Batman As A Hero In The Dark Knight

In the deep and dark shadows of Gotham city is a hero, The Dark Knight, or as many people know him: Batman. The Dark Knight is the second film in the Batman trilogy. The story follows the relentless conflict involving Batman and his nemesis, “The Joker.” He ends up teaming up with the mob in Gotham against Batman, to take him down. The Joker attempts to lure Batman out by saying he’ll start killing people if he didn’t reveal himself. Recognizing that Batman wouldn’t do it, District Attorney, Harvey Dent, decides to “reveal” himself as Batman as a plan to capture the Joker.
They end up succeeding and capturing him; however, the Joker wanted to be caught. He alerts Batman that Dent and Rachel, who he is also in love with, are hooked up to explosives in separate locations, forcing him to choose whom to save. Rachel ends up dying and Dent gets saved, but half his face gets singed off. The Joker ends up visiting Harvey in the hospital to take advantage of the anger he has over Rachel’s death, and turns him bad. After, the Joker ends up blowing up the hospital, and the city evacuates. The two ferries leaving break down, though. The Joker tells them that one ferry has to blow up the
other, or they both blow up. Meanwhile, Batman and Gordon come for the Joker. Gordon then finds out that Dent, or Two-Face, has his family hostage, so he leaves. After a heated battle, the Joker gets hung by his ankles off the building and the ferries never blow up. After, Batman goes to help Gordon, who gets caught by Dent. Batman arrives and tries to reason with Dent, he fails, and ends up killing Dent. Following that, he is forced to run away by the police chasing him.
The Dark Knight is an interesting film. It follows the life and struggle of a mythological superhero. However, this hero isn’t like all the others. He’s just like you and me, minus the fact that is a multi-billionaire. Unlike other hero’s you see, Batman doesn’t have any special capabilities or powers. He can’t run at the speed of light, he can’t fly, he’s not super strong, he uses regular fighting skills and technology to fight crime and protect the city. And that is what makes him so unique. Although he does not fit the stereotypical mold of a superhero, he does fit the definition in Fowkes’ The Fantasy Film, “…superheroes routinely operate outside the law when no legal entity can or will save the day.” (Fowkes, 2010, p.170) Batman may be unique in the way he goes about being a superhero, but he definitely fits the mold.
Obviously, as previously stated, Batman or Bruce Wayne is the hero of this film. He saves the city from certain demise on multiple occasions in the film. However, that is not the only archetype that this character falls under. “The self is the most important personality archetype and also the most difficult to understand.” ("Transpersonal Pioneers: Carl Jung - Sofia University," n.d.) According to Jung, the self is split up into consciousness and unconsciousness. The ego is your center of consciousness, the rational you; it covers up your unconscious behavior. Bruce Wayne is the ego in this situation. He uses his life as a billionaire playboy to mask his true calling of Batman. The self is your deep unconscious thought, which is much different from you conscious behavior. Batman is the self. In the film you see it personified perfectly when struggles with putting his life as Batman behind him. In the back of his mind, he knows that’s what he wants.
Seeing as there wasn’t a major female counterpart to Batman in the film, there wasn’t an anima or animus. There were a few mentors in this film; both serve different roles in the hero’s life though. Lucius Fox mentored Batman through the movie as someone he could go to for help. Fox provided him with everything he needed, whether it was a new suit, car, weapons, everything he needed to be Batman was provided by Lucius. The other mentor is more of a personal or emotional mentor, and that’s Alfred. Ever since his parents died, Alfred had become Bruce’s father figure, so he always looked to Alfred for advice and wisdom.
The Shadow in the movie was the Joker. It’s made very clear throughout the movie that he is the villain to Batman’s hero. The character is even quoted in the movie saying, “You complete me.” That is the exact thing that the shadow is, the part of you that you don’t like. Its like yin and yang; you can’t have the good without the bad, and vice versa. Not only was he the shadow, but he was a shape shifter as well. Many moments in the film we saw the character dressed up in some costume or disguise, such as the nurses outfit or the masks in the beginning of the movie.
The Threshold Guardians were all of the Joker’s clown henchmen. Although they did shuffle through people a lot as time progressed. The Mob in Gotham are also Threshold Guardians. All of them were at the mercy of the Joker, since he was the only one to take of Batman. They didn’t work below him, per say, but worked with him.
The Herald was Lieutenant James Gordon. Whenever something happened, or whenever he needed something to be done, he’d shine the “Bat Signal” in the air to alert Batman that he was needed. He also was the one who filled Batman in on the robbery in the beginning that got him involved with the Joker in the first place. Gordon is also a big ally too. He’s pretty much the only officer on the force that doesn’t want Batman thrown in jail. Moreover, he aids him in capturing the Joker, even though it was inevitably part of the Joker’s plan.
Another ally of the hero was Harvey Dent. For the most part of the movie, Dent was a strong person to have on the side of Batman; he was a force to be reckoned with. When they found out about Lau, the mob’s accountant, the two teamed up together to capture him and bring him back to the states to testify against the mob in Gotham. He also took a stand and said he was Batman so that he didn’t have to reveal his true identity to the Joker and the world. However, Harvey Dent’s character is also a shape shifter. Once his face half-burned off, he became so angry at the world and everyone involved in Rachel’s death, that he changed from an ally to a shadow. On top of his behavior shape shifting, his physical features shape shifted as well making his legitimately “Two-Faced.”
The last major character in the movie is Rachel Dawes. Rachel is most certainly an ally. However, she played two roles. She was both a ally to Bruce Wayne and to Batman. She helps out Batman as a lawyer in the D.A.’s office working with Harvey to put away the men in the mob after Batman got Lau to testify against them. She and Bruce go way back to when they were kids, so its clear that they are friends. But the two also love each other, and she keeps him sane. Without her there to strive to be with one day when Batman is gone, he would’ve lost himself to the suit very quickly. It was that love for her that compelled him to try to save her the night she died.
Rachel always found herself in a situation where she needed Bruce’s help or saving from him or Batman.
As much of a successful and independent woman she was, she always found herself in those types of scenarios where she is portrayed as a damsel in distress. He saves her multiple times in Batman Begins, the first installment of the trilogy. There was one scene where there were escaped convicts in an alleyway that surrounded her and the little boy with her. And when it seemed like all hope was lost, Batman came in to save the day. Additionally, there was a scene in The Dark Knight, when the Joker got ahold of her and held her hostage. When he told him to let her go, he lets go of her out an open window, but there was Batman to catch her when she fell. The author from Depauw explains it
best:
These action movies represent women as helpless and weak because they serve as one of the primary ways to entertain audiences. This type of entertainment is appealing because it does not go against what audiences know to be "normal" or "usual", which is women being seen as weak and helpless. These action movies usually don' t deviate from showing women as damsels in distresses because it would be less entertaining simply because we would not be used to seeing anything else other than women dangling from bridges, being bound to chairs, or screaming for help. (“Damsels In Distress – Objectification of Women in Movies,” n.d.)