Batman's repressed memories

[riddler]

Definitely if you include the deleted scenes as part of BF it makes perfect sense why Bruce doesn't act tortured in B+R. I did see a promotional interview with George Clooney before the film was released (and before he started trashing it) and he cited that they were moving away from the self-pitying Bruce over his parents death because of the passage of time for the character and that he can't mope for his entire life.

Yes. Going forward, it naturally made sense for Batman to be free of guilt and become not necessarily 'happy', but more at peace with himself. That's the difference.

Of course, I bet a lot of people were turned off by this characterisation not only because they didn't like the final product, but Schumacher's promotion of the film gave them the impression he didn't understand the character. Which is perhaps why lots of people clinged onto the idea that Batman should always be dark.

Notice how Bruce's trust issues improve with each film
First he trusts letting Vicki Vale in on his life
then he trusts Selina to share his life
then he trusts Chase enough to share his secret
then he trusts Dick enough to be his partner

It is about his character progressing. It would have been redundant having him mourn his parents death especially after Dick went through the same thing. It should be noted too that this is the only film in the series where his parents death doesn't become an issue; in the first film he was avenging them, in the second, he saw parallels with his life in Oswald searching for his parents, the third film Dick witnesses his family get killed. Nothing pops up in the fourth film to remind him about his parents. It just didn't have a place in the fourth film no matter anyones opinion on the subject.

[The Laughing Fish]

Notice how Bruce's trust issues improve with each film
First he trusts letting Vicki Vale in on his life
then he trusts Selina to share his life
then he trusts Chase enough to share his secret
then he trusts Dick enough to be his partner

It is about his character progressing. It would have been redundant having him mourn his parents death especially after Dick went through the same thing. It should be noted too that this is the only film in the series where his parents death doesn't become an issue; in the first film he was avenging them, in the second, he saw parallels with his life in Oswald searching for his parents, the third film Dick witnesses his family get killed. Nothing pops up in the fourth film to remind him about his parents. It just didn't have a place in the fourth film no matter anyones opinion on the subject.

With Vicki Vale, Alfred kept encouraging Bruce to start confiding in her about his life. Bruce struggled to do so, but if you look at it from the prospective across all three films, it was a step in the right direction for him mentally. And Alfred was definitely a positive influence for that.

In fact, if I were to apply further interpretative analysis, there's evidence indicating Alfred wanted Bruce to stop his crusade as Batman. While Bruce was reading the police report about his parents' murders in the Batcave in B89, Alfred told him that he had no desire to spend the last remaining years of his life grieving for old friends or their sons, as he locks the Batsuit inside a safe. I'll take a guess and say Alfred knew that Bruce's need to be Batman was a result of his inability to cope with his family's tragedy, and he hoped a romantic companion can help fill that void. Alfred locking the suit up might be a visual clue to back up his wish that Bruce would move on.

If we take that deleted scene with the news telecast and the conversation between Bruce and Alfred in BF as canon, then it totally supports this theory. Bruce was beginning to believe that maybe Batman was more of a burden than it needed to be, and wondered if it would be possible to retire. Alfred encouraged him to consider giving it a try, and once again, banked on love (this time with Chase Meridian) as a possibility to make his life fulfilling. The only negative with this scene is Bruce saying he had never felt in love before. I'm not a huge fan of that line because if that were true, it conflicts his relationships with Vicki and Selina and render them as shallow.

Of course, Alfred was left with no choice but to help Bruce overcome his amnesia during the red book deleted scene. And once Bruce had ended his personal conflict for good, he was able to move forward with a clearer mindset, but still chooses to be Batman. He trusted Chase to keep his identity a secret and both bid farewell to each other. Alfred seemed happy, but in the deleted scene with Chase in the car, he has conceded that Bruce will never give up as Batman. In the end, Bruce was able to forego a much brighter path, but not the one that Alfred would've preferred for him.

Just like they did with BvS, WB really screwed BF by deleting those scenes from the final cut. Granted, the script still needed polish and it doesn't resolve some of the creative issues. But in my opinion, those scenes were integral to the plot.

[The Laughing Fish]

As I mentioned in the BvS sub-forum, I found this academic essay that assesses Batman's psychiatric well being, and argued he shows symptoms of PTSD in various media.

https://pdfslide.net/documents/holy-ptsd-batman-an-analysis-of-the-psychiatric-symptoms-of-bruce.html

And judging by the criteria as described by that essay, it appears Batman's repressed memories in BF may have been a sign of PTSD.

The C criteria for PTSD read as follows: "persistent avoidance of stimuli associated with the trauma and numbing of general responsiveness (not present before the trauma), as indicated by three (or more) of the following: 1) Efforts to avoid thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the trauma; 2) Efforts to avoid activities, places, or people that arouse recollections of the trauma; 3) Inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma; 4) Markedly diminished interest or participation in significant activities; 5) Feeling of detachment or estrangement from others; 6) Restricted range of affect (e.g., unable to have loving feelings); and 7) Sense of a foreshortened future."

Evidence that Bruce Wayne meets criteria for Symptom 3—inability to recall an important aspect of the trauma—is provided in the movie Batman Forever. Wayne says "I don't remember a lot of what happened; what I do, comes to me in my dreams, flashes. There's a new element now though." He goes on to describe events immediately after his parents' wake, which he had previously been unable to remember (1).

From what I read about "Sympton 3 - inablity recall an important aspect of trauma", it appears to be a hot debate among psychiatrists and clinical theorists. According to this other journal article on page 819, some theorists argue that while the human mind doesn't work perfectly like a video tape recorder, they insist a trauma survivor's inability to recall certain aspects of an incident is because their attention was distracted by something too threatening and dangerous. For example, somebody robbed at gun point could be too frightened by the weapon itself, and were so afraid for their own lives to the point they couldn't see the face of the mugger. In clinical terms, this appears to be described as "incomplete encoding" rather than traumatic amnesia. I guess if we were to compare some Batman comics in that context, Bruce was too horrified by the sight of the gun that took his parents' lives to the point he never really saw the killer's face. His aversion and contempt for guns became encoded into his psyche.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/070674370505001302