I recently had occasion to watch an old episode of The New Batman Adventures, called Mad Love. (If you’re not as big into the Batman lore as I am, check out the Wiki on this series, as well as the particular episode. ) I’m a fairly devoted fan of Batman and the DC Universe but this episode, which is devoted to a backstory and explication of Harley Quinn’s relationship with the Joker made me wince every three minutes or so. Why? Because the episode so accurately depicts an unhealthy relationship. I watched this episode with friends who can likely testify to my frequent calling out in discomfort. It’s a sad story, one that made me cringe at every major point that is articulated in the advocacy circles… including the idea that a woman will leave an abusive relationship an average of seven times before leaving permanently. (I know this doesn’t speak to a gender inclusive model but this is a familiar statistic.)
What I took away from my personal pain in that situation, of watching this episode (which is good, despite being hard to watch, if only because it does so well depict a difficult-to-understand concept) is that the entertainment media available to us today need to be better utilized where possible. This doesn’t mean the typical “all media must conform to a standard of x or y,” but rather being able to use media in advocacy where possible. For instance, I blurted out the statistic of “And you’ll leave him six more times on average” at the end of this particular Batman episode. My friends are familiar with this information but when I first brought it up to them (also during a television show) they were not and my very simple offhanded remark caused them to ask questions. Even a question of disbelief is an opportunity for a teachable moment.
And that’s really what it boils down to.
the black window 