not to like him.

The acting talent of Tom Hiddleston is definitely behind the compassion I feel for my favorite Marvel villain, Loki. Loki is the main antagonist towards his brother Thor, and that kind of storyline – brother jealous of another brother- has been done multiple times; there is a reason that there are many crossover memes between Thor and the Lion King, with Thor as Mufasa and Loki as Scar. But in the films Loki has become the fan favorite because many people can relate to his need to feel important and worthy of adoration (although the majority would not kill 80 people in 2 days even if they are adopted). Having an awful father in the form of Odin and losing the only person that tried to help you and loved you (his mother Frigga) sold be enough to drive anyone to be ruthless and cruel even though underneath they are begging to be saved. There is a wonderful scene that was cut from the first Thor where Loki basically confesses his jealousy to Thor but Thor doesn’t even acknowledge that maybe his brother needs to be told he is important too; and when the person you look up to doesn’t take the time to come down off his pedestal to sympathize all bets are off. I have not read the Thor comics, so I am not sure how Loki is portrayed in them but seeing how Mr. Hiddleston plays him on screen has truly been inspiring. I do not condone Loki’s actions but seeing all of the warring emotions on his face and the suffering that he carries with him makes me want to save him in a way. The majority of bullies are often victims themselves, and I would like to beleive that Loki is not beyond saving. So in this case I will be rooting for the villain to rise above his villainy because his complexity make him beautiful and beautiful things deserve to be put back together.

Why Batman Will Always Be My Favorite

As I write this, I’m watching Batman Begins, the first movie in a trilogy of what I consider to be the best Batman movies ever made. But my love for Batman began well before these movies. It started with the Emmy award-winning television series Batman: The Animated Series, which I continue to watch to this day. Both of these have excellent plot lines and fantastic casting (Heath Ledger was amazing but to me the Joker will always be voiced by Mark Hamill). However, Batman is my favorite for more reasons than simply being played by an amazing actor (aka the reason that I love Iron Man, because Robert Downey Jr. Is amazing). As the picture’s footnote suggests, make all the cracks about his being a billionaire that you want; having unlimited funds certainly helps in purchasing all those nifty gadgets that allow Batman to fight crime. There is a line that Ra’s Al Ghul has in Batman Begins that sums up why I see Batman as so much more than just his money. He tells Bruce that his parents’ death was his Father’s fault because he did not have the will to act and that will is everything. Underneath all of Batman’s training and gadgets is the simple and powerful will to act for the greater good. I recently watched the  animated Justice League series, which is also quite good, and it drove this point home for me even more. Surrounded by all of those other heroes, many of whom were superhuman, Batman often seemed like the odd man out, left in the lurch when he didn’t have his gadgets (there are running jokes about how he can’t fly). Yet time and again he gets his friends out of trouble using just his powers of deductive reasoning and ingenuity. Maybe I can’t be Batman since I don’t have a lot of money but I like to think that I have the will to try and make the world a better place. It might not involve jumping off rooftops and kicking literal ass but in our own ways everyone is Batman when it comes to things they care about. That is why he will always and forever be my favorite (as pictured below, Batgirl is pretty awesome too).

My Favorite Inspirational Quotations, Courtesy of Pinterest

Article Response: What To Do About Yasukuni

As many of you may be aware, Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo visited Japan’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine on December 26, 2013 (http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/25/world/asia/japan-pm-war-shrine/), causing old grievances to flare up in China and South Korea on top of the tensions surrounding China’s Air Defense Zone and territorial disputes between China and Japan and Japan and South Korea. As a quick recap, Yasukuni itself has been around since the Meiji era of Japan and has served as a memorial to all those who died in the service of the Japanese emperor. What has made it so controversial today is the addition of 14 Class A  World War II war criminals in the late 1970s to the shrine and the subsequent feelings in China and South Korea that whenever a Japanese official visits the shrine in doing so he is supporting a return to militarism in Japan. Abe’s recent visit has received particular ire from China and South Korea given what appears to be increasingly nationalistic tendencies by Abe and many in his administration. Abe did not visit the shrine during his brief first turn as prime minister, but had expressed regret in not doing so as tensions over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands with China and the Dokdo/Takeshima Islands with South Korea mounted. This visit, which has led to continued stagnation in diplomatic ties with China and South Korea if not outright freezing, hearkens back to the Junichiro Koizumi administration, when Prime Minister Koizumi visited the shrine every year for five years (2001-2006). During this time, Japan’s relations with China and South Korea reached all time lows and given the status of relations before Abe visited Yasukuni (which were pretty horrible) the continued fallout from this visit could be even worse. 

