Behaviour Around Batman

 An interesting article about a psychological study conducted in Spain caught my eye last week:

The Batman Effect

Prosocial behavior, or the act of helping others, is essential to social life, yet the spontaneous environmental factors that trigger such behavior remain little explored. This study tested the ability of an unexpected event, such as the presence of a person dressed as Batman, to increase prosocial behavior by interrupting routines and increasing people's attention to the present moment.

"We conducted an experimental field study on the Milan subway," Professor Pagnini explains, "observing the behavior of 138 passengers. In the first part of our test (control condition), an experimenter, apparently pregnant, boarded the train with an observer." The experts assessed the passengers' tendency to give up their seats for the pregnant woman.

In the experimental condition, another experimenter dressed as Batman entered the scene from another door of the train. Faced with this unexpected encounter, passengers were significantly more likely to offer their seats: 67.21% of passengers offered their seats in the presence of Batman, or more than two out of three, compared to 37.66% in the control experiment, or just over one out of three.

Furthermore, the professor notes, 44% of those who offered their seats in the experimental condition reported not having seen Batman. These results suggest that unexpected events can promote prosociality, even in the absence of awareness, with implications for encouraging kindness in public settings.

The presence of a person dressed like Batman on a train made people almost twice as likely to give up their seats for a pregnant lady! The inference drawn by the researchers is that the appearance of something out of the ordinary can rouse us from our routine behaviours and produce different outcomes as a result. Makes sense, but their choice of stimulus gave me a bit of pause.

"Finally, it is also possible that the superhero figure enhanced the relevance of cultural values, gender roles, and norms of chivalrous help, consistent with research on the 'priming' effect associated with superheroes: the figure of Batman," he concludes, "could therefore play a prosocial priming role."

Well, certainly - and as one of the oldest and most well-known of costumed adventurers, Batman would seem a good choice (even if 44% of seat offerers said they didn't know he was there!), but there is no way to differentiate between those who did notice and subsequently offered up a seat did so out of a sense of altruism, or a desire (conscious or unconscious) to impress Batman, or if they acted out of a sense of intimidation or fear! Dude is a vigilante, after all; influencing behavious by threat or application of actual physical violence is kind of his breand-and-butter.

Batman has been portrayed in a lot of different ways duriung his 80+ years in the public eye, but I think it is safe to say he ranks among the top percentile of intimidation amongst characters appearing on lunchboxes and backpacks. I wonder how this might colour the results, and how different they might have been with a different hero in the scenario.

In terms of my own reflection though, I would far rather risk having the living crap kicked out of me by a psychologically unbalanced martial artist as opposed to having Superman look at me in a disaproving manner while shaking his head. Brr!

I am willing to wager a small sum that replacing Batman with Superman would result in even more altruistic behaviour due to 'big blue boy scout' emulation factors. But what about other comic book characters?

• Iron Man: 15% chance of the seat offerer flirting with the pregnant lady
• Spider-Man: 25% chance of making a joke about the transit authority, 10% chance of asking awkward questions about the pregnancy
• The Flash: 10% chance of deboarding the train and trying to beat it to the next station
• Punisher: 45% chance of glaring angrily at others who remained seated
• The Hulk: 15% chance of talking directly to the unborn child
• Captain America: 55% chance of at least three people giving up their seats, who then remain standing until they disembark at the next, regardless if it is theirs or not
• Daredevil: 20% chance of standing up in a way that not only assures the pregnant lady will get it, but will deny even seeing her if asked
• Doctor Strange: 15% chance of directing the lady to the seat with a complex hand flourish

It is funny to think that in 1954, Fredric Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent convinced many people that comic books were harmful and a cause of juvenile delinquency, causing such a backlash that for years, people in the comics industry would rather say they worked in pornography. Tehre has been a dogpile of debunking since that time though, and perhaps this article could take its place among them.

At any rate, it was surprising to see one of my lifelong favourite characters featured in such an intriguing study, especially with such positive societal outcomes!

