The Characteristics of Batman

Rachel gestures at the filthy streets. Down dark alleys-shadowy figures conduct business . RACHEL CONTD : This city is rotting. Chill is not the cause, hes the effect. Corruption is killing Gotham and Chill being dead doesnt help that-it makes it worse because Falcone walks. He carries on flooding our city with crime and drugs... creating new Joe Chills... Falcone may not have killed your parents, Bruce, but hes destroying everything they stood for... Goyer, 2004: scene 25 There, Bruce realizes that Gotham City needs helps. Bruces will to fight the crimes at first is shown when he meets Falcone at basement club where he is used to be and beats some bouncers who guard him. BOUNCER: Night, Mr.Falcone. The three men move towards a waiting limo- WHAM- one Thug takes a kick to the head, goes down- Bruce steps from the shadows- the Second Thug goes for his gun-Bruce GRABS his arm- CHOPS his throat- JUDO FLIPS the thug...Bruce turns to Falcone who looks at him, curious. Goyer, 2004: scene 27 FALCONE CONTD: You shoulda just sent me a thank-you note... [Bruce looks up at Falcone. Spits blood]. BRUCE: I didnt come here to thank-you. I came to show you that not everyone in Gotham is afraid of you. Goyer, 2004: scene 27 That means that Bruce is not afraid with Falcone’s power. He is a mafia in Gotham City. His will to meet Falcone and beats his guards can symbolize his will to fight the crimes. And we can conclude that Bruce has courage to fight the crimes, although he is not success to do it in that time. Then, this makes Bruce leaving Gotham City. He travels to some places. Later, Bruce meets Ducard. He trains Bruce to be a warrior of The League of Shadow. Bruce is asked about his reason to leave Gotham City. And what purpose he wants to find. DUCARD O.S.: And when you left Gotham... [And we are-] EXT. HIMALAYAN MONASTERY -- DAY DUCARD :...what were you seeking? [Ducard LEAPS up onto a STONE WALL. GRABBING ON using pikes on his palms and on his feet. Wayne watches ]. WAYNE: To lose myself. I couldnt do anything as Bruce Wayne. I felt useless. Goyer, 2004: scene 29 Bruce reasons that he cannot fight the injustice as an ordinary man. Bruce also tells about his reasons in committing does the crimes when he travels to some places. DUCARD CONTD: On your journey... you sought knowledge of the criminal world? WAYNE: nods I needed to understand the thoughts and feelings of those who stand in the shadows... Goyer, 2004: scene 30 WAYNE V.O.: I needed to feel the fear before a crime... [The Elderly Man SPOTS a BUSINESSMAN hurrying along- STEPS into his path, engineering a COLLISION, tumbling to the pavement. The Businessman and Bruce both CROUCH to help ]. WAYNE V.O. CONTD: And the thrill of success... [Bruce SLIPS the Businessmans wallet out of his pocket. The businessman moves off. Bruce shows the Elderly Man the wallet for APPROVAL. Then HURRIES after the Businessman ]. WAYNE V.O. CONTD : ...without becoming one of them. Goyer, 2004: scene 30 Bruce tries to understand the people’s thought who do the crimes and he does it without a will to be a criminal. He just wants to feel about their feeling when they are doing their actions and the feeling when they get the result of what they have done in crimes and why they do them. WAYNE V.O.: I thought I would find something... INT. SMOKE-FILLED BACKROOM, SHANGHAI -- NIGHT At a table with a CHINESE BOSS and SEVEN CRIMINALS drinking, laughing, showing each other their spoils [watches, phones]. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI WAYNE V.O.: I thought I would learn what I needed to do with my skills and my anger... Goyer, 2004: scene 31 By understanding the criminals’ thought, Bruce wants to develop his skills and abilities in order to fight the crimes one day. So, he can use his anger to avenge his parents’ death and fight the crimes. Ducard asks Bruce if he still feels responsible about his parents’ death. And Bruce answers that he feels his anger than his responsibility. DUCARD V.O.: And do you still feel responsible? INT. PASSAGEWAY, MONASTERY -- DAY Ducard leads Wayne along a screened passage overlooking extraordinary mountains. WAYNE: My anger outweighs my guilt. Goyer, 2004: 15 At first, Bruce feels that it is his responsibility that makes his parents and him leave the opera earlier and makes his parents get shot by Joe Chill. But his anger toward the crime which causes his parents’ death, rises higher then his feeling of that responsibility. From that answer, Ducard realizes that Bruce is angry with his parents’ death. Then, Ducard trains Bruce to