He sees himself responsible for it as it was his fear of Bats that lead him to make his parents leave an opera-performance earlier by a back door and thereby direct them into the way of a criminal. In fact, the plot opens by presenting Bruce Wayne as a smuggler in an Asian populated surrounding, eventually captured and sent to prison where he makes himself noticeable by fighting his inmates. The Orient exists for the West, and is constructed by and in relation to the West.
After being released from prison, Bruce Wayne follows the mystic flower described by Ducard and finally ends up in an almost picture-perfect Asian temple situated in a lonesome mountain area, which turns out to be the home of the League of Shadows.
Jeffery A. Moulton's Blog: Jeffery A. Moulton - To Make Us More Human - September 14,
Like Constantinople or Rome before it the city has become a breeding ground for suffering and injustice. It is beyond saving and must be allowed to die. This is the most important function of the League of Shadows. In fact, the attack on the building is not the main goal but has a more far-reaching horror vision: Most associated with the presidency of George W.
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For when Batman is to depict the U. DiPaolo is of the opinion that [l]ike President George W.
Bush, who has made his principle concern national security, Batman is open to great praise for using a firm military hand in protecting the home front from foreign threats, but he is also open to criticism for curbing civil liberties. A critical question is, therefore, to what extent does Batman Begins and other classic Batman stories present Batman as violating civil rights? Also, to what extent do these adventures, by extension, suggest that Batman harms the very people he is trying to protect? To what dimension does the U.
And to what degree does it thereby harm the very people it is trying to protect? These last two questions posed by DiPaolo become even more relevant in the second movie, The Dark Knight, where the subject of the so- called War on Terror is yet more present and makes the character of Batman or the actions of the U.
He does not only play off crime bosses against each other but he manipulates policemen and thus forces Gotham into chaos and Batman into rigorous action. Grant Morrison seems to ask the right question when wondering: Bush Administration plays a major role in this reading. Allegorical Reading in TDK. Looking at the facts, we find another example in the representation of the Joker himself.
In this film, he is the individual who terrorizes Gotham and even more so Batman in person. Moulton actually paraphrases a statement by Alfred here, as we will see later in this paper. The Joker himself explains how to create chaos: But exactly these assumptions are critical. By branding the Joker as personified chaos, we find again a juxtaposition of two worlds this time not necessarily East vs. West, but definitely good vs. Unlike his master, Alfred seems to be more careful in his rating of the Joker as he remarks: Some men just wanna watch the world burn.
DiPaolo notes that Ledger's Joker works well as a follow-up villain to Ra's al Ghul, since both villains are striking out at a modern American society that they find morally repellent. The Joker's series of politically motivated crimes against the city include the assassination of a mayor, the bombing of a hospital, and the looting of the mob's secret stockpiles of money.
And it will not be the only message sent by the Joker, as a second hostage video of the same type is aired scenes later Bush in a speech following the attacks of September In an address to Congress on September 20, , he declares: Lewis and Stephen D. Bush in this time of terror and war. Like W, Batman is vilified and despised for confronting terrorists in the only terms they understand. And like W, Batman understands that there is no moral equivalence between a free society -- in which people sometimes make the wrong choices -- and a criminal sect bent on destruction.
This Bush-friendly and supporting interpretation is interesting but problematic: This above all becomes clear in the problems Batman faces during the movie through the discussions of his legitimacy. Bush administration shortly after the attacks. Risen and Lichtblau n.
The author gives an interesting overview of the responses to the film which ranged from pro-Bush political readings, to rather anti-Bush readings. It spectacularly affirms them. Indeed, this idea seems not far-fetched, and the explanation is to be found in the figure of Batman himself: Batman legitimizes his actions and thereby the U. He is seen as a betrayer and the murderer of Harvey Dent. Gotham and its officials feel it is peacetime and believe to be safe.
One, he makes the new board member Miranda Tate responsible of his Enterprise and a dangerous fusion reactor project he does not want to be misused as a weapon. Second, he decides that he has to return as the Batman in order to stop Bane. Because it is so recent, not much research on it has been published yet.
The shots Donarum alludes to can especially be witnessed in the second half of the movie, right after Bane has detonated bombs all around Gotham see The shots show a main island Manhattan and its boroughs, connected by bridges Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge.
The most striking shot can be found at The way to the ultimate chaos again provides several examples of East-West-juxtaposition, as well as threat and terror from an outside evil. Several scenes later, the information is more precise. There is a prison in a more ancient part of the world. A pit where men are thrown to suffer and die. But sometimes a man rises from the darkness.
Sometimes the pit sends something back. Born and raised in hell on earth. No one knows why, or how he escaped. He later repeats the danger he sees in the character of Bane: The way Bane is depicted and is measured by his actions and his ultimate plan, he must indeed be called a terrorist. He is a charismatic leader of mercenaries; he represents the mob and, by contrast, Batman starts to look like a privileged capitalist, a One Percenter facing the crowds of Occupy Wall Street.
And how does Bane declare himself? In the same scene he and his co-workers professionally take an airplane into pieces — midair, for the record — in order to kidnap Dr. Pavel, a nuclear-physicist who once generated an atomic pile for Wayne Enterprises. The further Bane conducts his actions, the more is revealed about his intentions. In many reviews on the film, above all this scene is said to evoke allusions to Occupy Wall Street see Mark Fisher n. Bane provides himself with an online trading database. Though this event is just a first step to what is to come later in the film, it might be hinting at a new form of terrorism: In whatever way one might want to read Bane, it is sure that he is ruthless.