In Good Hands - Predator: Badlands (+), Reviewed

What is it about the 1987 Predator movie that has made it so compelling for nearly four decades now? Looking back, it felt more like a one-off than any sort of franchise starter; an action film/creature feature hybrid with slasher movie overtones. But whisper "over here" within earshot of most nerds my age...

The connection to the Alien(s) franchise (simply by being made by the same film studio) came afterwards, almost by chance it seems, and in comic form at first, not films. The Aliens vs Predator comics were bold and imaginative, the movies...less so. Like so many 90s "versus" films, they crutched far too much on the spectacle of  two headliners battling each other instead of any grander context, insight or even irony.

Predator: Badlands breaks tradition and precedent in two important ways: first, the alien Predator (or Yautja, as they call themselves) is the protagonist instead of the villain or anti-hero. 

Dek (Dimitrius Schuster-Koloamatangi) is puny by Yautja standards, and although the trailers make it clear just how deadly the planet he ends up on is (Genna, described on-screen as a "Death Planet), I was not aware of just how desperate his situation is even before arriving there. 

Secondly, the introduction of Weiland-Yutani, the Earth mega-corporation introduced in 1986's Aliens (and which has just been getting more and more malicious ever since) comes in a way that makes sense: a damaged android named Thia (Elle Fanning), abandoned here during a bio-survey, offers to share what she has learned about Genna and its fauna to help Dek find his prey - the unkillable Kalisk.

And as far as I am concerned, that is all you need to know. 

I will tell you that there is a lot I loved about Badlands:

I love that there is so little dialogue in the first act.

I love that Dek speaks in Yautja for the entire films, despite the fact they drop a universal translator into the mix early on. (The actor comfortably drops lines in this created language during interviews, and has wished it was real so he could talk to others on the set without breaking character... <3 ).

I already adore Elle Fanning (primarily due to The Great), but loved how (for instance) she uses her double jointed elbows to make propping up her severed upper half seem even more inhuman and unnerving. 

I love Schuster-Koloamatangi's performance, and not just for his physicality (which is compelling and fierce!), but the intensity of him delivering lines we can't understand without subtitles, the disdain he conveys even through all the alien makeup and animation, and the insecurity you can sometimes sense behind it.

I love that we cannot say with any certainty when this particular film is set (pre-Alien? post-Alien Resurrection?), and even more, I love that it doesn't really matter. (I will say some of the gear looks shinier than Aliens...)

Some people are upset by the PG-13 rating this film received, but I am all for it: build more fans! Does having a sympathetic creature make this film too Disney? Hell no, wait 'til you see what it does... Despite the fact that this film does not contain a single solitary human being, it still feels as brutal and unforgiving as a Predator movie needs to be.

But Predator: Badlands still somehow manages to work a little pathos in there as well. 

I say 'well done' to director Dan Trachtenberg, who also gave us the excellent Prey in 2022, pitting an extra-big, extra-raw Predator against low-tech indigenous Americans. If you have Disney+ and haven't watched this yet, I urge you to get on it; I think Prey is the best Predator movie since the first one, and I enjoyed a bunch of the others.

Trachtenberg also gave us the first animated Predator feature earlier this very year, Killer of Killers. The girls and I watched it Friday night, and I highly recommend it. In fact, I think it gives an even clearer picture as to where he is taking this franchise.

This film establishes what was suggested in the very first film: that the Yautja have been coming to Earth to hunt for a very, very, long time. Three vignettes pit immensely capable fighters against different hunters in three different settings: the Viking Age, feudal Japan and WWII. The samurai/ninja action of the middle segment is some of the best I have seen depicted, and the creativity of the fights in the Viking piece is jaw-dropping in places. The linking portion that ties the three stories together is the least compelling, but suggests an intriguing future - as does the post-credits scene. (!)

Three movies in, I feel that the Predator franchise has a guiding hand now that the Aliens one never did, each subsequent creator moving further away from the core to put their own stamp on things (and yes, that goes for you too, Ridley!). My hope now is for Trachtenberg to keep his hands on the wheel for as long as possible, and I will be there for every bit of the ride.