I have become increasingly fascinated with Yasukuni, which for a budding Asian politics analyst like myself is the gift that keeps on giving in terms of historical tensions in East Asia. A Wall Street Journal article today proved this all too true when it reported on a YouTube video (since taken down) done by Eto Seiichi, a member of the upper house of Japan’s parliament and close associate of Abe’s, criticized how the United States handled Abe’s visit (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303775504579392381356264774?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702303775504579392381356264774.html&fpid=2,7,121,122,201,401,641,1009).  In his video, Eto conveyed his “disappointment” with the United States’ criticism of Abe’s visit and wondered aloud “How can the U.S. fail to such a degree to treat Japan, a significant ally, in the right way?” This was all the more vexing to Eto himself as he had been one of the delegation members who visited Washington, D.C. to point out that Abe would visit Yasukuni at some point in to to fulfill his “job as a leader to pray for those who sacrificed their lives for the country.” When put in such terms it makes perfect sense as to why the Japanese continue to be frustrated with criticism over officials visiting the shrine. The comparison of Yasukuni to Arlington Cemetery ruffles feathers but in principle they serve the same function for high level officials. The complicated history of World War II and continued controversies over comfort women and territory, which make Japan appear insincere in its apologies, however make Yasukuni stand on a whole other level. 

The level of frustration that is apparent between the United States and Japan adds another facet to this issue. Contrary to what Eto believed was the case, the U.S. officials he spoke to would rather Abe had not visited at all. The United States’ role in the tensions of East Asia is complicated at best. Chief among the reasons why is the fact that two of its allies, Japan and South Korea, are involved in a territorial dispute and as of right now no high level meetings are taking place. South Korea’s President Park has adamantly refused  to meet with Abe and following his Yasukuni visit it is unlikely this will change anytime soon. So when they were approached by the Japanese delegation regarding Abe’s then future visit to Yasukuni, the U.S. officials who were present stated that they made it clear that Abe should not visit. It seems preposterous that they would advocate an action that would inflame the very tensions they were trying to mitigate. Understandably, when Abe visited virtually without warning it caused headaches throughout the United States government. 

Both the United States government and the Japanese government now appear to be reaching their own impasse. In light of the United States’ criticism of Abe’s visit, there has been an increasingly nationalistic tone in the Japanese government, who sees the United States’ actions as “restraining” Japan. Meanwhile, the United States, which would love to see Japan bear more weight in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of security, has to tread carefully with its ally. Give Japan too much leeway in its actions and it could be dragged into the tensions over Japan’s alleged re-militarization. Reign Japan in too much and it could push Japan away, the same Japan that Abe has said is “back” and ready to become a global power again. It remains to be seen how this issue will resolve itself, but one thing is clear. If the United States and Japan have a falling out, there can be no doubt that the tensions in East Asia will be that much harder to put to rest. 

Article Response: Will the West Really Stop Caring About Human Rights Abuses in Tibet and Xinjiang?

In an interesting article on Reuter’s website (http://in.reuters.com/article/2014/02/19/china-tibet-xinjiang-idINDEEA1I04R20140219), it was reported that Zhu Weiqun, the chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee, stated that as time passes the West “will have an understanding of Tibet and Xinjiang that better accords with reality.” By this, he mean that as Tibet and Xinjiang become more globalized and enter the international community on a grander scale, the United States and other countries that criticize China’s human rights records in these areas will see that China has been right all along and their criticisms were misguided. I am not so sure that this will in fact be the case. Rather, as these areas become more globalized it will undoubtedly become harder for China to control what leaves these areas in the form of social media, refugees, etc. and therefore may given human rights activists even more to work with. Globalization oftentimes has become a thorn in the side of authoritarian regimes and I do not think there would be an exception in this case. If I were to play devil’s advocate, certainly there would be more coverage of the negative actions taken by those who live in these areas against the Chinese government (I leave it to you to decide if they are terrorists or freedom fighters as such labels are fluid in cases like this). But even this might not convince the staunchest human rights defenders in Congress or elsewhere; if they want to call China to task to something they will do so even if there is little evidence to back their claims (again, playing devil’s advocate). Human rights have been a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy and that is unlikely to change no matter how much time passes. 

Zhu, however, did make a compelling point that is at the center of the human rights debate, i.e. how far the U.S. government and others can push China on human rights before it retaliates. He argued “We can only push the West to change its way of thinking if we let them understand that China’s power cannot be avoided…and that the West’s interests lie in development and maintaining ties with China, not the opposite.” In this sense one could argue that China is winning. Tibet and Xinjiang have been issues for a long time and they have not gone away. Neither has the advocacy undertaken in the United States and elsewhere to hold China’s government accountable. Numerous think tanks and advocacy groups publish reports on the abysmal state of affairs in these regions. Yet there has been no UN Human Rights Council call for the Chinese leadership to be punished as it called for the North Korean leadership to be in its recent report (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26220304) to my knowledge (please feel free to correct me I am not a human rights expert by any means). MFN status was divorced from human rights long ago and there is little threat that it will ever be tied so again. The West hems and haws about China’s human rights yet there is no way to divorce from this economic and political giant. To do so over oppressed groups, while morally admirable, makes little sense in a world dominated by political realism. It could be argued that as globalization occurs the West believes time its on ITS side and rather than change its way it will be China that changes (i.e. movement towards democracy). Ironically, time will tell to see which side is proven right but at them moment stubbornness appears to be winning the day to the detriment of the Tibetan and Uighur people. 

