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ship_manifestoTitle: “So Wrong It’s Right”
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
angel_kathryn
Pairing: Bruce Wayne (Batman)/Jonathon Crane (Scarecrow)
Fandom: Batman Begins (movie)
Spoilers: For the entire movie
Notes: I’m not game to take on the entire comicverse, so this is specific only to ‘Batman Begins’! Also, I have edited some pictures into this - dial-up users, be aware. (More pictures will be forthcoming when my DVD drive stops being silly. For now, all pictures - with the exception of one screencap - are from Superhero Hype.)
The Movie
Batman Begins is, strangely enough, the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman. Gee, you never would have guessed that from the title, right?
Anyway. This is a big angst story – no, seriously. Eight year old Bruce Wayne witnesses the murder of his rich, powerful, and ‘all-around good guy’ parents, in a robbery gone wrong. He blames himself and his phobia of bats for their deaths, as this led them to leave an opera early.
As a young man, he travels the world, returning to Gotham when he is told that his parents’ murderer is set to be released from jail early in exchange for providing information on mobster Carmine Falcone. He plans to kill the murderer, but is beat to the punch by a hitman working for Falcone. Rachel Dawes, Bruce’s childhood friend who now works at the Public Prosecuter’s Office, is horrified.
Bruce travels the world fighting crime, but eventually gets himself thrown in a Nepalese jail, from which he was freed by Henry Ducard, who works for Ra’s al Ghul. Bruce is trained to be a ninja, but flees, destroying Ra’s al Ghul’s mountain house, after refusing to turn cold-blooded executioner. He saves Ducard and leaves him to recover.
Bruce returns to Gotham where, with the help of loyal butler Alfred, and Lucius Fox, who works at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce sets himself up as Batman, and terrorises the criminal element of the city, with the help of Jim Gordon, one of the few non-corrupt cops in Gotham.
Jonathon Crane enters the scene as one of the bad guys. He is a psychologist, and head of Arkham Asylum. Obsessed with the psychology of fear, he has created a fear toxin with causes those who inhale it to have terrifying hallucinations. Working for Ra’s al Ghul, he has pumped the toxin into Gotham’s water supply over the course of many weeks. He also experiments on the inmates of the asylum. When Rachel gets too close to discovering the plot, Crane gives her a concentrated dose of the toxin, then uses his alterego – the Scarecrow – to torment her. She is saved by Batman, who unmasks Crane and leaves him to be arrested.
Ducard and several ninja arrive in Gotham, and Bruce realises that Ducard is actually Ra’s al Ghul. Ra’s vaporises Gotham’s water supply, starting with The Narrows – an island in the city, which is the location of Arkham Asylum and some of the city’s slums. Batman defeats him, stopping the vapourisation and leaving Ra’s to die. Crane – as the Scarecrow – escapes and flees.
The Characters – Bruce Wayne
“A man who dresses as a bat clearly has issues!”
Bruce Wayne. Batman. Serious issues. Bruce is a driven man. Harbouring a phobia of bats and a guilt complex, he adopts the persona of Batman to fight crime in the highly corrupt city of Gotham.
Despite his dark side, which is personified by Batman, Bruce is a reasonably pleasant guy, with a gentle but somewhat sarcastic sense of humour. As Batman, however, he is ruthless and cold. Batman and the concept of mercy are not acquainted. He is also not averse to hanging people upside down over a several-storey drop to encourage them to be honest with him.
Believe me – you do not want to mess with him.
The Characters – Jonathon Crane
“When did the nut take over the nuthouse?”
Dr Jonathon Crane. Scarecrow. Criminally Insane. The movies do not give Crane a backstory at all (which is a huge shame, and not just because of the nauseating amount of Mary-Sues it has given rise to, who die tragically to turn Crane evil).
Crane’s obsession with fear is his primary defining trait. Not only is he fascinated by how people react to their fears, he enjoys bringing out these reactions. He is sadistic and, for all his posturing, he is not always very perceptive – I say this, and I love the guy. His aim is to hold Gotham hostage; he does not realise that Ra’s is planning to ruin the city.