be a great warrior with Ninjitsu techniques. One of them is that he trains Bruce to use theatrical and deception in fighting. DUCARD: Advanced techniques of Ninjitsu employ explosive powders. WAYNE: As weapons? DUCARD: Or distractions. Theatricality and deception are powerful agents. [Ducard hands Wayne a pinch of the powder]. DUCARD CONTD: To be a great warrior is not enough. Flesh and blood, however skilled, can be destroyed... you must be more than just a man in the minds of your opponents. Goyer, 2004: 15-16 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Ducard also tells an idea of Ninjitsu that will be one of Bruce’s reasons to fight the crimes as Batman. [Ducard puts on his ninja mask. Motions Wayne to do the same. Wayne STRUGGLES to think through the effects of the smoke... ] WAYNE: Why The masks? [As if in reply, DOZENS of NINJAS step forward from the shadows: the hall is filled with identical Ninjas. Ducard has melted into the crowd. Wayne raises his guard... ] DUCARD: To conquer fear, you must become fear... you must bask in the fear of other men... and men fear most what they cannot see- [Ducard STRIKES at Wayne- Wayne SPINS, PARRIES- but Ducard has gone. The Ninjas movie in unison, forming WALLS... ] DUCARD CONTD: It is not enough to be a man... you have to become an idea... a terrible thought... a wraith- Goter, 2004: scene 33 Ducard tells Bruce that to be a great warrior, he must loose his own fear then use the others’ fear to loose them. And people are afraid to something which they do not see. It is like to use the psychological side of the people about fear of what they can not see. So, the theatrical and deception trained by Ducard can be useful for Bruce in fighting. The thought that someone should be an idea in front of the opponents more than just be a man inspires Bruce Wayne to find a symbol for his purpose, fighting the crimes and injustice in Gotham City. A symbol which can be used as an idea which will be the terror for the criminals. [Wayne stares at the vast city beneath them as the jet BANKS]. WAYNE: Gotham needs me, Alfred. Gotham needs... a symbol. ALFRED: What symbol, sir? WAYNE: Im not sure. Something for the good to rally behind... EXT. GOTHAM -- SUNRISE MOVING over SPIRES of the city catching GOLD of first light. WAYNE V.O. :...and the criminals to fear. Goyer, 2004: scene 38 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI The symbol Bruce needs in fighting the crimes is inspired from his childhood accident, when he falls into old deep well. There he meets with many bats which are in that well. The bats which fly toward Bruce because they are attracted with the light from the hole where young Bruce falls from scares him and that accident gives him a trauma and fear of bats. Bruce’s fear of bats is taken out from him by the training of Ninjitsu done by Ducard. When Bruce decides to find a symbol to fight the crimes in Gotham City, he sees a bat in his house. Then he tries to find out its nest after Alfred, a Waynes’ servant, tells him that the bats nest somewhere on the grounds. Then, Bruce checks it by himself. He uses the old well where he falls into it in his childhood and he finds a dark vast cavern. There, he finds something he needs as his symbol. An underground RIVER, a JAGGED ceiling, far above, which, as Wayne PEERS, starts to MOVE- BATS EXPLODE from the ceiling. THOUSANDS DESCEND, SCREECHING, attracted to the light- Wayne instinctively CROUCHES. But as they SWARM around him terrifyingly...Wayne RISES to his feet amidst a CYCLONE of bats, watching the fluttering blackness with a profound CALM. And he knows the symbol he must use. Goyer, 2004: scene 40 On that cavern, Bruce meets with the bats again which fly over him because they are attracted the light from the hole where he comes in. At first, he tries to avoid them by crouching. Then, he realizes that he has no fear of bats anymore because it has been taken out from him with Ninjitsu training done by Ducard. Ducard trains him to face his own fear. Finally, Bruce finds a symbol he needs to fight the crimes in Gotham City: bats. Bruce’s reason about his choice on using bats is based on his own experience in his childhood when young Bruce falls to a deep well which gives him a trauma and fear of bats. ALFRED: Why the design, Master Wayne? [Alfred indicates the steel carved into a BATS WING]. WAYNE: A man, however strong, however skilled, is just flesh and blood. I need to be more than a man. I need to be a symbol. ALFRED: And why the symbol of the bat? WAYNE: Bats frighten me. [slight smile] And its time my enemies shared