Psychology of a Hero: LEGO BATMAN and Narcissism

Dick: “My name is Richard Grayson, but all the kids at the orphanage call me ‘Dick’” Bruce: “Well, children can be cruel” 🤣

"If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and make that change." I love how this lyric is the underlying message of this story, and how Batman tries to attribute the quote to himself.

I feel like a lot of people see one trait of narcissism and label the whole person a narcissist. For example, my sister is always calling our dad a "narcissist" because he's really bad at taking criticism unless it's worded in a very specific way and is packaged in a compliment sandwich. However, he doesn't feel entitled to company, or attention, or praise. He's good at giving space and respecting boundaries, he just can't be directly criticized. He has narcissistic tendencies, but that doesn't make him a full-blown narcissist. I feel like not enough people get the difference.

“Brave is accountability. It’s humble accountability. Brave is ‘I don’t need to pass on the blame if something goes wrong; I can take responsibility for it.’” I needed to hear this. Thanks Jono.

The LEGO movies are the ultimate answer to the question "what happens when a silly idea is turned into a movie with nothing but love for the craft and the source material?"

Jono's comment about mental disorders being things everyone experiences dialed up to 11 is... so important in this day and age. There's such a tendency online to label people as narcissists, borderlines, etc willy nilly and it's harmful. It makes people think that the indicator of mental illness is the PRESENCE of a thought pattern, instead of an abnormal intensity of one. Jono articulated this distinction very succinctly and I thank him for it.

I love the not so subtle jab at Suicide Squad. “Get a bunch of criminals together to fight the criminals, that’s a stupid idea.” Also Killer Croc doing something.

LEGO Batman is arguably unironically the best Batman movie ever made (personally I’d put The Batman ahead of it but until that released it held the title). There’s such a clear love for the source material and so much passion that went into the story that even though it pokes fun at Batman mercilessly you can tell they have the utmost respect for the character and the world. Also, my favorite joke in the movie is that scene in the beginning where Joker is getting through listing the villains he’s teaming up with and he gets to the d-list villains like Kite Man, Calendar Man, and the Condiment King. The pilot just says “Okay, are you making some of those up?” but Joker replies “Nope, they’re all real.” Not only is the interaction hilarious, but the fact that they thought to put the D-listers that practically no one knows about in there just shows how much effort went into this film.

Alfred is the best batman character. Fight me. Seriously though in just about every iteration Alfred really isn't just a butler. He IS the surrogate father, friend, and confidant To much of the Bat-family not just Bruce. He literally the true hero in Batman

Daughter of a narcissist mom. I gave up hope and walked away. But truth is I struggle with carrying her inside my head and I'm always scared of my learned behaviors.

I love that you address both sides of loving a Narcissist. - It isn't wrong to try and 'stick it out' if you can find your own boundaries and make it work IF that is what you want and can do so healthily. Not everyone wants to cut ties and they shouldn't be pressured into doing so if they genuninely want to keep those ties intact. - It also isn't wrong to distance oneself or cut ties entirely if its too much. Ones own mental health and wellbeing come first and no one should have to put up with this.

I really appreciate the non-demonizing of npd from cinema therapy and Lego Batman. There's so much justified hate towards npd/narcissista bc narcissists can hurt others terribly but there is no solution is made by demonizing them—after all, the ones who are a part of a narcissist's recovery are fellow people. Narcissism sucks but people with narcissism still has a right to recovery.

YESSSSSS LEGO BATMAN LET’S GO, can we appreciate Jono and Alan’s choice of films? Top tier

I love the contrast of an earnest assessment against the hallucinogenic fever dream that is the Lego movies. 😍

Im so glad you guys made this video! I’m in therapy for my pathological narcissism (went for depression, uncovered the npd stuff) and learning to stabilise my own self-esteem, self-soothe in difficult situations and be self-compassionate has helped me so much to meet my own needs. So now, I’m pretty much able to put down my own boundaries and respect the ones other people express, now that I know and respect my own needs. There’s definitely hope for people like us, we just need to not dehumanise ourselves, be willing to express vulnerabilities, and seek the similarities between ourselves and others, and not grasp onto feelings of ‘being special’. Also, lots of therapy is ideal!

Lego Batman's line to Alfred where he's like "What do you know about having a surrogate son?" Cuts so deep, it broke my little heart in the theatre. You see the pain and horror on Alfred's face, but at the same time, you know he can't really chastise Batman about it, because he is in a subservient role. Lego Batman was pretty great, I like the original Lego Movie more, but it was a pretty good follow up.

I like how these kinds of film (and media) don't come across as something you'd feature on a show such as this, but stories of all kinds, even when they seem "silly," can carry so much meaning! ❤

"Why start a family animated Lego kids movie with a heavy metal rap power ballad?" I think that's an easy one tbh: The people who were into that music at the time are now the parents taking their kids to see this film 😉

fully serious, the lego batman movie is one of the reasons i realized i have npd (or at least, a lot of npd traits). i saw (and still do see) so much of myself in batman, specifically lego batman. it’s to the point that my friends and family even call me batman sometimes in a silly way because it makes me happy to find comfort in relating to him and because they see our similarities, too. i really appreciate how you didn’t necessarily demonize those who have npd in this video and encourage the fact that it’s not something that instantly makes someone abusive! something that made me didn’t think i would be a narcissist was the fact that i wasn’t an abusive evil person that society pushes narcissism to be. you can have npd and care about people, like how batman cared so much about his family. you can have npd and have good relationships, even if it takes hard work, like how we see batman’s relationship with his new family start to grow. this movie is something important to me, not only because it’s so cleverly humorous and has stunning animation, but because it gave me hope for myself to grow as a person and defy what so many people may say about how a narcissist can never change and only acts one certain way. thank you guys so much for this video! and fun fact, this movie was released on my birthday too so that makes it extra special to me =) batman, lego, and specifically will arnett have all been longstanding interests of mine so this movie has always felt specifically catered to me lol

I love that you guys promote healing from negative behaviors rather than villainizing the people struggling with issues like this. Always love your videos! I'd love to see your ideas on the anime movie Bubble :D