The nature of the Scarecrow as well is highly debatable. He is another personality, or is he simply Crane’s darker side? I would argue more towards dissociation; Crane himself seems to believe this. After getting a dose of the fear toxin, his mind cracks under the strain of the hallucinations:
Crane: [In response to Batman’s questions] Dr Crane isn’t here right now, but if you’d like to make an appointment …
He’s not in the scarecrow costume, but he sure as heck isn’t Crane.
The Pairing – In Canon
To be frank, there isn’t a lot of canon evidence for this ship. Bruce and Jonathon, to be strictly accurate, never meet. They meet as Scarecrow and Batman, and as Batman and Crane, but never as simply two men. It’s primarily a fanon ship, and most of the evidence for it is heavily interpreted. But, what’s not to like about it? It’s hot as hell after all.
You know when I said that they don’t meet up much in canon? Well, the exact figure is two. Yup, they only meet twice in the course of the movie (although, providing Crane is in the sequel, they should see a little more of each other then).
Meeting No. 1: Batman, following a lead, investigates an appartment where Crane and his men have been storing some of the drugs used in the fear toxin. Crane and his men arrive; when they realise that Batman is there, Crane dons his Scarecrow disguise and gives him a dose of the fear toxin, before setting him on fire. Batman falls out of the apartment and is lucky to survive the fall, let alone the fear toxin and the burns.
… Yeah. Not exactly a typical romance, eh?
Meeting No. 2: Crane has poisoned Rachel with a lethal dose of the fear toxin and is tormenting her in the basement of Arkham Asylum, which is also his base of operations. Batman breaks in to save her, in the process taking down Crane’s men and unmasking him. He gives Crane “a taste of his own medicine”, then forces him to admit the identity of his employer, before knocking him out and leaving him for the police to find.
I did mention that this is an extremely messed up pairing, didn’t I?
The Pairing – Fanon Extrapolation … Or why you need to be shipping them.
Like I said, the beauty of this pairing lies in the fanon – lies in the possibilities. I have yet to see this pairing done convincingly in ‘fluff’ format – which isn’t to say it can’t be done – but it flourishes when written with a dark tone.
Look at it from this point of view – you have the good guy and the bad guy in a pairing. That always invites angst. If you like your pairings dark, angsty, and messed up … you might just like this one. Particularly if you like it messed up.
At the end of Batman Begins, the writers threw in a lovely little scene between Batman and Jim Gordon which could either set up a sequel (if they got one) or lead into the Batman movies of the 1990s – as things stand, it looks like it will lead into a sequel to Batman Begins. The important part for this ship is the following:
Gordon: We still haven’t caught Crane, or half the inmates of Arkham that he freed.
Batman: We will.
Pardon me while I allow my fangirl tendancies to overpower my rational brain, but am I the only one having x-rated visions about Batman chasing down Crane? Yes? Bother. … Yes, I’m having way too much fun writing this.
The attraction – for me at least – lies in just how messed up this is. The title of this essay says it all – “so wrong it’s right”. The possibilities for pre-movie fics, for post-movie fics, for ‘what if’ fics, almost all lead in that direction. At least, all the ones my twisted brain is coming up with.
The relationship between them is also worth considering. Batman is, frankly, a control freak. He’s driven, he’s unrelenting, he’s intense, and he’d also be hell to live with. Rachel sees Batman and Bruce and realises – at the end of the movie – that Batman has become dominant. Bruce has been changed; he has become more ruthless, more cold, leading – of course – to Rachel basically telling him ‘I’ll be waiting’.
Bruce needs, basically, someone who can handle Batman. Someone who knows what living a double life is like. Crane and Wayne may not be a permanent pairing (despite their rhyming last names!), but they do have the potential for a relationship, because they both understand what living a double life is like.
The Fandom
The Batman fandom is truly huge, and also truly scary, especially to the newbie. There are so many universes, so many offshoots, so many stories … it’s a vast, vast fandom, and if you’re looking to get into the comicverse?Good luck! Try here, at ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
crack_van. Movieverse is more restricted, especially if you limit yourself to Batman Begins.
