The Bat, The Man, And His Audiences
...Commissioner James Gordon awaits for Gotham’s guardian on the roof-top. Suddenly, a dark figure shows up. Yes, Batman is here, and he is ready to fight crime. In 2005, the summer blockbuster film Batman Begins was shown world wide. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the storyline of the film focuses on the younger Bruce Wayne and how he became Batman. Batman Begins is one of those mythical superhero movies that within Bruce Wayne’s “hero’s journey” there are stories and archetypes that the viewers can relate to themselves. The viewers’ social concerns and personal affairs in their lives along with their desire of achieving something great and special are all part of the movie. This is the reason why superhero movies like Batman Begins can be successful, earning a total of $205 millions in the box office (Rotten Tomato).
Most people have grown up with some sort of experiences with myths, such as “hero” stories. In Linda Seger’s “Creating the Myth”, she claims that people all share similar experiences in the life journey of growth, development, and transformation (Seger 317). Most of successful blockbuster films use these elements to develop their storylines, including Batman Begins.
According to Seger, the hero myth starts the hero young and innocent, generally as a non-hero. Then some kind of incident happens that changes the hero’s life and pushes him or her into a journey (Seger 318). In the movie, the young Bruce Wayne loses his parents in a tragic murder when he was eight. The trauma of Bruce’s parents inflicts upon him, and eventually leads him to adopt the alter ego of Batman to combat crimes. He travels around the world to train himself physically and to understand the nature of crime. This is the first turning point, where the audience starts to see the hero’s transformation as he or she moves into a special world to change from the ordinary into the...
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