Finding the Forge

23 months ago, I backed a Kickstarter for a D&D accessory called Stonefold Kingdoms. It was a clever idea: 3-dimensional scenery that can fold flat for storage, similar to a pop up book. I had seen this done for wargaming scenery, but there was something very evocative about using the format for a role-playing game. 

I showed them to Audrey, who agreed and greenlit the purchase as a part of my Christmas gift. The frozen mountains, port and jungle sets all looked great, but I thought the underground/dungeon pieces had the most versatility. When they finally arrived last week I hastily assembled them to show them off.

Audrey asked if I would ever bring them to D&D&D at Polyrhythm, but between set-up time and the fact they didn't really fit in the current campaign (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden), I said probably not, and thought it more likely I could write up a one-shot for G&G sometime.

"Well," she mused, "why not next week when the Hawkins come?"

Why not indeed?  What better way to ensure they get used?

We try to get together with our dear friends from Camrose this time each year, and had brought D&D into the picture a couple years back. It has subsequently become a key part of our shenanigans and their two sons (18 and 15 now, how time flies!) were looking forward to playing again. I am always up for some 'clickety-clackety, roll to attackety' action, and figured I could string some kind of narrative together within a week based on these new maps.

It eventually gelled together on Saturday, though it took me most of the day to write it out and add all the monster stats and such. It ended up becoming a tale I called "The Fate of the Forge", about a group of adventurers being asked to rescue an obsessed dwarf kinsman looking for the secret entrance to a long-lost forge. When they pick up his trail, they are (naturally) too late to save him from a band of goblins, but he begs them to finish his quest, find the vault of Morgurgan and re-kindle "the spirit of the forge."

Their journey leads them through the simmering smelting pits, battling both the ghosts of the ancient hearthguard and swarms of bats and ascending some dodgy stairs...

...before descending down to the forge itself, battling both a hideous troll and ferocious chimera!

Honestly, this is in no way a fair fight for third level characters...unless the players are clever enough to make sense of the clues, read the book near the throne and summon a fire elemental with the supplied brazier!

Even then, Galendan the wizard was hard-pressed and ended up needing to use his potion of gaseous form to escape the chimera, while Thoradin the cleric got knocked out covering the elf's escape. Z'baltazar the archer, Blessing Asmodeus the Bard, the knight Lady Marina, Thayna Silverbrew the fighter and Red Robbing Hood the rogue all acquitted themselves well. 

The chimera soon fell to their combined might, and the bard's dissonant whispers spell drove the maddened troll directly into the elemental for a thrilling finale!

It went a little longer than I had intended, and we had to break for a bit when our Chinese food (another great tradition!) arrived, but there was a strong enough narrative to keep everyone engaged, and enough spectacle to keep folks from noticing now contrived much of my scenario was...I mean, a troll and a chimera? Really?

But it had a beginning middle and an end, and nobody felt it was too easy. Honestly, it will be a hard act to follow next year!

Guest Pulpitations: The Work Continues

Last week, Fenya delivered the sermon for our congregation's 11th anniversary as an Affirming Ministry. Our Affirming Team put the whole service together and Fenya was working on her reflection right up until the day before. This is similar enough to my own process that I was unconcerned, but I was also unprepared for just how good it was, as well as the conviction with which she delivered it.

She also achieved something that made me a bit jealous - someone found her content a little bit too much, or too political, and walked out. Achievement unlocked, I say!

Compliments from those who remained were effusive and sincere. Many people shared personal stories of bad experiences at churches in the past, and how much they appreciated Fenya's forthright declaration of what being inclusive and welcoming actually means. The title referred to how much work still needs to be done by affirming ministries, from the recent apology by the United Church of Canada to 2SLGBTQIA+ peoples and communities, to the need for support for trans people impacted by the Alberta government's use of the notwithstanding clause to shore up their unconstitutional banning of gender-affirming care.

