The Dark Knight's Appeal

-Guest Contributor J. William-

I’m not even going to worry about spoiling the movie for anyone reading since, according to box office reports, the English speaking world has seen this movie an average of three times over. But to be honest, this is not so much about the film as it is about why we love Batman, or my opinion anyway.

I’m also not going to bore anyone lucky enough to stumble on this site with a boring rant about how much I love the symbolism or the idea of white juxtaposed with black, good juxtaposed to evil, and how these representations in the movie tell us that good and evil, right and wrong, are always an ambiguous shade of grey.

I want to talk about the human element to the movie. The actors did an excellent job, and I while I regret deeply that we must now preface his name with ‘the late’ I hope those who appreciate his craft take solace that Heath Ledger plied himself so successfully; and I want to start with something the Joker said in the film.

While Batman is ‘interrogating’ Joker in the MCU, he says “For a minute there I thought you really were Dent,” he’s talking about when Batman dove out a window to save Rachel Dawes. But what is interesting to me is the way Joker says you really were Dent. The connotation is slight, I realize that, but think about it. Joker says what Katie Holmes’ Rachel said at the end of Begins: Batman is the real man. The Joker is trying to find the mask Batman hides behind. Now, for all you batman fans, I’m not telling you anything new. But I propose this to you: this is truly the reason that people enjoy the Batman franchise.

I am guilty of this too, but whenever fans start to argue about why Batman is superior to any of the other superhero, it inevitably comes out that “he’s just an ordinary guy.” Well not really. He’s a billionaire. He has resources and technology that no ordinary person could get their hands on. And he has a hell of a support staff. Just because Bruce Wayne isn’t from another planet, nor was he zapped with radioactive whatever, he is in no way an ordinary man.

The Bruce Wayne/Batman phenomenon illustrates something that everyone does, but won’t admit to: we wear masks. Surely at some point in your life someone has told you to “be yourself,” or “just act natural,” and I would guess that when the majority of you think about whom you really are, you’re left wanting. Is there anything wrong with this? I don’t know.

I am not a professional. I have more questions than answers, though the fact that I have some of the answers does make me more credible than most psychiatrists; maybe. Whether we live our lives as Batman or Bruce Wayne is irrelevant. To that end, a person may have more than a few masks. But it is my belief that this is the real attraction to Batman. By showing audiences that it is okay to find ambiguous escape from identity, we subconsciously feel better about ourselves. Whoever we really may be.

-J. William

(Special thanks to our guest contributor, J. William)