He knows that he is evil as the following scene Speak of the devil and he shall appear Daggett: I am the League of Shadows. So as I terrorize Gotham I will feed its people with hope to poison their souls. I will let them believe that they can survive so that you can watch them clambering over each other to stay in the sun.
You can watch me torture an entire city. Indeed, the scene is loaded with meaning as the public place of the stadium and its purpose playing football is meaningful in that it stands for American proud sport culture and identity. So to speak, Bane hits the American soul at one of its crucial cores. The respective scene gets even heavier in meaning through the young boy singing the American Anthem; only after this patriotic shot, Bane executes his plot of blowing up the stadium and spark a systematic bombing of infrastructural spots of the city, mainly its bridges.
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He thus literally cuts off Gotham from the world and consequently brings forward his message to the people of Gotham City. This nuclear reactor threat might be seen as a symbol for a recurrent issue of fear, also in contemporary real-life politics. In direct reaction, in order to activate the desperation in the situation, Bane executes Dr. Pavel and explains the identity of the triggerman is a mystery. For one of you holds the detonator! Now, we come here not as conquerors but as liberators, to return control of this city to the people.
And if the first sign of interference from the outside world, or from those people attempting to flee, this anonymous Gothamite, this unsung hero, will trigger the bomb. For now, martial law is in effect. As a result of the attack on Gotham, the President gives a speech to the nation aired on TV They have proven this before, and they will prove it again. While Bane is making Gotham take itself apart, Bruce tries to climb out the pit-prison.
Schopp However, I would argue that this observation must be applied to all three films: Each film of the trilogy provides the viewer with criminal groups, guided by leaders that terrorize Gotham.
The Superhero Response: How 9/11 Changed Our Superheroes and Why It Matters
This accordingly must lead to the question: And more generally rather: Must the hero, in this case Batman, be allowed to lead a war, just like the United States did as a response to the attack on their country? The heroes of today may wear similar uniforms as those from before, but they are almost unrecognizable as those gleaming images of idealized perfection. In their place are darker, more dangerous heroes who are pushed right to the edge and forced to peer directly into the eye of evil, barely able to hold back their own inner demons.
Sometimes they are just as bad as their villains. His condition in a way reflects the American identity. He is a traumatized human, he seeks avenging or rather revenging? In fact, the depiction of Batman in the Nolan movies has a double bias. The main character might evoke pity in the viewer and at the same time, it is exactly that pity that prevents if not even sugarcoats a critical reading of the hero. Considering the evolution of Bruce Wayne into Batman in the frame of the trilogy should hence pose a crucial question.
This might be true, but an unemotional monitoring of the character will conclude that this is an excuse that argues too simple. So the films are maybe appealing to New Yorkers and Americans in general because they display a wishful- thinking. On the other hand these films may just be a covert legitimization of the real-life American reaction to the events, making it possible for American viewers to wallow in their role as the victim of random evilness. And if he is, what makes him so? This book actually says something about our popular culture and why it matters.
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Don't tell Jeff, but I'm I'm as proud of this book as if I wrote it myself! Don't tell Jeff, but I'm pretty sure I learned more from him than I ever taught him. Nov 01, Alisha rated it it was amazing. With an incredible opening, you are immediately pulled in. Moulton shows a deeper side to our comic book heroes. He makes them more accessible without needing to read decades of comic books. He also shows how the producers of these comic book series and movies make decisions and why.
Moulton takes you on an awesome journey that reveals so much about our superheroes and this new darker world we live in. Those changes in perception are reflected in our popular culture icons, especially our stories about superheroes. The Superhero Response in an in-depth analysis of some of the ways our superheroes have changed since September 11, and what those changes say about the hopes and fears, dreams and nightmares of modern American culture.
Find out more at www. The book could do with a lot of proofreading and a different typeface, but presents some interesting ideas. Unfortunately - as is usually the case with academic readings on new media and superheroes - the examples are a bit out-of-date and may not pertain 1: Molloy first year, University of Florida, Fall Natalie rated it liked it Aug 12, Crystal Smith rated it it was amazing Oct 31, Tom Fox rated it liked it Jan 26, Susan Morton rated it it was amazing Dec 18, Brian rated it it was amazing Oct 16, Carrie is currently reading it Oct 02, Kurt marked it as to-read Oct 07, Aimee Bond added it Oct 15, AnnaMarie Jimenez marked it as to-read Oct 18, Sarthak Patil marked it as to-read Oct 19, Jen marked it as to-read Nov 01, Peter marked it as to-read Nov 27, Nazeeruddin added it Dec 13, Katie marked it as to-read Jan 15, Dennis marked it as to-read May 02, Alba is currently reading it May 08, Jolin marked it as to-read May 08, Veronica Wong marked it as to-read May 12, Alexis marked it as to-read May 15, Ardo marked it as to-read Jun 02, Danielle marked it as to-read Jun 09, Jeremy marked it as to-read Aug 13, Carljoe Javier added it Sep 11, Alyssia marked it as to-read Sep 24, Nina Klansek marked it as to-read Jan 23, Tyler marked it as to-read May 30, Jessica marked it as to-read Aug 15, Christian Boustead marked it as to-read Nov 25,