Millertarianism: And all those signs we apparently didn't pay attention to
I was made aware of some comments that Frank Miller made about the Occupy Wall Street movement (if it can so be called) on his website. It’s unfortunate that I clicked that link because what I found was incredibly disheartening. The post itself is not at all interesting, nor is the string of lunatic responses below it. What is interesting, however, is that people seem surprised that Miller made those comments.. If you look back through is work, there are extremely consistent elements that exist in all of them, and those elements are a very direct reflection of the man that Miller is and the ideologies of which he believes. That man, no question, wrote those comments.
Having grown up in the 1990’s, I was not really a part of the world that the Dark Knight Returns was forged in. That, of course, did not keep me from picking up a trade paperback copy of it and thoroughly enjoying it. In 2005, Batman had come back in a big way. Thanks to Nolan and company, not only was the character back in theaters, Frank Miller and his two monumental works featuring Batman was back as people just couldn’t get enough. His books were being talked about again with a renewed sense of permanent place in the canon. I can only imagine how happy he must have been knowing his work was being seen by people who might never have thought to look into his work otherwise. But while I enjoyed DKR and then Year One, there was something I couldn’t help but notice: the Miller who wrote those stories was a real person who has seemed to genuinely believe in what his stories were demonstrating. The Dark Knight Returns was written in the 80’s, when a poor economy, increasing violence and the introduction of the crack market could actually cause people to be fearful. It’s not as if there were any signs that things were going to get better. Violence had been getting worse pretty steadily throughout the 70’s and the financial markets had become flimsy and completely unpredictable thanks to new methods of speculating. I believe Frank Miller felt that fear, and if you look at DKR, it’s pretty clear what he thought the solution was.
The Dark Knight returns, in retrospect, is really nothing more than an aging Bruce Wayne who has become unafraid of death, and therefore able to use the symbol of Batman to turn the world into something he wants it to be. The violent gang he fights against, the Mutants, operate using fear as a primary weapon against the people who have become unable to resist on their own. In order to gain the upper hand, Batman defeats the Mutant’s leader in combat, becoming the new de facto leader. Batman goes on to form a new gang out of the Mutant ranks in the hopes of restoring order using a method tried and true: force . If you’re like me, it’s hard to figure out how the new Batman regime is any better than the old, yet when I read the story, it was hard not to root for Batman. There’s a part of us that wants to believe we will have the strength to fight for our principles and that by taking action (i.e control), we will inspire others to do the same. This rarely, if ever, happens. Even in Miller’s own work, there is no sense of anybody ever feeling empowered to change their circumstances other than Batman, and perhaps Carrie Kelley.
Surprisingly enough, the world didn’t descend into the chaos Miller predicted. The 90’s and Silicon Valley boom went on to revitalize the economy, crime started dropping and continues to do so. Of course, September of 2001 brought on a new wave of fear, this time a more unifying version. Terrorism, in some ways, brought back the sentiments of brawn and it seems more than coincidental that Nolan’s films and Miller’s Batman books were suddenly all over the place again. Like with followers of Ayn Rand’s work, there seems to be something about the threat of cooperation and nonviolence that seems to bring the proponents of the “self-made man” out of the woodwork. Unfortunately, radical individualism is only so far away from totalitarianism.
I’m not honestly sure if Miller does have genuine fears about the threat of terrorism. There are lots of statements made by him that suggest he does. While some fear may be justified, the fact of the matter is we are still far safer today than we have been in a long time. There will always be security risks, but as our population increases and and we are forced to share more and more of our resources, it doesn’t seem likely that violence will become a practical answer to resolve disputes as so many of us will be affected no matter who the intended target of an attack is. That is the great thing about a more globalized culture. With a future that looks less dangerous than our past, then for Miller, a new fear emerges: the fear that his works and he won’t matter anymore. Who’s going to be able to relate to a post-apocalyptic story about Batman kicking ass and taking names when violence is passe? Who’s going to care about his views on the existential threat that Al-Qaeda represents?