Insofar as fanfiction is concerned, there is some good stuff out there. I won’t link to any of the NC-17 rated stuff, but even over at FanFiction.Net, there are some good fics (once you dodge the Mary Sues that seem to appear in a fair few fics there). I haven’t read much further than that – sorry :( Here’s a few links to get you started though! (Warning - these links may contain adult content.)
‘Masquerade’, by ladyFrost2. It’s chilling and so creepy, yet so right. The bottom line of this whole pairing!
‘Don’t listen to the insane’, by Birgit Riddle. A one-shot about Crane, post-movie. It’s – well, chilling. And I think it captures Crane and the Scarecrow wonderfully, despite being very short. (Most of Birgit Riddle’s Crane stories tend to be pretty good.)
‘Facing the darkness within’, by Nightshade0020. It’s an interesting take on Bruce and his sacrifices and burdens.
Judith linked me to two more fics:
'Such Delibrate Disguises', by LC. It's a very interesting Crane-centric piece, which I thoroughly recommend.
'untitled' by lanthano. Bruce tracks down Crane, but gets a surprise.
Also, LadyFrost2 has mentioned another fic of hers (Once I Was You") which I also recommend!
The Pretty
This is Bruce. He iskinky pretty.
This is Jonothan. He is also pretty.
This is Batman. He is emo.
This is Scarecrow. He is nuts.
This is the Batmobile. It comes in black.
This is Dr Crane andtoken girl Rachel. He does not care about her.
This is Bruce Wayne. He is a playboy.
This is Batman and Dr Crane. Theylike it rough do not always see eye to eye.
Thank you for reading!
Author:
angel_kathrynPairing: Bruce Wayne (Batman)/Jonathon Crane (Scarecrow)
Fandom: Batman Begins (movie)
Spoilers: For the entire movie
Notes: I’m not game to take on the entire comicverse, so this is specific only to ‘Batman Begins’! Also, I have edited some pictures into this - dial-up users, be aware. (More pictures will be forthcoming when my DVD drive stops being silly. For now, all pictures - with the exception of one screencap - are from Superhero Hype.)
The Movie
Batman Begins is, strangely enough, the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman. Gee, you never would have guessed that from the title, right?
Anyway. This is a big angst story – no, seriously. Eight year old Bruce Wayne witnesses the murder of his rich, powerful, and ‘all-around good guy’ parents, in a robbery gone wrong. He blames himself and his phobia of bats for their deaths, as this led them to leave an opera early.
As a young man, he travels the world, returning to Gotham when he is told that his parents’ murderer is set to be released from jail early in exchange for providing information on mobster Carmine Falcone. He plans to kill the murderer, but is beat to the punch by a hitman working for Falcone. Rachel Dawes, Bruce’s childhood friend who now works at the Public Prosecuter’s Office, is horrified.
Bruce travels the world fighting crime, but eventually gets himself thrown in a Nepalese jail, from which he was freed by Henry Ducard, who works for Ra’s al Ghul. Bruce is trained to be a ninja, but flees, destroying Ra’s al Ghul’s mountain house, after refusing to turn cold-blooded executioner. He saves Ducard and leaves him to recover.
Bruce returns to Gotham where, with the help of loyal butler Alfred, and Lucius Fox, who works at Wayne Enterprises, Bruce sets himself up as Batman, and terrorises the criminal element of the city, with the help of Jim Gordon, one of the few non-corrupt cops in Gotham.
Jonathon Crane enters the scene as one of the bad guys. He is a psychologist, and head of Arkham Asylum. Obsessed with the psychology of fear, he has created a fear toxin with causes those who inhale it to have terrifying hallucinations. Working for Ra’s al Ghul, he has pumped the toxin into Gotham’s water supply over the course of many weeks. He also experiments on the inmates of the asylum. When Rachel gets too close to discovering the plot, Crane gives her a concentrated dose of the toxin, then uses his alterego – the Scarecrow – to torment her. She is saved by Batman, who unmasks Crane and leaves him to be arrested.
