Bruce's smile gradually faded, and his facial expression became inscrutable, but soon, Shiller shattered any objections that might have arisen from his previous comment with a single statement.
"It is precisely through this utterly banal play that I recognized you, because only you could write such garbage."
Bruce narrowed his eyes slightly, staring unblinkingly at Shiller, who shook his head and said, "The worst part of this play is that you constantly try to showcase yourself."
Shiller lifted his gaze to Bruce, and in that instant, Bruce felt as if the facade he wore was completely torn away—the grey eyes revealed an intense penetrative power, and he even felt that Shiller could read his thoughts out of thin air.
"I made a disguise." Shiller suddenly began narrating in the first person, "I wanted to disguise myself as someone whom I considered far inferior to myself, and to belittle him, I would create a story that seems juvenile and clumsy, like something he would forge."
"Since he is not my equal, his abilities fall within the range of my capabilities, so I can effortlessly imitate him perfectly, thus disguising myself as him and presenting this clumsiness and naivety to the world for everyone to discover his true nature."
"But it doesn't work," Shiller's tone suddenly revealed a hint of frustration. He said, "Just letting everyone know he's inadequate isn't enough, they also need to know that someone is better, they need to see how powerful and wise I am."
"However, if I want to display my power and wisdom, how can I highlight his clumsiness and naivety? He must be weak, I must be strong, I have to exhibit his weakness and my strength simultaneously."
"This play is the product of these two conflicting ideas," Shiller said, looking at Bruce. "You have to portray a certain kind of naive thinking to show how naive Bruce is, yet somehow come up with an idea that's more sophisticated than this naive thinking to show how clever you are."
"And in the play, the naive thinking is that there should be superheroes in this world who are responsible, who should rush to fight for justice beyond their capabilities."
"To show the naivety of this idea, you naturally have to point out its flaws—that superheroes, in their pursuit of justice, completely disregard ordinary people's feelings, they recklessly charge forward, only sacrificing the safety of some to save others."
"For that, you arranged the conflict between Jason and Thompson, making them appear together suddenly and, just during the conflict, damage the teddy bear,"
"And then there was Spider-Man chasing The Clawed Killer, resulting in a traffic jam where an overturned truck crushed your important gifts, thus altering your destiny."
"From these two scenarios, it's clear that you wanted to tell the story of a young superhero who starts to reflect after realizing they've harmed ordinary people and eventually has an awakening."
"Indeed, as you said, this story is somewhat clumsy and naive, lacking depth. Look at these two stories; Thompson and you are just playing a stereotypical side character, with no character arc of their own, only serving as a stepping stone for the hero's growth."
"The design for these two scenarios was dominated by your desire to reflect Bruce's actual level; you think he could only write a story of this level, which seems like something he would do."
"But quickly, the psychology of showcasing your own wisdom takes the upper hand. In terms of ideology, you believe you can come up with an even more reasonable idea to convince everyone; plot-wise, you also believe you can craft a deeper narrative to show that you're multiples ahead of Bruce in every way."
"That's when Gordon's narrative comes into play, a stage completely constructed by your narcissism when your desire to showcase yourself prevailed."
"So in this narrative, you begin to explore the problem of capabilities and responsibilities. You're just an ordinary person without power, so naturally, you don't have much responsibility."
"In contrast, there's the Superman narrative—when he loses his powers, he doesn't assume much responsibility, and in the end, he saves the world only because he's regained his formidable powers."
"You believe that capabilities are linked to responsibilities and use these two narratives to express your views, but your perspective isn't 'with great power comes great responsibility'; it's that if you don't have power, you should not, and indeed cannot, even think about bearing responsibility."
"Just like making Gordon paralyzed in bed, unable to exert any form of justice, yet always trying to assume responsibilities he cannot afford, this is why he's in such agony."
"To you, this is the root of his suffering; the message is to warn the audience—notice how an incapable person who tries to take on responsibility ends up like this. Essentially, it says that playing the hero will get you nothing but pain and you're better off facing reality and giving up sooner."
"You think this is much deeper than any 'with great power comes great responsibility'; this is what's truly mature, what adults should adhere to as their ideology."
"And then, in terms of captivating the audience with plot, you must show that you are stronger than Bruce. So you cram in an old case, espionage galore, physical pain, mental torment, shootings, investigations, twists and turns…"
"You stuff all of these into Gordon's narrative. The shooting involving your parents and Gordon getting mingled up, Gordon's unilateral contact with the female officer due to suspicions, his physical agony being bedridden and unable to take care of himself, the mental torment of seeing the Killer Devil run amok powerless to do anything, the shooting from years ago, the investigation years later, the nephew thought to be a protagonist who ultimately becomes the mastermind behind all tragedies."