I can't say what part of it compelled that one fellow to leave, but I know his spouse or partner stayed, so I am hoping there was perhaps a discussion at home later.

If you would like to see it for yourself (and I highly recommend it!), here is a link to the start of it (about 20 mins). Her speaking notes appear below, and you will just have to imagine it delivered with righteous conviction and matching intensity!

So proud.

THE WORK CONTINUES

When I agreed to deliver the sermon for affirmiversary Sunday, I thought I had a pretty good understanding of what it means to be an affirming ministry, but I wanted to learn more about how we got to where we are today. We became affirming back in 2014, when I was 15 years old. I was attending St. Albert United Church at that time, but at 15, much of my time was spent downstairs in the youth room, and I wasn’t nearly as in-the-loop about the goings-on upstairs.

Fast-forward to now, and I have become a fully-fledged member of the Affirm committee, so when the opportunity came for me to preach this Sunday, the other affirm committee members were more than happy to fill me in on the important St Albert United Church history that I missed. And now I get to share this information with all of you! I thought it might be helpful for those who have joined the church post-2014  in case you, like me, did not realize the amount of work it took for our church to become affirming. And for those of you who have been here since before 2014, hopefully you enjoy getting a brief review!

St Albert United Church's affirming journey spanned a total of around 9 years, starting in 2005 with the deliberative dialogue process. This involved 7 sessions of intense discussions examining the sanctification of same sex marriages, and at the end of those discussions, a resolution was presented to the church council for an inclusive marriage policy, which is one of the requirements to become an affirming ministry. The resolution was passed at the 2006 AGM with ⅔ of those present being in favour. 

Then in June of 2013 a group was assembled to finish the journey started in 2005 and to complete the application process for our church to become an affirming ministry. This process built upon the extensive work that had already been done while allowing for further necessary discussion and education. This part of the process was a lot of work and effort, and required the participation of the whole congregation. The Affirming ministry program offered educational activities and ideas to help the ministry explore issues of sexual orientation and gender identity, engage with the bible, plan activities to support justice for lgbtq2s+ people, and write an affirming ministry vision statement (which you hear every week when we welcome all regardless of age, race, gender, gender expression sexual orientation, belief, economic circumstance, ability, or background.) 

These conversations and activities challenged peoples’ way of thinking, and when reading some of the activities suggested, I can imagine they were not always the most comfortable experiences or easy conversations to have. And that makes me all the more proud of my congregation for doing them. 

Some of the discussions involved bringing in guest speakers. One of these was the late Dr. Lorne Warneke, a psychiatrist who specialized in helping trans individuals work through gender dysphoria. There was also a panel of lgbtq2s+ individuals and their families who shared their perspectives.

Some of the educational material provided by the affirming ministries program explained how some of the passages cited as arguments against homosexuality also condemn other behaviours we consider acceptable, such as creating images of people, birds, or animals (Romans 1:22) or eating foods such as shrimp that are deemed to be unclean-a practice that is also called an abomination in the Bible (Leviticus 20:25).

One suggested workshop included an activity sheet where people had to indicate how closely they obeyed different bible passages, such as:

(luke 18:22): Sell everything you have and give the money to the poor 

(1 corinthians 14:34) Women should keep silent in the church  

(obviously I’m not following that one particularly closely)

And other passages like:

(Deuteronomy 23 19-20) Do not charge interest on loans, except loans to foreigners

(deuteronomy 22:19-20) If a man claims the woman he married is not a virgin and her family can’t prove her virginity, she should be put to death

There was another activity exploring the concept of texts of terror - biblical texts in which women experience abusive male power - and how the story of sodom and gomorroah can be a text of terror for lgbtq+ folk, used to condemn all lgbtq people when it is clearly a story about multiple perpetrator sexual assault. The activity explored how developing a theology of blessing for lgbt folk also meant coming face to face with the horrors found in the bible. 

When the educational workshops and discussions came to an end, the congregation took a vote at the AGM in June 2014 to officially become an affirming ministry, with 98% of those present in favour.