Ducard and several ninja arrive in Gotham, and Bruce realises that Ducard is actually Ra’s al Ghul. Ra’s vaporises Gotham’s water supply, starting with The Narrows – an island in the city, which is the location of Arkham Asylum and some of the city’s slums. Batman defeats him, stopping the vapourisation and leaving Ra’s to die. Crane – as the Scarecrow – escapes and flees.
The Characters – Bruce Wayne
“A man who dresses as a bat clearly has issues!”
Bruce Wayne. Batman. Serious issues. Bruce is a driven man. Harbouring a phobia of bats and a guilt complex, he adopts the persona of Batman to fight crime in the highly corrupt city of Gotham.
Despite his dark side, which is personified by Batman, Bruce is a reasonably pleasant guy, with a gentle but somewhat sarcastic sense of humour. As Batman, however, he is ruthless and cold. Batman and the concept of mercy are not acquainted. He is also not averse to hanging people upside down over a several-storey drop to encourage them to be honest with him.
Believe me – you do not want to mess with him.
The Characters – Jonathon Crane
“When did the nut take over the nuthouse?”
Dr Jonathon Crane. Scarecrow. Criminally Insane. The movies do not give Crane a backstory at all (which is a huge shame, and not just because of the nauseating amount of Mary-Sues it has given rise to, who die tragically to turn Crane evil).
Crane’s obsession with fear is his primary defining trait. Not only is he fascinated by how people react to their fears, he enjoys bringing out these reactions. He is sadistic and, for all his posturing, he is not always very perceptive – I say this, and I love the guy. His aim is to hold Gotham hostage; he does not realise that Ra’s is planning to ruin the city.
The nature of the Scarecrow as well is highly debatable. He is another personality, or is he simply Crane’s darker side? I would argue more towards dissociation; Crane himself seems to believe this. After getting a dose of the fear toxin, his mind cracks under the strain of the hallucinations:
Crane: [In response to Batman’s questions] Dr Crane isn’t here right now, but if you’d like to make an appointment …
He’s not in the scarecrow costume, but he sure as heck isn’t Crane.
The Pairing – In Canon
To be frank, there isn’t a lot of canon evidence for this ship. Bruce and Jonathon, to be strictly accurate, never meet. They meet as Scarecrow and Batman, and as Batman and Crane, but never as simply two men. It’s primarily a fanon ship, and most of the evidence for it is heavily interpreted. But, what’s not to like about it? It’s hot as hell after all.
You know when I said that they don’t meet up much in canon? Well, the exact figure is two. Yup, they only meet twice in the course of the movie (although, providing Crane is in the sequel, they should see a little more of each other then).
Meeting No. 1: Batman, following a lead, investigates an appartment where Crane and his men have been storing some of the drugs used in the fear toxin. Crane and his men arrive; when they realise that Batman is there, Crane dons his Scarecrow disguise and gives him a dose of the fear toxin, before setting him on fire. Batman falls out of the apartment and is lucky to survive the fall, let alone the fear toxin and the burns.
… Yeah. Not exactly a typical romance, eh?
Meeting No. 2: Crane has poisoned Rachel with a lethal dose of the fear toxin and is tormenting her in the basement of Arkham Asylum, which is also his base of operations. Batman breaks in to save her, in the process taking down Crane’s men and unmasking him. He gives Crane “a taste of his own medicine”, then forces him to admit the identity of his employer, before knocking him out and leaving him for the police to find.
I did mention that this is an extremely messed up pairing, didn’t I?
The Pairing – Fanon Extrapolation … Or why you need to be shipping them.
Like I said, the beauty of this pairing lies in the fanon – lies in the possibilities. I have yet to see this pairing done convincingly in ‘fluff’ format – which isn’t to say it can’t be done – but it flourishes when written with a dark tone.