my dread. Goyer, 2004: scene 56 His reason using bats as his symbol is, Bruce, in his childhood when he has fear of bats until it is taken out by Ducard through Ninjitsu training, had a fear of bats and he wants that his feeling about that fear is also experienced by the criminals in Gotham City. Bruce wants the criminals are scared with the bats like he was. So, he wants the symbol he uses, bats, can do frighten the criminals, like the real bats which frightened him. There are common believes in some places in the world about bats. And they can also be one of the reasons of Bruce Wayne in using bats as his symbol. Throughout Europe and Africa, it is associated with dark powers and the Devil. They are frequently found in graveyards and crypts, so they also carry an association with death. In modern culture, the bat is an icon of all things dark and spooky, including Halloween, the Goth subculture. www.ancientspiral.com It means that a bat represents the bad and dark thing. And Bruce Wayne use bats as a symbol that can spread something that frighten the criminals and let them think that they will always face Batman when they do their crimes. Then with his symbol, Batman begins to fight the crimes in Gotham City as a crime fighter. Batman is not a super hero because he does not have any super power whose abilities are more powerful beyond the ordinary human. Batman only has the abilities from the physical trainings he does and the advanced and modern gadgets to support his action. In his action, Batman is like a ghost. He can come and go without being detected by anyone. He does it in order to frighten the criminals. Batman uses theatrical and deception he got from his Ninjitsu trainings in fighting the crimes. And these can give the great effect to the criminals. SECOND THUG: The things they say about him... Can he really fly? EXT. ARKHAM ASYLUM -- CONTINUOUS [Batmans cape FLUTTERS as he SWINGS down two stories, LANDING at the high windows of the derelict corridor ]. INT. ABANDONED REFECTORY -- CONTINUOUS THIRD THUG: I heard he can disappear- Goyer, 2004: scene 88 It can prove that the methods Batman uses in his action, using the deception and the theatricality, works properly and does make the criminals frightened, because they think that Batman really can fly and disappear. And those methods can make the criminals think that Batman really has the dark power. Bruce chooses bat because it is an animal which always comes out at the night. Its skin which is dark makes it difficult to see in the night when it comes out from where it hides from the light. And its coming is like something that cannot be predicted. It is suitable with Batman’s characteristic that uses his ability in using deception and manipulate the criminals’ fear. By using symbol, Batman is protecting the people he cares from the revenge from the criminals, although they do not know who Batman is. WAYNE: If hes so benevolent why does he hide his face? FEMALE GUEST: Maybe hes protecting the people he cares about from reprisals. Goyer, 2004: scene 71 A mask, means symbol, which is used by Batman is also to hide his Bruce Wayne character and personality and Bruce Wayne is the cover for Batman, although batman is the real personality of that man, not Bruce Wayne. The characteristics of Batman can be seen from his way of thinking in order to fight the crimes in Gotham City, that he will need a symbol to do it. It means that he is a smart man. He does not want show his social life character personality as Bruce Wayne in front of the criminals. Besides to hide his social life identity, it is also useful to protect his beloved persons. It means that Batman is a person who loves the people around him and does not want them to be in danger because of his action as a crime fighter. As a smart man, Batman uses his knowledge about the people’s fear of what they cannot see. He learns this from Ducard Ra’s Al Ghul. He uses theatrical and deception to fear the criminals and makes an idea among the criminals that he can fly and disappear. Batman is also characterized as a person who is fulfilled with the anger because of the death of his parents. Batman uses tat anger to fight the crimes in order to avenge his parents’ death. The other characteristic of Batman is rich. Batman has a social life as a billionaire industrialist named Bruce Wayne who owns Wayne Industries whose projects are to serve public needs, like water and power utilities, public transportation system, and fulfill the military supplies. The writer analyzes it more in the analysis of second problem formulation.

