Another Note of Vigilantism Part 2

on Sunday, September 14, 2008 9:37AM

This is an archived blog post. Jason Linetsky is no longer a Ningin blogger.

Eye-For-An-Eye
Mr. Freeze in Batman stated, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” His brand of revenge was using his ice addiction to go after the world for his wife’s condition; Robin, at first, wanted nothing more than to use Batman’s suits and technology to avenge his parent’s death caused by the Joker; Two Face wanted revenge for Batman saving him and letting his fiance die in an explosion. One show, many revenge or avenge plotlines. Each character had his own method of carrying out those ideas and, even though not truly fitting the full definition, should be considered vigilantes. In this chapter of Another Note of Vigilantism, I take a look at how the three characters of this blog series carry out their brands of vigilantism.

Enjoy :-)

Vigilantism, simply defined as violent acts of revenge with very little to no regard for the law, has been a staple of cinema since the silent era. Predominantly shown in a Western, mafia, or martial arts film, the main focus has been a character that witnessed or heard of the murder of a relative and attempted to “avenge” their deaths by seeking out and killing those responsible.

Paul Kersey, with guns ablaze and total disregard for the police, seemingly fits the definition to the letter. Having served in the medical corps during the Korean War, Kersey began to clean the rust off of his shooting ability and set out to practice on unsuspecting hooligans. On the side of the law, Lt. Frank Ochoa followed the murders and began to question the law as well as doubt if the deaths of the criminals warranted Kersey’s apprehension. His eventual decision, though not without plenty of self-arguments, was to assist Kersey by making sure the rest of the police believed someone else was the vigilante and then aiding in his final escape from the area prior to the police squads coming. Although Paul Kersey turned his back on the law, Lt. Ochoa still used his power of the law to continue the vigilantism.

The Crow followed a different path from Kersey’s example in some ways as he sought revenge for his own murder. Eric Draven, with invincibility given to him by the power of the Crow, became judge, jury, and executioner for a drug dealing syndicate, which claimed his life and that of his fiancée. The only assistance was the crow, which was able to show Draven whatever it saw through a connection of their eyes. If Draven loses the crow then with it goes the power and invincibility. As with Death Wish, the Crow had a constant police presence examining the murder scenes and attempted to figure out who was behind the incidents. As Eric Draven was supposed to be dead there was no idea by law enforcement of him being the culprit so there was no way of Draven gaining an ally within the police department such as Kersey had. Finally, unlike Kersey, the finality of Draven’s acts was his own departure from the world whereas Kersey simply changed locations where he starts the process again through four more movies.

The physical ability to hurt or kill was used quite often in The Crow due to the abilities granted to Draven while Paul Kersey relied on distance from intended victims to use various guns and other artillery.

Death Note introduced audiences to the possibility of not having to use mortal weaponry or physicality to achieve the same effect. Light gained the ability, through a notebook entitled Death Note, to simply write in the name of a target and the victim would suffer an instant fatal heart attack. This was carried out as easily as watching a nightly news program for a story of a released murdered, seeing the name flash across the screen, and writing the name on the paper. The report would suddenly change from the release of the inmate to the sudden expiration of him on the courthouse steps.

Next part:
The Law and the Vigilante
I take a deeper look at how the police agencies handle the vigilantes of each story and how those methods have changed over the years of cinema vigilantism.

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