Look at it from this point of view – you have the good guy and the bad guy in a pairing. That always invites angst. If you like your pairings dark, angsty, and messed up … you might just like this one. Particularly if you like it messed up.
At the end of Batman Begins, the writers threw in a lovely little scene between Batman and Jim Gordon which could either set up a sequel (if they got one) or lead into the Batman movies of the 1990s – as things stand, it looks like it will lead into a sequel to Batman Begins. The important part for this ship is the following:
Gordon: We still haven’t caught Crane, or half the inmates of Arkham that he freed.
Batman: We will.
Pardon me while I allow my fangirl tendancies to overpower my rational brain, but am I the only one having x-rated visions about Batman chasing down Crane? Yes? Bother. … Yes, I’m having way too much fun writing this.
The attraction – for me at least – lies in just how messed up this is. The title of this essay says it all – “so wrong it’s right”. The possibilities for pre-movie fics, for post-movie fics, for ‘what if’ fics, almost all lead in that direction. At least, all the ones my twisted brain is coming up with.
The relationship between them is also worth considering. Batman is, frankly, a control freak. He’s driven, he’s unrelenting, he’s intense, and he’d also be hell to live with. Rachel sees Batman and Bruce and realises – at the end of the movie – that Batman has become dominant. Bruce has been changed; he has become more ruthless, more cold, leading – of course – to Rachel basically telling him ‘I’ll be waiting’.
Bruce needs, basically, someone who can handle Batman. Someone who knows what living a double life is like. Crane and Wayne may not be a permanent pairing (despite their rhyming last names!), but they do have the potential for a relationship, because they both understand what living a double life is like.
The Fandom
The Batman fandom is truly huge, and also truly scary, especially to the newbie. There are so many universes, so many offshoots, so many stories … it’s a vast, vast fandom, and if you’re looking to get into the comicverse?
crack_van. Movieverse is more restricted, especially if you limit yourself to Batman Begins. Insofar as fanfiction is concerned, there is some good stuff out there. I won’t link to any of the NC-17 rated stuff, but even over at FanFiction.Net, there are some good fics (once you dodge the Mary Sues that seem to appear in a fair few fics there). I haven’t read much further than that – sorry :( Here’s a few links to get you started though! (Warning - these links may contain adult content.)
‘Masquerade’, by ladyFrost2. It’s chilling and so creepy, yet so right. The bottom line of this whole pairing!
‘Don’t listen to the insane’, by Birgit Riddle. A one-shot about Crane, post-movie. It’s – well, chilling. And I think it captures Crane and the Scarecrow wonderfully, despite being very short. (Most of Birgit Riddle’s Crane stories tend to be pretty good.)
‘Facing the darkness within’, by Nightshade0020. It’s an interesting take on Bruce and his sacrifices and burdens.
Judith linked me to two more fics:
'Such Delibrate Disguises', by LC. It's a very interesting Crane-centric piece, which I thoroughly recommend.
'untitled' by lanthano. Bruce tracks down Crane, but gets a surprise.
Also, LadyFrost2 has mentioned another fic of hers (Once I Was You") which I also recommend!
The Pretty
This is Bruce. He is
This is Jonothan. He is also pretty.
This is Batman. He is emo.
This is Scarecrow. He is nuts.
This is the Batmobile. It comes in black.
This is Dr Crane and
This is Bruce Wayne. He is a playboy.
This is Batman and Dr Crane. They
Thank you for reading!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 12:32 pm (UTC)[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('
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a href="ttp://www.fanfiction.net/s/2620904/1/" ‘Facing the darkness within’, by Nightshade0020
missing an h
no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-24 07:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-05-23 08:30 pm (UTC)Nice essay!
no subject
Date: 2006-05-24 08:22 am (UTC)Thank you!
LadyFrost2
Date: 2006-06-08 07:33 pm (UTC)That was a very convincing (not that I needed any convincing!) little entry level guide to the wonderful world of Wayne/Crane pairing.
Yes, it's wrong. But that's why it makes so much sense. And Bruce could definitely do with a psychiatrist in his life . . .
