Pavan, Week #3 - Why Batman Being a "Larper" Is a Gift

 Lots of people know who Batman is, but what is the first image that comes to mind when you think about him? Is it a man who dresses up in a costume alone at night, or a nicely dressed billionaire surrounded by women? Batman’s secret identity is Bruce Wayne, but that’s a small part of his identity to an onlooker. Even Batman wants to disassociate himself from who he is during the day. In his head, he calls himself Batman and never Bruce Wayne. But what does calling himself Batman have to do with his identity? 

Everything. 


By refusing to call himself Bruce Wayne, the comic character envelops himself in a persona that he can’t leave until he’s done fighting crime, and this helps him perfect his identity as the Caped Crusader. He does this not only to detect whenever his mental state is slipping, but to also make sure that he truly believes that he is a force to be reckoned with. If Batman could not truly see himself as a symbol of fear for those who commit evil in Gotham, the likelihood that a criminal sees the humanity behind the hero increases. What Batman says he is determines who he is. The second Batman stops being Batman, criminals will celebrate under a less confident and scary hero. 


You don’t have to be a crime-fighter from a book to do the very same thing. Studies have shown that when people say they are going to complete a task out loud or to other people, they are more likely to complete it. Imitating confidence yields positive results. This also applies to who you are as a person. People who say that they are good at math feel an underlying pressure to actually understand it, leading them to study up and turn the white lie they told their friends into the truth. This is similar to “larping” which is when someone claims to be a fan or someone with a lot of knowledge in a certain area without actually knowing much about the thing they’re talking about. However, the pure act of continuously stating that they are knowledgeable drives many to try and gain some knowledge, so they don’t get caught. By saying they’re a fan of a show, they end up actually watching that show. By saying they’re interested in aviation, they end up actually researching planes. 


The words you use to describe yourself can have more power than you might think. Just by saying you’re something can help you be that “something”. Your identity is driven by the perception of others and how you want others to perceive you.

Comments

  1. Riya PurumalaSeptember 30, 2026 at 9:14 PM

    Hi Pavan! I really enjoyed your blog, especially the point you make about how telling someone you are going to complete a task makes you more likely to get it done, and how this also applies to “larping,” as you often end up doing what you falsely claimed to. It is awesome to think how saying you are something can make you become it. Your example of people saying they are good at math, then feeling like they need to improve because of the knowledge they claimed to have, is interesting because it shows how we unknowingly create expectations for ourselves based on the perceptions of others. I never realized how much of a difference my words make in shaping who I am, and how powerful my words are to my identity. Now, I will definitely start describing myself as who I strive to be to improve myself, so thank you for inspiring me to start “larping” more!

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