True Friendships and Batman (they do not seem to mix)

            Humans need people in their life. We are social beings, who derive a sense of belonging from our friends and family. They fill that vacancy in our chest that demands a reciprocal exchange of emotions and affection. In my life, my friends have helped me earn the accomplishments and honors I now hold. I am one of those people who frequently forgets about themselves in their hierarchy of priorities. I always place my studies, work, friendships, and other commitments above my own emotional and physical health. Luckily, my friends are there to stop my body from withering away due to stress, and I’m sure my life expectancy has increased by five years or more because of them. Additionally, my friends snap me out of my stressful states, where even when I’ve finished a big project or commitment, I just start worrying over the next thing. My friends remind me to enjoy life. They bring me back down to earth, and I remember to how to breathe again and take in the simple pleasures.

Also, my friends make me a better person, a more empathetic person. My sister, for example, is one of those people. We are opposites in every way imaginable and that caused a lot of fights and tension between us when we were younger (and who am I kidding, it still does). However, once we became friends and learned where the other was coming from, I like to think that we helped balance out each other’s flaws and continue to do so now. I believe that my sister makes me a more modest person than I would ever be without her, and I hope that I offer her something similar in return. We are each other’s reality checks for when we don’t realize we’re the ones in the wrong. Further, we have come to understand and respect each other’s opposite personalities, and by extension, we have learned to be more empathetic to other people with entirely different perspectives from ourselves.   

In “Batman and Friends: Aristotle and the Dark Knight’s Inner Circle,” Matt Morris explains the three Aristotelian friendships (utility, pleasure, and virtue) and defines the three Aristotelian friendships (utility, pleasure, and virtue) in Batman’s circle of friends, examining how these friendships affect his mission. For me, the friendships I mentioned, like the one with my sister, are ones of virtue. They are people who look out for me and they do it without expecting anything in return. Batman, for the most part, has his friendships at utility level: both friends get something beneficial from the relationship and those benefits are what sustains it. This is his friendship with Jim Gordon. One catches the bad guys when the other can’t, and the other makes sure they go to jail and suffer the consequences of the law. Their relationship can’t go further because Batman cannot risk revealing his true identity to the cop. That leaves friendship-building to be somewhat stunted between two people when all they can do is meet up and fight crime together. 

Batman does have friendships of pleasure, too (i.e. relationships that bring pleasure to both parties when they hangout). His relationship with Dick Grayson, although having its bumps, has evolved to one of both utility and pleasure, and the same is true with Alfred, Batman’s loyal butler and parental figure in his life. Catwoman, who is often one of Batman’s romantic interests, also holds a friendship of pleasure with the superhero. The problem is that Batman never manages to reach the final tier of friendship, virtue, because these people are never fully considered his equal.

 More importantly, I would argue that Batman himself does not have the emotional capacity to reciprocate a true friendship of virtue. His mission, to war on crime, is his number one priority, and it is his way of avenging his parents’ deaths. Batman, as of yet, cannot place anything or anyone above that mission. To fully embrace the relationships he has with other people, he must let go of it. Unlike many other superheroes, Batman’s choice to fight crime is one born from vengeance, and it is a coping mechanism to deal with the loss of his parents. As a result, every person in his life ultimately becomes a hindrance to fulfilling his mission. He cannot risk having a true and complete friendship with anyone until he is ready to move on, and because he is a comic-book superhero, he will never truly move on because that would mean stepping down as a hero or drastically changing Batman as a character.