Spirit Animals

Now while I love movies and myths that revolve around someone finding their spirit animal or guide, I have never given much credence to having one myself. I’m not a religious person to begin with and while it would be great to have someone or something up there watching over me I tend to place my faith and myself and those around me. As Gandalf said in The Fellowship of the Ring, “It is in men that we must place our hope.” Oftentimes this in itself is hard enough to do considering the idiocy and cruelty that we see on the news every day, but by and large I beleive my fellow human beings are worth believing in and that has put me on the path I am on today.

Over the past couple weeks however I have seemed to found a friend of the feathered variety that has made me wonder if maybe I do heave a spirit animal of sorts. It all started when I took a snowy walk around Theodore Roosevelt Island and saw a red-tailed hawk flying through the woods. As the only person walking around in the middle of a blizzard it was nice to have some company. Then that weekend I went to Arlington Cemetery, which as I talked about in my previous post gave me much to ponder. As I was living the Lee House I was stopped dead in my tracks by a red-tailed hawk who landed in a tree right in front of me. We regarded each other for about 5 minutes, which allowed me to take the picture below. Finally, on Valentine’s Day I was waiting for my boyfriend when a red-tailed hawk flew over his house. Now I make no claims that this was the same hawk every time or that it was protecting me in some way. But I do take it as a very happy coincidence. My father, who loves to read Native American folklore, joked about this hawk being auspicious and that I should get a tattoo. I probably would not go that far, but I did look into the lore http://alltotems.com/hawk-spirit-meaning-symbols-and-totem/ and liked what I saw. Regardless, seeing such a beautiful, majestic creature multiple times is blessing enough for me.

 

 

 

Reflections at Arlington Cemetery

 

 

 

A couple weekends ago I decided to take an impromptu trip over to Arlington Cemetery. I grew up in the DMV in Annapolis, MD and journeyed to many historical landmarks but I had never been to this most scared of burial sites. So I made up my mind to take a pilgrimage there and see what it was like for myself. It was a cold afternoon and there was still plenty of snow on the ground, which made the thousands of white marble gravestones stand out in sharp relief. Now I had seen pictures of the Cemetery before but it is nothing compared to seeing the seemingly endless rows of graves no matter which way you turn or how high up a hill you are. One grave in particular that struck me, and they all struck me, was that of a serviceman’s child who only lived 5 days. There will forever be a marker to this unnamed child who nonetheless was greatly loved and given a place of honor beside his father. The only famous grave-site I visited (sorry JFK) was the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers. It was so quiet there that when the boots of the serviceman who was patrolling in front of it clacked together it sounded like a gunshot; a continuance of the salutes that all servicemen and women get on their final sendoff. Here too were people whose names were never known yet they continue to symbolize the love and sacrifice that make this country great and worth defending. I walked all over the Cemetery in silence with my camera, taking pictures of the changing light and the shadows cast by all of these brave souls. I knew there was to be a least one burial that day, which shows that the Cemetery’s work is still not done. It would be naive to believe that during my lifetime there will be a time when no one else is buried at this cemetery but I am hoping against hope that soon it will not be such a common occurrence. Until then, as always, not one single person in this Cemetery should be forgotten or treated with disrespect. They are our heroes and everyone should visit them. 

DC Driving and the DC Metro: Putting Things In Perspective

I am not the first and definitely not the last DC resident to write about the DC Metro. Many of my friends and colleagues periodically complain about delays, track-work and, most of all, tourists. I have been frustrated by all of these things (hello 30 minute delay underground on the Red Line) but on the whole I try not to let it bother me too much. In many ways the very transportation that we rely on for convenience is much like the transportation that we are trying to escape by using it: cars. I find driving in DC a whole lot worse, especially my favorite (a very lose form of the term) stretch of road New York Avenue. The traffic is horrendous, pedestrians and Capitol Bike Share riders seem to have a death wish and there are So. Many. Lights. But there are lessons that I apply from these frustrations to my Metro riding, namely that road rage, or in this case riding rage, never gets you anywhere and if anything only earns you bemused looks from your fellow commuters. Sure people might not understand that the left side (left lane if you will) is for passing not idling and people may not put on their “turn signals” when they “merge” into your personal space in the car or on the escalator. Perhaps you are stuck waiting for a good 20 minutes (sometimes without AC) before you can make it to happy hour. But like driving getting upset does not resolve the problems. In fact, I don’t mind delays on the Metro as much since they are completely out of my control. I cannot drive the car into another lane in vain hope that it will move quicker, so might as well get comfortable and enjoy the spectacle that is humanity in my spare time. So rest easy fellow DC commuters, everything will work out in the end and always be grateful that you don’t have to do all of this yourself in a car.