A Hero’s Journey In The Movie Batman
A man named Joseph Campbell came up with a theory in his detailed book called, “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” stating his theory that there is a certain way to tell a story that is hardwired into our brains across many cultures these myths will resemble each other. His book shows how us as humans may find it hard to tell a narrative story without the hero’s journey underlying as the theme. Most books, TV shows, and movies are typically played out through this monomyth. In 2005 Christian Nolan released Batman Begins starring Christian Bale as Batman. The journey he embarks on begins with his call to adventure. We see through a series of flashbacks that detial his parents’ gruesome murders and the murder himself. The murder of his parents creates his hate for the evil and corrupted in Gotham. His parents murder happended years before the creation of batman. His calling begins when his parents’ murder was shot and killed by a hitman, it is important to know that even though he was killed by a hitman Bruce would’ve killed him himself. The murder of his parent’s murder has little to no effect on the story, but later it becomes apparent that it shows insight into Bruce’s character. After the killer is murdered Bruce attempts to confront the man he was working for, Falcone. He ordered the hitman to tell him he wasn’t afraid but the boss mocks him and his parent’s death. He throws him out which changed Bruce’s perspective on crime itself. Instead of simply hating the person who killed his family, he now has a general hate for crime itself. While in the inner city of Gotham, it becomes clear to Bruce what terrible effects crime has on the people and the city he calls home.
Although this seems different than a call to adventure, it is easy to see how it is, Bruce simply becomes in touch with his senses and emotions with his surroundings. These basic points however act as a basic device just as a basic call for help would. This sets Bruce off in his calling and adventure against crime. As he sets into his adventure to destroy crime, he travels to china and ends up being arrested while working with criminals in order to understand there minds and how they work. While in imprisonment a group of pecuilar group called the leauge of shadows reaches out to him and gives him a task. He must climb a mountain to pick a blue flower and carry it into a temple in return for being accepted. It is later revealed that the blue flower is actually a key component to a hallogiuen that reveals your greatest fears. The first threshold crossing in Batman Begins is portrayed as a physical shift of the earth to relate to the physical character. This sitatuion is similar to Jonah and the Whale as Jonah spent time in the belly of the beast, Bruce’s time in the temple had clarified him. He was trained physically and mentally and learned to control his fear. In a sense his establishment was because of the blue flower. During Bruce’s stay at the temple he passes the first threshold when he met a man named Henri Ducard. The cycle of the hero is loose and and unsecure with features of the myths containing only a few major bullet points. A role that is highly valued across cultures and espically in stories are those of a mentor. A mentor is a common device used to enchance the threshold crossing and the changing of the protagonist. In batman begins our mentor is Henri Ducard. He first asked Bruce to apprentice for him. Henri is the man who trains him at the temple, who brings him towards the threshold. At the end of his stay at the temple he is requried to kill a criminal and lead a group of men agasint his people in Gotham. He disobeys and leaves the league of shadows and destroys their temple in the process. Bruce saves Henri before he falls off a cliff and brings him to the village in the mountains for him to heal wishlist returning home and fighting crime in Gotham and save his city. This concludes the threshold crossing and changes his enviromental change.
The main change is still within Bruce, the city has changed because he has been gone for seven years. When he returns home he decides to investigate the hole he fell into as a child which caused his fear of bats. As bats fly out of the carven it is here he creates his bat cave. He shows here the theme of facing your fears and using them agasint your enemies. He embodies his phobias in batman. The suit hides his identity and protects him from harm. He also fights the fear of his orginal terror, his birthplace and his parents’ murder. He becomes a new person in some ways and is sometimes rarely seen expect as he defeats his enemies one by one. As a hero has passed through the first threshold they recieve help from a few assitance and are tested in different ways. A well known Greek tradgey that represents this is Hercules in which he is twelve times. Batman’s labors seemed to be big but could be easily broken down. There are three battles that occur. First he wants to defeat Falcone and the battle Falcone’s boss, Scarecrow, and onto Scarecrow’s boss. The falcone family is moving a drug shipment in the harbor and Batman wants to stop it. The police who are, typically late, show up and find Falcone tied up and a bat sillhoute shinning in the night. This happens before the victory or defeat and will cause little impact on the rest of the plot. When batman meets and confronts the man known as scarecrow it shows progression through the story and his journey returing peace to his home town. It plays out with a “Damsal in distress” which is a woman named Rachel who Bruce loves which is posined by Scarecrow which he then is tasked with saving Rachel and defeating Scarecrow. Facing your fears is a universal theme throughout this movie. Bruce learned he had to let the enemy feel his fear and he needed to be what he feared to fight it. Bruce has changed since his attempts to revenge his father. He had to overcome that internal journey that made him grow stronger. A hero through his/her trials will always gain from an external source. Bruce’s father who is killed earlier in the film and Alfred, his butler and good friend of his fathers, takes him in as his own.
