"After a certain incident that left him traumatized, Erik Wilhelm transfers to Privatgymnasium St. Dymphna, a special Viennese school for teenagers living with psychological disorders, where he meets a colorful cast of characters that will turn his formerly uneventful life upside down."
It feels a bit unfair to review Missing Stars after reviewing Katawa Shoujo, but I'm going to do it anyway. It confuses quantity with quality, but is still heartfelt and inspired by Katawa Shoujo, despite being a complete mess. I think there's something like 6 girls to interact with. But, it feels like a lot more. Act One is very long. (Although, after looking it up, the whole game does have about the same playtime as Katawa...10-30 hours, depending on the paths, reading speed, etc. But, man, does it feel bloated.) It is openly promoted as a “mental health Katawa Shoujo”. It takes place in Austria, and basically tries to copy Katawa's plot, except for mental health instead of physical disabilities. I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but the game is just too big and too unfocused in its message, with every character feeling very disjointed in writing style, disability, and message.
I know Beware The Batman is not something to base an actual diagnosis of mental illness off of, but part of this blog is about thinking critically about the images we receive about physical/mental conditions of the body. That said, let’s review the episode. Magpie is a kleptomaniac villianess who looks like she raided The Black Cat’s wardrobe and pasted on an avian theme. She wants to steal shiny things; chiefly Batman’s utility belt so she can steal more shiny things, but she is not quite the Catwoman replacement I first believed her to be, for she also has a memory stealing helmet, used on a guard in the first scene.
After some investigation, Batman uncovers the Magpie was a Blackgate inmate. So far so good! The disturbing questions for me, came when Magpie’s “true identity” was uncovered…and, of course the inclusion of the moronic Lunkhead as a setup for Batman and Gordon to figure out the same things and meet. It is a kid’s show though, and to me it’s obvious that Lunkhead’s comedic behavior was the reflection of him trying to be good again…not necessarily his apparent learning disability. (Though criticism is welcome!)
Lunkhead aside, the episode for me raised questions of identity, medical ethics, and mental health. I don’t know what real kleptomania is like, but I find it highly suspect that Dr. Ravencroft invented a memory wiping machine in the first place. Surely, the mere fact that people labelled as criminals have mental conditions does not warrant their memories being erased. Magpie soon discovers that “Magpie” is only her kleptomaniac personality. Instead of erasing it, Dr. Ravencroft pushed that identity to the front. I know this is only a cartoon, but to me it seems to give the impression that as long as criminals have a mental condition/disability, (In the case of Lunkhead.) it’s okay to play around with their identities and minds.
Magpie even tells Batman after she captures him that he doesn’t need to worry about her taking off his mask because she knows the value of keeping things secret. So, why is Batman, as a higher-functioning mental case, allowed to keep his secret…while Magpie, in a desperate search for her own identity, must be the victim of some twisted correctional experiment? Because he helped Lieutenant Gordon, Batman’s own mental case is excused. Still, I am hoping that Dr. Ravencroft is revealed to be a villianess…even though I know the public prefers to keep good and evil as reflected through physical/mental appearances. I’m always there to cast a critical eye on it!
In all honesty, I can’t say it was a bad episode, just a little disturbing in the ways that they portray treatment of those with mental conditions. In one scene, when looking at an inkblot test, Batman sees his parent’s murder, but tells Ravencroft he just sees ink on paper. A subtle hint that Batman might suspect the doctor of trying to uncover Batman maybe. In any case, Dr. Ravencroft could be a really good villainess, and if they don’t make her one…it’d be an unsettling message to say that “good doctors” can mess around with memories. We’ll have to see! Until next time! By the way, my rating for this episode was 6.0/10 or C+, just due to the disturbing nature of disability here. Batman never has had a good track record dealing with mental health issues and mental disabilities! But, I can hope!
Don’t we all wish we could be a superhero? A bored meter maid named Les wants to be able to make a difference in people’s lives. He’s tired of reciting his boss’s mantra “I’m important and I keep this city running.” without really believing in it. So, he takes an experimental pill called “Special”, and now finds that he can walk through walls, fly, and is telepathic.
But, his friends all think he’s crazy. And that’s because he is. See, the drug only reduced his capacity for self-doubt. Thus, critical thinking as well. In reality, he’s just running into walls, but he thinks he’s going through them. One time, he stops a robbery at a convience store, and his behavior starts to get more bizarre, and psychotic.
When he reveals his powers to his friends (who own a comic book store.) they both laugh and play along, so he thinks they witnessed his powers, too. Soon, he jumps off a gas station rooftop and saves a lady’s purse from getting snatched; the friends start to realize that Les is psychotic.
Meanwhile, Les’s delusions of grandeur only become bigger. He is confronted by men led by “Jonas Exiler” in suits who want to hunt him and use his DNA to clone an army of super soldiers. He successfully battles them off, and rushes to his friends to tell them they are in danger. But, as his friends become more disturbed by Les’s mania, they try to tell him it’s not real. He pulls a gun on them and accuses them of being brainwashed by “The Suits”. And what started out as a very comedic underdog tale becomes insanely darker as Les’s is tortured by his delusions and continues to lash out at the real world. He holds up his doctor at gunpoint, and in another scene is beaten by his delusions with a 2x4 though it’s apparent Les is only beating himself up.
Having seen elements of psychosis before in others, I’m not entirely sure how accurate the film is, but it seemed to me to be that way. The delusion starts off as innocent, almost like a game (maybe I AM a superhero.) and then before you know it, he’s dressing in costume and beating up “Suits”. The recent influx of superhero movies kind of made me believe it’s a superhero story; so it makes you suspend disbelief for a minute. But, it’s not. It’s a “disability movie” about the nature of schizophrenia.
I never once thought Les was a bad guy. On the contrary, his delusions reveal him to be a man of a sweet and good nature who only wants to make the world a better place. Before he’s beaten (first) by the Suits, he yells at Jonas Exiler “Who do you think would care if you disappeared, huh? You think you’re so much better than everyone else! Well, you’re not!” (I wonder if he was merely talking to his self-doubt. He wants to doubt himself again, almost.)
I have probably given away too much already, but this is a deeply touching character study about a man tortured both by his everyday life, and then his escape of it. It’s an emotional roller coaster that will keep you rooting for Les all the way through, even in his more psychotic moments, which reveal themselves to be manifestations of his humane motives. But, people don’t have superpowers. To believe otherwise is crazy, right?
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