Now like I said, this process was a lot of work. It required people to face some really horrific things in the bible and things done to people in the name of christianity. But why was it important? Someone might wonder, “you know, we were already pretty welcoming before, why did we need to do all this extra work to become an officially affirming ministry?”

It’s important for a lot of reasons. It’s important because as we heard from our non-scripture reading today, the assumption that we are already welcoming enough hasn’t been the case for much of the church’s history. It’s important because we might think we were welcoming enough before becoming affirming, but members of the lgbtq2s+ community have had enough experiences indicating the opposite that it is understandable that that welcome is not assumed to be guaranteed. And that welcome is still not a guarantee in many churches today. 

Becoming affirming is important because open-mindedness is necessary, even if others around us might disagree. It’s important because in 1988 the United Church put out a report recommending that the church welcome lgbtq individuals in all aspects of the church, including the ministry. A poll came out later indicating only 28% of church members were in favour of this, and many conservative members of the United Church ended up leaving. It’s important because in the 4 years following that report coming out, the United Church of Canada lost over 78,000 members. Our decision to become affirming is important because St. Albert United Church lost members after passing the inclusive marriage policy and becoming an affirming ministry.

It’s important because Jesus didn’t tell us just to love each other. He taught us to love each other radically. He didn’t call for us to be “welcoming enough”. He calls us to give all our money to the poor. He calls us to wash each others’ feet. To give the shirt off our backs. “Already welcoming enough” just doesn’t cut it.

Becoming affirming is important because the church has homophobia and transphobia in its history, which has caused substantial harm to members of our community. It’s important because there is a lot of work to be done to make amends for the harms that have been perpetrated towards the lgbtq community. And that work starts with each and every one of us. We have a responsibility as individuals and as a congregation to not just say we are welcoming, but to show it in our actions. And one of the most important actions we can take is to put in the work to educate ourselves and learn how to do better.

In the story of Jesus healing the centurion’s servant, the centurion talks about how he can give an order and it will be done. His faith in Jesus operates in the same way, where Jesus himself doesn’t even need to go to the centurion’s house, but he only needs to speak the word and the servant is healed. We have faith that Jesus need only speak, and his will will be carried out. And when it comes to what Jesus has and has not spoken about, I want to point out that there is not a single time in the bible that Jesus ever condemns homosexuality. But you know what he is quoted saying?

 

Do not judge. 

 

Love your neighbor. 

 

Like the centurion commands his servants and his will is done, so too does Jesus command us, and it is through us that his will is done.

And the work to live out that message of love continues. Just because we became affirming in 2014 doesn’t mean that was the end of the journey. In fact, that was when a lot of the work actually started. Once we had put in the work internally to become affirming, it was time to share our affirming message with the rest of the world, that there are Churches and Christians who love the lgbtq+ community for exactly who they are. 

We have a pride flag flying outside for all to see. We are present in pride events and  parades and have hosted a ton of fantastic events like drag shows, film viewings, and educational panels with guest speakers. Most recently, we helped sponsor St. Albert's Pride in the Park this year, donating $3,000 from a community grant we applied for. And we have built a reputation for ourselves. I’ve heard us referred to as “the gay church on the hill”. 

(…to be honest, when we were called that it was actually done with the intention of being offensive, but I kinda love that as a nickname because that’s what we are known for. *And I also kinda love not letting bigots win at name-calling*). 

 

We’ve also had queer organizations ask to partner with us or use our spaces because they know we support them and that we exist as a safe place for them to be themselves. It’s a reputation I am incredibly proud of.

This reputation has also incited some reactions of opposition. We’ve had angry letters detailing how upset our love of the lgbtq+ community makes people. How disapproving they are of our pride flag. We’ve even had people storm into the church to harass individuals engaging in bible study, arguing that flying that flag means we are promoting pedophilia. Which we know is absolutely not true. And our response to that incident was deciding to fly that flag even more than we had been before. 

Sometimes speaking out can be scary. … Sometimes it can be hard. … But that’s why it’s important. 

 

Oppression thrives in silence. And doing nothing only benefits the oppressors. 

