Batman Begins/The Dark Knight: What Does it All Mean?
When we look at the Batman movies, we all feel there is something more to them. This isn’t your standard movie about a man in a cape busting super villains to a pulp. This isn’t about the cool gadgets, the spiffy costume or how chicks dig the car. These films awaken in us the deepest yearnings of philosophical meaning, psychological impact, and sociological study.
Or its just a cool way to spend a few hours? The above sounds pretentious I know, but these series of articles are about Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. I want to show and of course discuss how the movies enlighten us, and why we are so attracted to them. Also I want to show a friend that Batman Begins is just as deep as The Dark Knight, and in many ways is essential to viewing.
This week I want to study the idea of Hell and the Devil in the Batman universe. In the movies, it’s the first scene that really delves into the idea of Hell. The man who attacks Bruce says that he (Bruce) is in hell and that the man is also the Devil. Bruce replies that he isn’t the Devil, he is practice. An interesting thought: Is Bruce actually in Hell?
Yes, if you believe Hell is where you deserve to be. There is an idea in our society that Hell is where people who do bad things go. What bad thing did Bruce do to deserve to be sent to Hell? He feels responsible for the death of his parents. Though Bruce says that his anger outweighs his guilt, he in fact cannot escape the fact that he is responsible for his parents’ death.
In the comics, Bruce routinely evokes God, at one point saying, “God hates a coward” during the Knights End storyline. Bruce was afraid during the play and therefore wants to retreat. The retreat takes him to the alley, and that is where his parents are shot. He never stops feeling guilty for that moment of fear.
But that’s not the only thing Bruce feels guilty about. It’s the guilt of wanting Chill dead, vengeance, and the anger that Bruce has for Joe Chill. Many fans were exasperated by the fact Bruce carried a gun, but I persist in thinking it was a way to show why he would never use a gun again. Bruce, up until Rachel says so, never connected the gun to his parent’s death. He connected his fear to their death. It’s only when Chill is shot dead, Rachel slaps him and tells him that his father would be ashamed, that Bruce realizes that the gun is a coward’s weapon.
It is only when he purges not just his fear, but his wrath, that Bruce finally wants to go back to Gotham. His choice not to kill the murderer is his real test, his choice to face fear is only secondary to that. Only then does Bruce fight back and escape Hell and return to Gotham. But Gotham too, is a hell.
If we view Hell as a place devoid of hope, Gotham is that place. Bruce represents hope, but that is for another article. Gotham soon will no longer be the Hell it once was. But what of the other line near the beginning of the film: “You’re not the devil, you’re practice.”
Obviously Bruce makes short work of this man who thinks of himself as the devil, but he is right. The man was only practice as he faced the true Devil in the Dark Knight: The Joker. What makes the Joker so easy to identify as the Devil? What is the Devil?
The Devil has gone through more character changes than comic iterations of either the Joker or Batman. The easiest way to sum him up is the tempter, the one who tests humanity in some ways for worthiness. The Joker of The Dark Knight takes it up a notch; he is testing them to see if they are as human as they wish they are.
The various tests the Joker arranges in the film are there to test how far our own rules and morality go. What are the extents of society’s rules, their understandings, and their own base needs? With the Joker, he revels in making you break your own rules because he believes the world has none.
The Joker is devoid of origin, which many say is the influence of Alan Moore, but really you can trace it back to the Prince of Lies. The Joker’s stories reach the point of making one sick over the sadness of each, where he is scarred or causes his own scars. Is there a point to these stories besides frightening you? The stories show the moral decay that each person being TOLD the story might one day endure. The mob boss is seen as a father type by his men. What happens when the father turns against you? Rachel wants to be a bride, but what happens if that bride becomes disfigured?
Finally, imagery plays a key role. Fire is the Joker’s calling card. Destruction, mayhem and the loss of hope are what he seeks. He is creating a new Hell for Gotham to descend into. Even when Batman confronts him at the Prewitt building, three dogs guard him much like Cerberus, the three headed dog that guards Hell.
Batman Begins and The Dark Knight show that the filmmakers are mining various mythologies when creating the ideas of Hell, both personal and literal. Their creation of The Joker is filled with the malice and the characterization of Lucifer. Next time I am going to show how they delved deep into the heart of legacies, something every comic geek knows about, and why “the mantle” makes both films truly connected.
Dark Spirit