I'm intrigued by the whole nature of the Scarecrow, I tend to veer towards the 'darker side of Crane's existing personality' argument (despite the movie evidence!) because that makes him a neater mirror for Bruce/Batman, but I think both of them have the potential to find their alteregos splitting away from their control.
In fact (blatant self promotion here!) I'm writing a long fic about just that right this minute, so if anyone fancies giving me any feedback it would be much appreciated. It's not quite slash yet, but it's giving the impression that might be the way it's headed . . .
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2924119/1/
I do feel slightly sad that there were no pictures, not that there are many, but what there is . . . mmmm. I'll go away and dribble quietly now.
Re: LadyFrost2
Date: 2006-07-29 03:18 am (UTC)I'm so glad you enjoyed this! Heh, and I'm glad it was convincing ;) I do find it to be a very interesting pairing.
No worries about the self promotion! Thanks for sharing it ;) I'll be sure to edit it in. I'm also editing in some pictures now; some lovely screencaps. It gave me a wonderful excuse to watch the film again. And again. And again. XD
no subject
Date: 2006-06-17 03:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-07-29 03:19 am (UTC)Thanks for commenting; I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Some Other Fics
Date: 2006-07-29 02:35 am (UTC)1. Such Deliberate Disguises- This is Crane-centric and nothing really to do with the pairing but is an awesome read. It just delves into Crane's mind and seems so twistedly RIGHT. Very good read.
http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/18/suchdeliberate.html
2. untitled - When Bruce goes on the hunt for Crane and finds him....with unexpected results. This is from Bruce's p.o.v and does a good job, he likes to separate Crane and Scarecrow. A good rad, rates NV-17 for the last bits.
http://www.yuletidetreasure.org/archive/19/untitled.html
Those are the only good ones I have found, but then again, for this pairing, I have only looked in the yuletide treasure archive. Thank you for writing a good essay on a very interesting pairing.
Judith
Re: Some Other Fics
Date: 2006-07-29 03:25 am (UTC)My pleasure; I'm very glad you enjoyed it!
:)
ooh. the pictures. the lovely pictures.
Date: 2006-07-31 06:47 pm (UTC)My god! I almost fell off the chair!
(LadyFrost2 who has somewhere lost the capacity to leave a name on her comments.)
Re: ooh. the pictures. the lovely pictures.
Date: 2006-08-01 11:54 pm (UTC)It's the most emo Batman picture! He looks so depressed - and it's raining and dark and emo :p
This is Dr Crane.
Date: 2006-08-04 11:14 am (UTC)And this is another story (http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3078277/1) altogether.
And this is kind of beautiful. (http://community.livejournal.com/wayne_crane/189082.html#cutid1)
LadyFrost2
no subject
Date: 2006-12-21 10:28 am (UTC)I don't know if you've read
♥
no subject
Date: 2006-12-21 10:29 am (UTC)Why, hello there. I rec because I care.
Date: 2010-12-14 04:25 am (UTC)Oh god, I knew it and yet I can't believe-
You need a fic rec'd to you. In fact, you need a couple of 'em. This fic right here http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5085463/1/Shadow_Selves in fact. It's 100 chapters of pure amazing, with psychoanalysis and wonderful characterization- and of course slash. This http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5981617/1/Georgia_on_My_Mind is it's sequel. Shadow Selves is a sequel to http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4878307/1/The_Knight_and_the_Prince (pre-slash for Bruce/Jonathan, post Joker/Crane, absolutely brilliant) which is a sequel to Say That We Are Sweethearts Again (Joker+Crane, kindasorta friendship) which is a sequel to http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4786977/1/The_Accidental_Therapist (Bruce/Batman + Crane/Scarecrow, friendship, pre-slash) and there are...two other prequels before that.
I'm not gonna lie. This is a lotlotlot of reading, but it is good reading, and you can technically read Shadow Selves without reading the other stuff first, because Lauralot is a nice author who explains things in the A/Ns for the benefit of the reader.
But the absolute flood of prequels are well worth reading.