B. The Significance of Batman in American Society

One of Batman’s characteristics is rich. Bruce Wayne, as Batman’s real personality, is a billionaire industrialist. With his wealth, Bruce Wayne can get whatever he wants. From his wealth, Bruce can also get the things he needs in his action as a crime fighter. The existence of Batman has its own meaning for the people who admire him, especially for Americans and American society, where this iconic character was created. Batman was created by Robert Kahn a.k.a. Bob Kane and Bill Finger, although only Bob Kane who has the official credit of Batman and known as Batman’s creator. The creation of Batman was influenced by actor Douglas Fairbanks movie, The Mark of Zorro, Leonardo Da Vincis diagram of the ornithopter , a flying machine with huge bat-like wings; and the 1930 film The Bat Whispers , based on Mary Rineharts mystery novel The Circular Staircase. http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiBob_kane For Americans, Batman represents many things. Batman Bruce Wayne is like an idol for them, and they want be like him. Many people dream to be like Batman Bruce Wayne because he has what the Americans dream on. Their dreams can be found in a character named Batman Bruce Wayne. Those dreams are often called as the American Dream. Economic prosperity in American Dream is also about having a lot of money as one’s wealthy, having good houses, automobiles, technology and gadgets which all of them have part of American culture. And Batman has the perception had by the Americans about their American Dream. First, we have to be sure that Batman is the representation of American Dream by answering the question: in his stories, does Batman live in America? We can know the answer by analyzing the script to find the evidences which can prove that whether he really exists in America. In Batman Begins movie script, there is no exact statement which tells that the story takes place in America. But we can analyze it to find the evidences to answer the question above. First, Batman Bruce Wayne is described as the person who lives in Gotham City and there is no direct statement that Gotham is one of the cities in America. Actually, Gotham is an old nickname for New York City which was popularized by Washington Irving in Salmagundi Papers. http:query.nytimes.comgstfullpage.html?res=950DE0D61431F936A3575AC 0A96F948260 Washington Irving was an American author of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle . He is best known, however, as the first American to make a living solely from writing. Initially, he wrote under pen names; one was Diedrich Knickerbocker. http:www.hudsonvalley.orgeducationBackgroundabt_irvingabt_irving.html PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Then, on the movie script itself there is conversation between Ducard the real Ra’s Al Ghul and Bruce Wayne which can be a next evidence about the existence of Gotham City. RAS AL GHUL: No. Billions of lives. Gotham is just the beginning. The world will watch in terror as the greatest city falls. Anarchy and chaos will spread... mankind will ravage itself, the species will be culled and the balance of nature restored. The planet will be saved for all species. Goyer, 2004: scene 108 Ra’s Al Ghul says about the greatest city. In that conversation, it refers to Gotham City. In the real world, New York City is the biggest city in the world which is located in America. Then, we can conclude that Gotham City is the representation of New York City in the real world. And we also can conclude that Batman lives in America. There are some “theories” about the existence of Gotham City in America which can support statement above. This is one of them. Gotham City, a home for Batman and high crime, is modelled after New York City, Boston, Chicago and Pittsburgh. To further emphasize the crime, its known to be dark, with many shadows and corrupt cops. It also makes a connection to New York City, because of their high crime rates in the past. A recurring and emphasized theme for Gotham City is the corruption with the authorities, especially the Gotham City Police Department. http:www.comicvine.comgotham-city23611 Flass, Jim Gordon’s partner, is one of the characters that represent the policemen who are corrupt. Jim Gordon is the good policeman who is not corrupt. And he becomes Batman’s “partner” in fighting the crimes and injustices. BATMAN: Its a start. Your partner was at the docks with Falcone. GORDON: He moonlights as a low-level enforcer. Goyer, 2004: scene 74 PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI Flass works to Carmine Falcone, a drug dealer and mafia in Gotham City. It is an irony that Flass is the policeman and Falcone is a criminal. What Flass does is to protect what Falcone does with his drug dealing. He should protect the people from the crimes and drugs like what Jim Gordon does. Flass does not do his job as a policeman well. He often does the things that he does not do as a policeman. We can see on these statements. INT. UNMARKED POLICE SEDAN -- EVENING Gordon, now 46 and a Detective, in the passenger seat. Worn eyes watching his partner, FLASS, 42, glad-hand the owner of the liquor store they are parked outside. Flass squeezes into the driving seat holding a wad of CASH. Goyer, 2004: scene 46 EXT. FALAFEL STAND, SURFACE STREET – NIGHT Raining. Flass stuffs falafel into his mouth. Grabs a banknote from the VENDOR. Flass walks down a dark street... Goyer,2004: scene 76 They state that Flass often asks some money from the store owners or food sellers. They prove that what Flass does is the representation from the statement about the corruption in Gotham City Police Department. Based on the facts that Gotham City is the old nickname for New York City, Ra’s al Ghul’s conversation which indicates that Gotham City is the greatest city in the world, which means Gotham City is the representation of New York City, and a “theory” about Gotham City, we can conclude that Gotham City is the representation or symbol of New York City and it means Batman lives in America and he is an American. Then, we can find if Batman is the representation of the American Dream by analyzing the story. First, we should know about the American dream itself.