Why Do People STILL Live in Gotham?! || Comic Misconceptions || NerdSync

Crazy and horrific crimes and disasters happen seemingly every single day in Gotham City, so why would anyone choose to live there? From criminals constantly breaking loose and wreaking havoc, to earthquakes and other natural disasters, Gotham seems like the worst place to live imaginable. But what if it actually isn't THAT bad? What if the reason we think people are stupid for saying and living in Gotham is because we only view the city in it's darkest light? We're getting psychological in today's episode and exploring what may be the cause for people staying in Gotham all this time!

Q: Is Gotham REALLY that bad of a place to live? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Every Wednesday, Comic Misconceptions explores fascinating trivia, crazy stories, and mind-blowing theories about the comic book universe from Marvel, DC, and beyond!

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SOURCES:
Exploring the Causes of Comparative Optimism
Confirmation Bias
Basically all of the Batman movies!

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[comicstorian]

You've convinced me, I shall buy a loft in Gotham City and move in... But if I die to fear gas its your fault

[InMaTeofDeath]

Actually the better question is why are all the criminals still living in Gotham with The Batman

[franz]

Such a high crime rate in Gotham probably makes housing prices dirt cheap.

[rodneyx]

I think the crazy shit that happens in Gotham happens less frequently than we might think. I mean, Joker doesn't attack Gotham EVERYDAY, he plans his schemes and then strikes, so maybe there's weeks, months or even years between stuff that happens. Gotham's also a huge city; not everyone in there has been affected by every known super villain... yet. It's kinda like how people still live in Metropolis despite all the aliens, monsters and gods that show up to rip them a new one: it probably happens less that we think. The same with Marvel; Lord knows Doom ain't got time to fight the F4 24/7. After all, he's got a country to run.

[SlayerOfGames]

Citizens reactions to things in gotham:
- Fear Gas: meh
- Exploding hospitals: meh
- man walking aroudn freezing everybody: meh
- crazed clown sprayign happy gas everywhere
-  guy with question marks on his clothes making bad riddles: save us batman!
-  Neon paint: *shudders* thank god we have batman
- Batnipples; OH GOD WHY, ABANDON GOTHAM!

[OverthereLook]

Gotham is probably considered safe in DC's world. I mean Detroit has bang babies from Static Shock, Metroplish has godly aliens beating each other, ect.

[Iegotroop]

You forgot the fact that some also can't afford to move somewhere else

[karl_alan]

my immediate thought was actually "learned helplessness, " where negative stimuli happen so often, or unpredictably that you just get used to it, and don't think about it anymore.

[excalibur]

Why do people still live in Gotham City? I don't know, why do people still live in Detroit, Chicago, Baltimore, St. Louis, Oakland, Atlanta, and Newark?

[doddy]

I always assumed it's just dirt cheap. I mean housing prices must be through the floor.

[mikeoxlong]

People still lives in gotham so they can see batman.... And maybe batnipples

[dramasweety]

I lived in Sao Paulo. Everyone kept asking me about the crime and were almost disappointed when I explain to them that I was never robbed, mugged, kidnapped, etc. Bigger cities means more crime simply because of population. Doesn't mean it happens around every corner.

[u]

Q: Why Do People STILL Live in Gotham?
A: because without them getting into danger, batman would be unemployed.

[GeahkBurchill]

It's kinda like how Europeans see Americans living with such extreme gun violence and wonder, "how can American's live with more people dying by guns than by car crashes?"

[seriousx]

Same reason people still live in Chicago and Detroit.

[koya_joonie]

"...where other fictional disasters happen like Metropolis or New York City..." Or Doctor Who's London. Every Christmas.

[bobbluered]

I think that we believe that Gotham is so bad because of the selective Bias, but this could be applicable to any other Comic Book series. Why is this one different? Well, it's because of Batman's seclusion. We think that Central City, for example, is better than Gotham because we see the Flash interacting with citizens, working with the cops, and generally being a nice person.He seems cheery and optimistic, so his city does as well. But we don't seem to think of Batman as Optimistic, because- he's not. And we, as humans, make connections between characters and their settings in our minds, so Batman is Gloomy and distant, so Gotham is as well. It's all psychological.

[eugenePerryMB]

Here's my take on this -we're talking about the DC universe here, I mean, are other cities any safer? There are super heroes and villains in every major city in the comic universe -so Gotham wouldn't be any more dangerous than the next town over.

[TheLastVampireSong]

There's also another factor you haven't mentioned and that is the economy. Many people live in dangerous areas but refuse to move because moving to another location, even to another house means saving up money that most times they don't have. It could be as well that the land is theirs and it's either difficult to sell or it's already devaluated because of the danger. There's also the situation of employment, moving out can also mean losing their place of work and that represents even greater challenges, especially to low and middle-income families that don't have the means to save up enough to move and pay for another place while searching for a job. And finally, because the area is a "red zone" the cost of housing must be rather cheap, at least in some areas, there's obviously a wealthy community, but is definitely not all, so in the other areas there's cheaper rent or mortgage so they're actually able to pay it and don't want to move cause they know is expensive in other places.

[ShadyDoorags]

Well, it's also the concept that every character in DC continually talk about how bad it is to live in Gotham, even average citizens who aren't involved in crime. It's not just that we see horrible stuff happen, but that people continually talk about how horrible it is.