Icon for Hire - Bruce Wayne
Since people encouraged me to analyze my playlists...here you go.
I'll start with the Icon for Hire songs I have for Bruce and combine them into a single post, because there are...many of them. (Icon for Hire has an...interesting view on mental health that I don't fully agree with, but it very much fits Bruce's personality.)
I'm not sure if I'll do it by a theme for a character (such as Bruce's self-loathing) or by artist from now on.
Overall, this is a song about mental illness (already so promising!) and knowing that something is wrong with yourself but having no way to fix it. Basically, mental illness as a chronic, progressive condition. This song reminds me of Bruce gradually falling further and further into his Mission—knowing he's losing himself, but being unable to stop—which is a narrative I find very interesting for the more recent Batman comics.
The night knows me by name / Its shadow trained to dull the pain. These lines are basically Batman as a coping mechanism to me. Bruce thinks of himself as Batman as "becoming one with the night". It's an ally and a cloak, hiding him from his enemies, but also from himself.
Life's a war, you pick your fight / I think mine picks me first most nights. Bruce thinks of the Mission (and thus life) as a constant struggle, a war. But it's not one he "chose." Like, yeah, he's the one who put on the costume, but he views it as an inevitability. He couldn't have been anything else. The moment Joe Chill's first bullet was fired in Crime Alley (or perhaps the moment Martha's pearls hit the street), Bruce's war was picked for him. He cannot quit Batman.
Can't undo a word I said / Years of struggle still ahead / All the trouble in my head / I wish I were good instead. Bruce is well aware of the damage he's doing to his life. He knows that he will never be able to stop being Batman. And he knows he's hurting the others around him. He doesn't think he's a good person. Part of him wishes that he could be someone else, a better man. But he's not. He's himself. And he is going to fight for this cause.
Resist at first and then reverse/immerse. Bruce tried so hard to prevent himself from losing sight of his reasons for becoming Batman. He had all the trappings of darkness in order to fight Gotham's evil, but at his core, he was light. But eventually, he became what he pretended to be.
In the quiet, in the dark / All my ideals fall apart. This, I think, is the current Batman. He wages war on crime. And he has rules. But...I think he's lost sight of his original reasons for being Batman. His compassion, love, and empathy. That's not my Batman. But I think that's the Batman we keep seeing in Rebirth and New52, except for the random "yaaaaaaay happy family!! :) uwu" moments. Bruce is He Who Fights With Monsters, and he has become one of them.
This song is, to me, very much Bruce begging his family/loved ones to help him stay himself. The idea is that he needs the people around him to be his lights, because fighting Gotham's darkness eats away at him otherwise. I could see this song as him addressing his family...or even
The refrain, I'll be the mess, you play the medicine / Why don't you fix me? / I can't help myself / Why don't you fix me? / You know I'm fading still: You could see it as pathological, Bruce using his children as a crutch to keep himself together/play therapist. Or you could see it as endearing—Bruce trusts his loved ones to hold him together when he can't. Or you could see it as sad—Bruce thinks he's broken and needs to be fixed. Or, like me, you could see it as all three.
And also...Bruce trying so hard to keep himself together: And you know how I try, fight to survive / My hands are bloody from holding myself too tight
I see this as Bruce acknowledging that doesn't want to move on from his parents deaths. He can never let himself heal. His pain is what makes him Batman, and he can't stop being Batman. (It is literally canon that Bruce can't be happy...)
Oh I need my pain / Don't take it away / My sad makes me special is basically the thesis statement.
Can't undo the scars / All up and down our hearts / Can't forget how it felt when it all fell apart. It all comes back to that night in the alleyway.
And we talk a big game / Like we wanna get well / In our prison made of pain / Only fooling ourselves. And this is, I think, why Dick and Bruce's paths diverge. Dick genuinely wants to move on and heal. Bruce genuinely doesn't. Bruce does not want to lose hold of his grief. He will spend his entire life trapped in the alleyway.
Not much I can say about the specific lyrics here, but this is, to me, Bruce contemplating whether Batman is actually a net benefit for Gotham. Is Batman the only one holding back the Rogues? Or is he the one who brought them out? Does Batman invite challenge, or does he just step up to meet it?
And...well, Batman needs a Robin: I'm afraid I can't trust myself, myself / Don't leave me alone. It's the only way he can know he's doing good—he needs someone else there, someone good, by his side.
