Batman Movie Analysis

Matt Morris claims that "the story of Batman is a great cautionary tale concerning the price we risk paying if we are unable to keep things in balance". He cautions that we should not take Batman's "lessons to heart, and exercise as much care as we can not to let our work, and our service to the world, take away from us the most basic necessities of a good and happy life”. The Batman series is about Bruce Wayne, a billionaire playboy who, under the guise of a high-tech anthropomorphic bat, takes it on himself to protect the residents of Gotham City from the antagonistic forces which plague it. This is an enormous responsibility, one which comes with constants affronts to his physical and psychological well-being, as well as an inherent sense

"Standing over the bodies of his mother and father", he made an oath to "avenge their murders", to "dedicate his life to a relentless war against crime". For Bruce, following Morris' advice would have meant yielding to his feelings of impotence and sorrow, languishing in his manor while the people of Gotham suffered under the crush of villainy and corruption. Instead, empathy overrode fatality, and he chose an attitude of courage and empowerment. Morris's generalizations preclude the possibility that for survivors, "service to the world" is integral to the healing process; that surrender to a higher cause provides a surrogate form of closure, by which open wounds cauterize and a sense of balance, or justice, is actually restored. Conversely, no one person (no matter how powerful or wealthy,) can eliminate suffering, and for a survivor dedicated to ridding the world of its turpitude, failure can potentially lead to shell-shocked guilt, morphing redemption into self-condemnation. In spite of his sidekick Robin's insistence that "it wasn't his fault" when an innocent man is blown up in a botched assassination attempt, Batman reels with shame, and sardonically remarks: "tell [the dead man's] widow, his orphans, just exactly how great I am!" The instances when he makes a

Material imbalance? Spiritual? Interpersonal? As the sole surviving scion of one of Gotham's oldest and most affluent families, Bruce Wayne has no practical need to either work or to serve the world, therefore, a material imbalance is not taking away from the basic necessities of a good and happy life. Contrarily, he has the choice to numb his torment with excess and depravity, but an episode from his early childhood, when he was suspended for a week for beating up a boy who was "extorting lunch money from the other kids" suggests an innate nobility which vetoes any inclination to wallow in self-indulgence. For Bruce, a righteous man with a pristine pedigree, excellent connections, mansions, and yachts, a consuming devotion to something bigger than himself may be what he needs to counterbalance his inordinate privilege. Bruce knows that he needs to keep his identity hidden from others if he wants to continue on his trajectory as Gotham's self-appointed guardian, and he's prepared to take titanic measures to safeguard his position. After he breaks his arm rescuing Gotham city council members from an avalanching 3D rendering of a proposed hospital, he fears that Vicky Vale, a reporter for the city's daily gazette, will "discover his bad arm, and [that] his identity will be exposed." Desperate to conceal his alter-ego, he uses a time machine to summon a future Batman who can substitute him until he recovers.