Entertainment

In the wake of a national tragedy, I think it's normal to feel helpless. You want to help the victims, you want to do something ... but you're not sure what you CAN do. Which is why I can sort of understand the impetus that drove a young woman named Emily Sanchez to start a social media campaign asking actor Christian Bale to help lift the spirits of the Aurora shooting victims ... but her request not only puts Bale in a terrible position, it's a cringeworthy idea that seems rife with the potential for disaster.

See, this social media campaign is begging Christian Bale to "visit the injured children from the movie massacre as Batman." As in, show up at the hospital, dressed as the Dark Knight -- in order to cheer up the same people who were wounded and traumatized while watching Dark Knight Rises last week.

Anyone else see a problem with this?

I mean, I know Ms. Sanchez meant well with her suggestion -- which started as a Facebook post, and has since turned into the Twitter hashtag #BaleOutAurora -- but even if the request was innocuous, it seems awfully unfair to put Bale in this position. It reminds me of the increasingly awkward trend of military personnel begging celebrities for dates, because how can an actor say no without sounding like a total douchebag?

And, of course, there's the little matter of the request being sort of ... maybe ... a tiny bit ... INSANE? Bale's Batman isn't the campy '60s TV character, ready to bust into the Adam West bat-dance at someone's hospital bedside -- he's a dark, violent, intimidating character. Can you imagine some poor kid waking up to see the Dark Knight looming over him, husking "HELLO." Why not just have Bane show up, while you're at it?

Also, and more seriously, it seems like a terrible gamble to assume that anyone involved in this tragedy is interested in seeing one of the characters from the movie come to life right before their eyes. Right now they need medical and psychological assistance, not the uncomfortable presence of a Hollywood actor who was trained to play movie characters, not help trauma victims.

Saddest of all is the idea that only Batman has the power to be a hero to these victims. (From Sanchez's post: "They need to know Heroes can be real too, not just the bad guys. Dear Christian Bale, please visit the injured children from the movie massacre as Batman. You have the power to be a Hero right now, not a movie Hero, a real life flesh-and-blood one.") There are no shortage of real-life heroes in this story, and there are plenty of possibilities for the rest of us to offer help.

What do you think of the #BaleOutAurora campaign? Do you think Christian Bale really should visit the victims dressed as Batman?

Image via Thorsten Becker/Flickr