"You think this is what a mature plot looks like, filled with violence, masculinity, conflict, and twists, far better than any tale of a young hero's growth."
"Back to the Superman story, the first half still reflects the points made when your mentality to reflect Bruce's level dominate, with the idea that overcoming the superhero's inner demons should be a matter of perseverance, never surrendering—a sentiment that adheres to one's sympathy and sense of justice until the clouds disperse and the moon shines bright."
"You think such a mentality is childish and impossible in reality, so that's how you want to film it, to show how superficial Bruce's understanding of the world is,"
"But soon, the psychology that represents your own wisdom takes over. Humans are all creatures that cling to pleasure; no one dislikes a peaceful life. Even superheroes are human, so why wouldn't they give up? What reason do they have not to?"
"That's why you let time skip ahead, erasing Jason and Peter's memories, building a false environment of happiness for them, to show, don't you think, that even the once spirited young heroes would indulge in the common people's peace and joy?"
"After the catastrophe, they too become cowardly, self-preserving, prioritizing their own families above saving the world, don't they?"
"In terms of plot, you think that stories revolving around school life and Christmas are only liked by children, whereas, in contrast, terrorist attacks, apocalyptic times, a lack of human kindness, and outright chaos are what adults should be watching."
"So, in the latter half of this story line, you arranged a terrorist attack—of course, it wasn't originally caused by Jack, but I think you've said there would certainly be a major disaster."
"When completing this play, these two psychologies were always pulling back and forth. You wanted it both ways, wanting to show how childish the Bruce you're portraying is, and yet wanting to reveal how wise the real you playing Bruce is."
"Thus, you've created a film with contradictory logic, unclear plot, constantly changing scenes, erratic jumps in time and space, laid foundations without digging, and awkward plot twists."
Shiller let out a cold laugh and said, "But if this were just a bad movie, that would be one thing. The saddest part is, this bad movie was directed by me, not you."
Bruce finally stood up. He glanced at the door, stared at Shiller, and said, "That's what I was about to ask, what exactly have you done?"
"Is there a possibility," Shiller also stood up, the two men facing each other across the desk, Shiller looking into Bruce's eyes and saying, "that without me, you couldn't even make this bad movie? Do you know how much effort I put into bringing this play to completion? Do you know how much effort they put in?"
Shiller turned his head towards the villains standing in the room, who uniformly looked at Bruce's face, then sighed in even greater unison.
"What's going on here?" Bruce just wanted an answer.
Shiller also let out a soft sigh, stepped out from behind the desk, and said, "The vast majority of people indeed experience lucid dreams, where one day they suddenly realize they're dreaming and become the master of their dream, controlling everything in it."
"But do you really think you're the master of the Kingdom of Dreams? Do you truly believe you can, like a dream god, even bring the spirits from reality into it, disregarding logic completely to fabricate dreams?"
Bruce slowly furrowed his brow.
Constantine suddenly appeared in the room, dusting off the dust on his body with his finger, saying, "Of course you can't. Even if you were capable of creating a dream bubble, it would run according to the logic of the Kingdom of Dreams, not your own."
Shiller walked up to Bruce, looked up at him and said, "And you think you've perfectly crafted this Dreamworld, it's me and this gang of criminals who've taken over the characters of Dreamworld, tirelessly, diligently behind the scenes patching up for you like crazy."
"And me," Constantine said, arms crossed. "With the limited authority of Dreamworld, I've been frantically working for days and nights just to keep this logically fractured world from collapsing."
"So why exactly did you do this?" Bruce asked. "If my plan to fabricate a dream world was doomed from the start, then why didn't you just let it run its course?"
"Of course, it's because if you can't complete this play, if you don't show your schizophrenic self to the public, how would they know you've gone mad?"
"And..." Shiller turned around, showing Bruce a smile, and said, "How else would they know how you could go mad in such a mediocre, utterly boring, and stupidly entertaining way?"
He started laughing, and all the lunatics in the room laughed along, Joker gasping for breath with his laughter, Harley Quinn laughing so hard she pounded the wall, even the usually somber Scarecrow and Mr. Freeze couldn't help but press their mouths shut, struggling to keep their composure.
With a bang, the door swung open, and Penguin Man, cursing and dressed in a mob boss outfit with sunglasses, stormed in.
"Damn it, you all ran off after the wrap, leaving me there, I was almost beaten to death by those little bastards! You..."
When Penguin Man looked up, he saw a mouth full of sharp fangs—
Not laughing, unable to laugh.