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A Lesson in Humility

Inspirational Humans of the Day: Aurora Shooting Victims Attend Court Hearings in Batman-Shirted Solidarity

by Susana Polo | 10:17 am, July 31st, 2012


In a hearing in Centennial, Colorado yesterday morning, friends and family of victims as well as survivors of the Aurora Shooting gathered to be present as James Holmes was charged with twenty-four counts of murder (one count of “murder” and one count of “murder in extreme indifference” for each of the twelve victims) and one-hundred-sixteen counts of attempted murder for the fifty-eight other people in the theater that night. The Hollywood Reporter talked to Don Lader, who said that the Batman shirts worn by some of the survivors were at least in part a sign that Holmes’ actions did not have power over them. Lader has gone back to watch The Dark Knight Rises twice, once with his wife, who was also in the Aurora theater, and once with the son of another survivor who the Laders have befriended since their ordeal.

There’s something in what Lader said, about the rumors that Holmes was interested in the Joker (still too unsubstantiated for me, but interesting insofar as it’s clear that a lot of people really want the connection to be there, whether it’s because they’d like to blame comics or movies, or just because they’d like a simple, knowable answer to the question “why would someone do this?”), and about the resolution to still act as a, well, a fan of Batman normally would, that reminded me of something that comic writer Gail Simone said recently on her Tumblr, after finding out that some of the fans she’d connected with at a con were at the theater in Aurora, and that one of their friends died saving the life of another.

Essentially, it’s a reminder that if we worry that violent movies, or comics, or depictions of a single evil fictional character turned one man against seventy, that those seventy, of whom we’ve heard so many inspiring stories of sacrifice and heroism, were there because of movies, and comics, and depictions of a single heroic character. But I should really let Simone say it (in a small excerpt from her larger piece):

Few are called upon like the heroes of Aurora that night. They remind me what heroism really means. They give me hope. In the middle of the despair and shock, these people saw what needed doing and did it, regardless of the cost to themselves.

A lot has been made of the idea that the gunman was influenced by a fictional villain.

But I think it’s very telling to note that all those heroes, all those amazing, remarkable, beautiful people, came not just to see the latest Batman movie…they went to the first possible showing, a midnight show. They wanted to see Batman. I have seen the power that character has, I have felt it myself. He doesn’t kill, he doesn’t use guns.

He’s a good guy. A hero. A protector.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that THOSE remarkable people were there to see a movie about a hero.

Bless every one of them.

It’s a sad fact that horrific shooting massacres are not uncommon in recent American history, but as members of fan communities, this is perhaps the first that strikes us “where we live.” It will always feel in some way an improper tribute to compare real life heroes and survivors to the fictional ones we read about in books. There’s a lot about Batman that’s patently ridiculous, and I’ll be the first to admit it. But what isn’t improper, I think, is to talk about the power of story, and how it captivates and moves us. How it heals, and inspires, how the idea of a hero, real or fictional, can be used as emotional armor. And that some survivors of the Aurora shooting are showing us that these ideas matter. And that they matter to them more than the trauma inflicted on them. And that’s what’s rendering me speechless and tearful.

You can read the entirety of Gail Simone’s post here, and a response from one of the fans she talks about here.

(Photo from The Hollywood Reporter.)

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  • http://twitter.com/giualonso Giu Alonso

    Amazing.

  • Anonymous

    I await patiently news reports that do not mention the Batman shirts at all, or attempt to downplay them, compared to the shooter’s alleged Joker connection.

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    This is the fist-pumping-est news ever.

  • Anonymous

    This is cool to see. I had someone ask me how I could possibly go to see “that movie”, because it had “caused” this guy to do what he did. Except that it doesn’t work that way. Batman, Bond, or Bambi, James Holmes was looking for a convenient crowd. If he’d waited until August, it could’ve been Total Recall, or The Bourne Legacy. Or Paranorman.

  • Jamie Jeans

    I read Gail Simone’s post, and it was damned touching and powerful, and the strength of the survivors, not to mention what Christian Bale himself did to offer what comfort he could, is awe inspiring and helps me keep the faith in humanity. She talked about the people who became true heroes in the midst of disaster

    If there is one thing about this whole event that continues to bother me, you know, aside from the fact that this terrorist shot up a theatre full of people, is that everyone calls James Holmes crazy and not a domestic terrorist. What he did was an act of terrorism, no matter his own reasons, and it’s annoying that the news media isn’t calling it that.

  • http://profiles.google.com/anne.speck anne speck

    Speaking of Heroes, the Denver Post ran a special section last Sunday profiling some of the people who stopped to help. The stories are moving. 

    http://www.denverpost.com/heroes 

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    He didn’t really have a cause he was trying to achieve, though. Timothy McVeigh wanted revenge for Waco and to inspire a revolt against the government, so he’s called a domestic terrorist. Holmes didn’t even claim to be an agent of chaos. He just shot up a bunch of people.

  • John Wao

    Not to diminish what’s going on in Co. but Missy Franklin who hails from Aurora Co. won a gold medal and set a record in London for 100m backstroke.

    She did this about 15 minutes AFTER qualifying for the 200m freestyle.

    http://popwatch.ew.com/2012/07/31/olympic-stud-of-the-day-missy-franklin/

  • Anonymous

    Totally agree. When you categorize someone as “crazy”, you don’t want to empathize with them. You don’t want to understand, they’re just totally different from you, maybe not even human. Only a monster could do this! Well…yes, but he was still a person, and he choose to do these things. To understand why, to empathize is key. When you fail to understand or just label them “crazy”, that also tends to absolve him of all responsibility. And he is DEFINITELY responsible for what he did. I don’t know how much emotional, mental pain causes someone to really and truly harm other human beings, but it must be unbearable. That said, I’m glad this guy was caught and punished. He deserves all that’s coming to him. I’m glad he’s not going to be able to hurt anyone else.

  • Anonymous

    Truth. I kind of cringed during the shooting part in the movie, because I imagined how scary it must’ve been to suddenly be fired upon during that scene. But I still went. These things don’t cause anyone to do them; a lot of factors came into play that caused this man to act out. Plus, the obvious fact that he CHOOSE to do these things. I just kept thinking, even if someone opened fire at Comic Con, or some other place where I’m living out my geekyness, well there’s no where else I’d rather be.

  • Anonymous

     ”He didn’t really have a cause he was trying to achieve, though”

    Not that I particularly want to draw more attention to the guy, but: we don’t know that. He’s only just appeared in court and hasn’t said much yet. There are relatively few confirmed facts about him so far; most of ‘what we know’ is, as ever when this happens, rumour and speculation.

    So, he might well have had some greater purpose behind his actions; we don’t know. For what it’s worth though, I don’t think it matters why he did it, and I for one don’t care. I know enough to know what to think of him already.

  • Anonymous

    Damn you, Gail Simone. It takes a lot to make me cry these days, but her post managed it. ;(

  • http://wrongsirwrong.blogspot.com/ Magic Xylophone

    So if and when he does reveal a cause, they’ll dub him a terrorist. Until that point, he’s just a mass murderer.

  • R.O.U.S.

    Beautiful sentiment.

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