“A Man has No Name.”
What’s the difference between who I am and who I am trying to be? One of us is absolute, we actually hold value in the real world, while the other lives on in our head until we create that reality to live in as well. KoryH and BruceG are no different from each other, both have thoughts, have feelings, and feel they are real, but only KoryH lives and breathes every day, or does he…
In this episode of Batman: The Animated Series we get introduced to who Harvey Dent/Two Face is and what created him to be this way. As the episode goes on we find out that Harvey’s split personality stems from childhood trauma. Feeling very guilty about his angry feelings as a kid, Harvey submerged those emotions, and eventually, that became the root of who Two Face is. He’s the built-up rage of a kid stuck inside his host eager to get his view of the world out of his head.
Harvey is treated by Rupert Thorne, a top criminal in Gotham, and meets with him to discuss Thorne not leaking his Patient records to the press. After being pushed to his limits, Harvey switches into Big Bad Harv and goes after Thorne. As he’s on pursuit, gunfire causes the factory to blow up causing Harvey to get hurt in the process. Batman rescues Harvey, but this time maybe a bit too late…
Forced to live with his new reality of his face being split into two from the burn, when Harvey finally sees his face from bondages he lets loose. He doesn’t know how to take this newfound character he’s become. Before Harvey struggled with the mental battle inside, now he may have to make a decision on who will control his new outer self.
Many days I awake and hope that as the old folks say “I’ll wake up in my right mind.” Mentally I’ve taken on so much in my life. I hold on to my past heavy with a grip of regret and guilt, I allow my dreams to overtake my mood for my day, and I can’t beat my own battles with myself. Each day feels like a battle between who I’ll be today, maybe a creative in search of changing the world or the little kid still dealing with a broken heart… We all wear two faces or more, the only thing is I willingly know the battle I face. What about the others who blindly walk around switching characters not knowing who their current version is? I feel as if a lot of times I go everywhere trying to help solve everyone else’s problems with hopes one day I’ll take my own advice and save myself as well…
-BruceG