Split Personalities

Today is interesting because I am looking at two instances of a person having multiple personalities. With Detective Comics, we see the standard Bruce Wayne and Batman split that is the hallmark of the Dark Knight mythology, but in this issue, we get a specific dichotomy that Batman uses to track down his foe. On the other hand, we see how splitting Captain Kirk is not a good idea since it impairs his ability to lead the Enterprise and its crew.

Rich People Problems

Detective Comics #821
The Beautiful People
By Paul Dinni and J. H. Williams III.

A new criminal is stalking the wealthy socialites of Gotham, and Batman is on the case. His name is Facade, and to track him down, the Dark Knight needs to enlist the aid of Bruce Wayne.

As Bruce hops from party to social event to private club, he takes the pulse of the city and eventually triangulates on his prey. Hunting him down, Wayne turns things over to his alter-ego, who takes down his henchmen and then unmasks the new villain.

Two Kirks Are Better Than One

Star Trek Season 1 Episode 5
The Enemy Within
Written by Richard Matheson
Directed by Leo Penn

A strange transporter accident sees Captain Kirk split into two people – one representing all that is good in the Captain and the other…evil.

It’s an over-the-top acting lesson by Shatner, but the episode is typical Star Trek. What are the ingredients that make a good leader, and can a truly and solely good person be an effective leader?

I think this episode is appropriate for the current times as we see that a blending of the good and bad in Kirk is what makes him work as the best captain in Star Fleet.

We see his evil side demanding Saurian brandy and getting drunk, lecherously attacking Yeoman Rand, and even attacking his other-self. But at the same time, we see the positive Kirk increasingly unable to make decisions, paralyzed with fear at the concept that Sulu and his crewmembers were trapped on the freezing planet below. He was also unable to pull the trigger that would rejoin his two halves into one integrated whole.

When everything in the ‘news’ today is painted in black and white, good and evil, we see that back in the 60s, people fighting for civil rights (because Star Trek has always been held up as a civil rights triumph) still believed that in order for a person to be whole, there must be some good and some bad. There is no way for a person to be ALL good or ALL evil and not be insane in some manner.

It’s a Wrap

So once again, a television show from the 60s provides an important lesson for the 2020s. Kirk needed some good and some bad in him in order to function as a leader, and there were no recriminations after he was integrated. We didn’t see him lose his command of the Enterprise because of some evil things he did while he was split in two.

These days people are all too ready to try to destroy someone’s life just because they disagree this them and I think that is pretty appalling. People of every walk of life make mistakes and are entities to their own opinions.

I may not agree with everything someone says, does, and thinks, but I’m not willing to condemn everything about them just because they are different than me.

And then there is Batman and Bruce Wayne. Neither is a saint, but both try to do good for Gotham. When you’ve got the Joker or Riddler going around killing people or even this new guy, Facade, I’m not willing to lock up Batman or Bruce Wayne because he supports the police.

Oh well, I didn’t plan on ranting, but when I watch the news, I get frustrated that there are so many people who chose to live in an all-or-nothing world. That is until it affects them.

Ramble 2020.03.02 | Split Personalities