 

Those who are discriminated against fight back in part simply by existing. But allies have to do it consciously. … Allies have to make the choice to do it. 

And it can have consequences. We might not make everybody happy doing what we do. It might make some people uncomfortable or angry. … But the safety of my queer siblings to live lives free of violence and fear is more important to me than people being comfortable. … And you know what? Jesus rubbed people the wrong way all the time. Doesn’t mean he was wrong.

We became affirming back in 2014. … But 11 years later in 2025, our affirming mission is even more important today.

 

It’s important because we are still seeing a rise in hate crimes based on sexual orientation. … It’s important because sexual and gender diverse youth are twice as likely to consider taking their own life. … It’s important because even though lgbtq+ individuals only make up 4% of Canada’s population, they make up 13% of all individuals currently experiencing homelessness.

 

Being publicly, intentionally, and explicitly affirming is important because earlier this year, the Alberta government passed 3 discriminatory laws that prohibit gender affirming care for minors, restrict students from using chosen names and pronouns without parental notification and consent, and ban trans women and girls from participating in sports. … These laws restrict access to health care, limit freedom of expression in schools, and curtail protections against discrimination.

 

And now that these hateful, discriminatory, unjustifiable laws are facing legal challenges, the government plans to use the Charter’s notwithstanding clause to advance these policies and circumvent the legal process entirely, shielding these laws from constitutional scrutiny. … This deliberately undermines the rights and dignity of trans people and sets a dangerous precedent for all Canadians. And that last sentence isn’t from me. … That’s a direct quote from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association condemning these decisions. … The CCLA warns that invoking the notwithstanding clause to advance discriminatory policies threatens the integrity of Canada’s constitutional democracy.

This is why our visible allyship is important. It’s important because the pronoun restrictions have left some trans youth with an impossible choice: to be outed at home or remain closeted at school. … It’s important because gender affirming care saves lives, is backed by decades of evidence, and is supported by every major Canadian Health Organization. It is important because the canadian medical association says that the healthcare law “requires doctors to disregard clinical guidelines, the needs of patients and their own. conscience.”. Our support of trans youth is important because this legislation is denying them the ability to access gender affirming care in schools and the medical system, which may be the difference between them surviving to adulthood or not.

Like I said before, … sometimes speaking out can be scary. … Sometimes it can be hard. … But that’s why it’s important.

As followers of God, speaking out and working against discrimination is not a choice, …it is a responsibility. … It is a core tenet of who we are and what we believe. 

In the reading from Isaiah, God’s people come to her, saying, “why have we fasted and you have not seen? Why do you take no notice?” and God proclaims that while they have followed specific religious practices, they lack sincerity because the true fast that she desires is not merely a religious act, but a lifestyle of love and justice.

We see from the reading in Isaiah that we can engage in all the religious practices and rituals we want, but if those actions are not alongside action towards liberation and justice, they ring hollow, …and lose almost all meaning. 

I want you to understand that I still believe these practices hold value, but coming here and being here is not the work that God calls us to do. 

Here is where we find community, where we recharge for the week ahead, where we find inspiration and feel God's presence. But the work … is out there. …God’s work is being done more by people of all faiths and no faith in food banks, at protests, and in the volunteer-run queer suicide hotline than it ever will be by any of us simply going to church.

Uplifting and supporting any of God’s cherished and beloved children is a form of worship. … As Christians, this is the fast that we have chosen. To bring the homeless poor into our house, …to cover the naked. … To loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the straps of the yoke, and let the oppressed go free.

God calls us to action. … Jesus calls us to love one another, and like the centurions servants, he need only speak and it will be done. 

And we learn from the reading in Isaiah what happens when we answer this call:

“If you remove the yoke from among you,

the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,

if you offer your food to the hungry

and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,

then your light shall rise in the darkness

and your gloom be like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you continually

and satisfy your needs in parched places

and make your bones strong,

and you shall be like a watered garden,

like a spring of water

whose waters never fail.”

Thanks be to God.