Since 1939, Batman has been a childhood hero favorite and remaining so into adulthood for his fans. From comic books to cartoons and from action figures to costumes, Batman evolved into an imaginary American hero recognized by many. In 2005 Time Warner created ‘Batman Begins’, the first high-budget picture produced by Christopher Nolan. Up until this point Batman had mostly been viewed as a comic book character. However, this marked the beginning of a new era for Batman and a political agenda.
When Nolan produced this picture, it was questioned as to whether it would grow to become a cultural mainstay. The obvious answer to that question was, yes! Christopher Nolan added several elements into his production that would ensure relation to its’ audience and captivate them entirely. Nolan incorporated the theory of realism into his work and based the look of Batman from western legends that captured to attention of many Americans in the earlier movies of the 1940s and TV shows of the 1950s. These were two steps in the right direction. Nolan focused on the expansion of western civilizations into areas further out facing dangers and do this all in the name of self-protection. Seen as an incredible cultural achievement, Batman morphed into a trilogy with ‘The Dark Knight’ being the second in line and ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ following in pursuit.
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Summarizing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
The main character of this movie is obviously Batman whose alter ego is Bruce Wayne. The third movie of a trilogy begins eight years after the death of a character named Harvey Dent. Batman disappeared and seems unneeded to do the nonexistence of unorganized crime with Gotham City. Batman is under the radar living as Bruce Wayne because he had fallen under the blame for the death of Attorney Harvey Dent that was covered by the commissioner named James Gordon.
Meanwhile in Uzbekistan a character named Bane has abducted Dr. Leonid Pavel, a nuclear physicist. Back in Gotham City the Wayne Enterprises has begun to financially struggle and Wayne has stopped his fusion reactor project upon learning it could be weaponized. Bane, six months after abducting Pavel, sets up his layer in the city sewer and tells John Daggaett, Wayne’s business rival, to purchase Wayne’s fingerprints.
Once the prints are gotten by Selina Kyle, she turns Daggaett and Bane and their henchmen into the police. Gordan was caught and brought to Bane. Bruce has also been captured. Bruce then escapes and meets new police officer named John Blake. Blake, knowing Bruce’s secret identity, convinces Bruce to rise up as Batman once more. Meanwhile, Bane has used Wayne’s fingerprints to leave Bruce Wayne bankrupt.
Bruce resurfaces as Batman and his father figure butler, Alfred, has resigned. He resigned to help protect Bruce. This upsets Bruce/Batman and he finds companionship in Miranda Tate. Bane has killed Daggett and expanded his work. Bane set a trap for Batman and was led into it by Kyle. Then Bane fought Batman and won! With Batman temporarily out of the way, Bane has the chance to lure Gotham City police in the sewer network where he sets off explosives to trap them in and destroys city bridges in the process.
Months later Wayne manages to escape. During his capture, Dr. Pavel was forced to convert the reactors core into a neutron bomb and then was killed. The mayor has also been killed. Upon escaping Batman rescues the police and they end up clashing into Bane’s army in the streets. This time Batman overcomes Bane, but Tate then stabs Batman. She was Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter. She then activates the bomb signal which is intercepted by Gordon and she must now go find the bomb. While she is gone Bane plans to kill Batman, but Kyle arrives and kills Bane. Next, Batman and Kyle go to find Talia and try to get the bomb from her, so it can be stabilized.
Talia is tries to bring the bomb back and set it off but crashes her truck in the process and dies. Before dying she had destroyed the reactor chamber. Now Batman had to put the bomb in his Batplane and try to fly it somewhere it can explode without causing more damage. Batman is presumed dead and he is honored by Gotham City as a hero. Wayne is the same person, so the mayor leaves his estate to Alfred as an orphanage. The Bat signal was fixed at some point by Wayne as well as the auto-pilot and this led them to the discovery Batman survived.
While this movie seems like every other superhero movie created, just with a different plot line, it has hidden symbols of realism invisible to many of its’ viewers.
Realism in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’
So, not that realism being a part of the Batman, realism should be quickly defined so that is can be pointed out in the movie easier. In a nutshell, realism is a method that highlights the role of nation-state and assumes all nation-states are motivated by their own interests. This theory at its most basic form says that all states want to keep political autonomy and territorial integrity. This theory says that realism is an anarchy and states are always working to defend their status. The main push in this theory is fear. Realists fear centralizes authority unless it is deriving from one’s own country or state. In this theory power is held by force and wars. The bigger enemy must always be taken down to preserve the way of life.
To start off, there are many articles about how this movie could be viewed from different political theories. Depending which article, one was to read, they could see a liberalism spin on the movie as well. For the purpose of this paper, realism within will be discussed.
When Nolan began producing this movie he instilled two major subjects, realism and the embracement of western myths. For the sake of realism, if Batman had something or did something that could not be explained realistically, he removed it. Every scene in the movie had to be realistic and believable. The reactions of the screaming citizens, the police, the victims, it all had to be believable. Fear needed to be shown so that whatever measures were taken to restore order were justified in doing so. Prior to Bane abducting Dr. Pavel from Uzbekistan, back in Gotham City, Batman had been under the radar and order was seemingly restored. Batman had been under the radar as his alter ego Bruce Wayne since he was blamed for the death of attorney Harvey Dent. The city commissioner had covered up the truth about what happened and passed the blame to Batman. After Bane abducted Dr. Pavel, he set up his layer in the city’s sewer system and began making plans to take control over Gotham City. As mentioned in the summary he did eventually go through with his plans and that is when Batman needed to resurface. There was a fear of a greater evil that required a hero to step up. Everything that took place during those scenes was realistic. This conveyed a message to viewers that although there seems to be order, there is always a greater evil to fear.
There is a line that Batman says that states: “People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy and I can’t do that as Bruce Wayne. As a man I’m flesh and blood. I can be ignored. I can be destroyed. But as a symbol, as a symbol I can be incorruptible, I can be everlasting”. This line implicates exactly what realism conveys. As an individual one can do nothing to protect their nation, but as a whole, as an anarchy, a nation can retain power and hold it everlasting. Batman had to fight to keep his power and symbolic meaning to Gotham City in this movie much like some nations think they need to do today. Some nations believe they always need to wear their mask to protect the man/ country behind it and always ne in the defense. This movie promotes hope and faith in your governing body or heroes. It promotes reformation after chaos and broken order.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ may be the best of the trilogy, it, like the previous two, can be seen as an encoding of hidden political theories. When Nolan created this picture, there were doubts about whether it would become a cultural mainstay. However, she became. Christopher Nolan's masterful application of the theory of realism in the film connected with the audience and completely captivated them.
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