I wish Miller had more faith in his work. He did a lot to change the way we think about comics and really proved to many people who were unsure that comics is a valuable medium for expression. Much of The Dark Knight returns is truly amazing, even if it is a fascist’s wet dream. Unfortunately, Miller seems a lot more bent on deafening us with his rants than paving new ground as an artist and storyteller, so that by the time another generation of comics readers comes up and asks us about him, we’ll put our hands to our ears and go “What?”.
Having grown up in the 1990’s, I was not really a part of the world that the Dark Knight Returns was forged in. That, of course, did not keep me from picking up a trade paperback copy of it and thoroughly enjoying it. In 2005, Batman had come back in a big way. Thanks to Nolan and company, not only was the character back in theaters, Frank Miller and his two monumental works featuring Batman was back as people just couldn’t get enough. His books were being talked about again with a renewed sense of permanent place in the canon. I can only imagine how happy he must have been knowing his work was being seen by people who might never have thought to look into his work otherwise. But while I enjoyed DKR and then Year One, there was something I couldn’t help but notice: the Miller who wrote those stories was a real person who has seemed to genuinely believe in what his stories were demonstrating. The Dark Knight Returns was written in the 80’s, when a poor economy, increasing violence and the introduction of the crack market could actually cause people to be fearful. It’s not as if there were any signs that things were going to get better. Violence had been getting worse pretty steadily throughout the 70’s and the financial markets had become flimsy and completely unpredictable thanks to new methods of speculating. I believe Frank Miller felt that fear, and if you look at DKR, it’s pretty clear what he thought the solution was.
The Dark Knight returns, in retrospect, is really nothing more than an aging Bruce Wayne who has become unafraid of death, and therefore able to use the symbol of Batman to turn the world into something he wants it to be. The violent gang he fights against, the Mutants, operate using fear as a primary weapon against the people who have become unable to resist on their own. In order to gain the upper hand, Batman defeats the Mutant’s leader in combat, becoming the new de facto leader. Batman goes on to form a new gang out of the Mutant ranks in the hopes of restoring order using a method tried and true: force . If you’re like me, it’s hard to figure out how the new Batman regime is any better than the old, yet when I read the story, it was hard not to root for Batman. There’s a part of us that wants to believe we will have the strength to fight for our principles and that by taking action (i.e control), we will inspire others to do the same. This rarely, if ever, happens. Even in Miller’s own work, there is no sense of anybody ever feeling empowered to change their circumstances other than Batman, and perhaps Carrie Kelley.
Surprisingly enough, the world didn’t descend into the chaos Miller predicted. The 90’s and Silicon Valley boom went on to revitalize the economy, crime started dropping and continues to do so. Of course, September of 2001 brought on a new wave of fear, this time a more unifying version. Terrorism, in some ways, brought back the sentiments of brawn and it seems more than coincidental that Nolan’s films and Miller’s Batman books were suddenly all over the place again. Like with followers of Ayn Rand’s work, there seems to be something about the threat of cooperation and nonviolence that seems to bring the proponents of the “self-made man” out of the woodwork. Unfortunately, radical individualism is only so far away from totalitarianism.
I’m not honestly sure if Miller does have genuine fears about the threat of terrorism. There are lots of statements made by him that suggest he does. While some fear may be justified, the fact of the matter is we are still far safer today than we have been in a long time. There will always be security risks, but as our population increases and and we are forced to share more and more of our resources, it doesn’t seem likely that violence will become a practical answer to resolve disputes as so many of us will be affected no matter who the intended target of an attack is. That is the great thing about a more globalized culture. With a future that looks less dangerous than our past, then for Miller, a new fear emerges: the fear that his works and he won’t matter anymore. Who’s going to be able to relate to a post-apocalyptic story about Batman kicking ass and taking names when violence is passe? Who’s going to care about his views on the existential threat that Al-Qaeda represents?
I wish Miller had more faith in his work. He did a lot to change the way we think about comics and really proved to many people who were unsure that comics is a valuable medium for expression. Much of The Dark Knight returns is truly amazing, even if it is a fascist’s wet dream. Unfortunately, Miller seems a lot more bent on deafening us with his rants than paving new ground as an artist and storyteller, so that by the time another generation of comics readers comes up and asks us about him, we’ll put our hands to our ears and go “What?”.
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