The Dark Knight Saga and the Hero Myth

Watched the last part of dark knight saga – The Dark Knight Rises and couldn’t but wonder over the parallels with the Hero myth. First about the hero myth itself, the hero is a recurrent theme throughout the world’s civilizations. Everywhere we find this story told over and over again – the story about a hero who after undergoing great difficulties, trials and tribulations overcomes great evil and in effect achieves greatness. But why is this theme recurrent everywhere in the world throughout history, indeed there are evidences of the hero myth even during prehistoric times during the time of cave dwellers. The reason why hero myth is so prevalent throughout human civilization is because hero myth is the external metamorphosis of something much deeper, something that goes on inside the human psyche itself – the transformation of the human psyche. It is nothing but the simmering of human psyche itself which manifests itself in the form of an external story.

The real antagonist is the human mind as it goes through the pangs of birth and growth (the ordinary beginnings of a hero), sometimes the glorious reflections on childhood (the extraordinary events associated with the birth of hero). Next comes the dilemma of teenage and glorious visions of the future (the vision and dilemma of the hero), after this the entry in the real world during adulthood and taste of success/failure (the trials faced by the hero and his victory), finally, the achievement of wisdom at old age (the achievement of greatness by the hero). The hero myth is then nothing but the story of the development of divided and fractured human psyche into an undivided whole (Individual – the un-divided), no wonder the famous psychologist Carl Jung has call the process of maturing of the human psyche as the process of Individuation.

Coming back to the beginning, we see the hero myth retold in even the modern time and now through an ever powerful medium – Cinema. Here comes one of the greatest storytellers of this medium Christopher Nolan, the sheer genius of this man has produced some of the best cinematic experiences of our times – Memento, The Prestige and Inception. Now in the Dark Knight trilogy Mr. Nolan has told the hero myth woven around Batman (or should we say Super hero). Nolan in his own unique way of direction and storytelling has catapulted the dark knight trilogy to cult status and it has become one of the best hero myths told through the cinematic medium.

The outright differences with other superhero stories are twofold, one the relative absence of the superhuman (Batman actually does not have any superpowers at all) and second the overwhelming atmosphere of brooding and darkness – the reflections of the psyche of Bruce Wayne. Consider the following statement from Batman Begins

Bruce Wayne: They told me there was nothing out there, nothing to fear. But the night my parents were murdered I caught a glimpse of something. I've looked for it ever since. I went around the world, searched in all the shadows. And there is something out there in the darkness, something terrifying, and something that will not stop until it gets revenge... Me.

Batman Begins the first part of this trilogy depicts the emergence of hero. The hero must face his own fear; the hero must commit himself to the ideal. The mind must be ready to face its own evil and absolve itself of guilt, hence the following statement by Ducard who is later revealed as Ra's Al Ghul:

Henri Ducard: You travelled the world... Now you must journey inwards... to what you really fear... it's inside you... there is no turning back. Your parents' death was not your fault. Your training is nothing. The will is everything. If you make yourself more than just a man, if you devote yourself to an ideal, you become something else entirely. Are you ready to begin?

Henri Ducard: You must become more than just a man in the mind of your opponent.

It is also here that need for symbolism is understood, it is as if mind understands its own sublime nature.
Bruce Wayne: as a man, I'm flesh and blood, I can be ignored or destroyed. But as a symbol, I can be incorruptible...I can be everlasting.
The second edition of the trilogy – The Dark Knight is about madness, madness embodied in Joker the antithesis of Batman. The psychosis of mind which erupts in madness, whereas the hero fights for order (the conscious mind) the antihero is an agent of disorder (the psychosis).
Here is Alfred talking about his experience about a bandit in Burma

Alfred Pennyworth: Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

The clash of the opposing forces of duality are exemplified by Joker -
The Joker: Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go, could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.
The final edition of the trilogy- The Dark Knight Rises deals with the fall and the ultimate rise of the hero. Here batman is faced with an enemy that comes with a conviction and an ideal. This is the moral dilemma that faces the mind when faced with diverting ideals; the intellect itself is torn for the right choice. In this hour of crisis the mind often falsely chooses the brash and quick fix over what is rational. Consider the rhetoric of Bane; the tone is for a revolution to liberate Gotham when in fact he is leading Gotham to its destruction –

(What are you?) Bane: I am Gotham’s reckoning.

Bane: Gotham, take control... take control of your city. Behold the instrument of your liberation!

The fight is now elevated to an even higher level; the fight is for the soul of Gotham and the soul of Batman himself. The bedrock of the mind the soul itself is to be destroyed.
Bruce Wayne: Why didn't you just kill me?
Bane: Your punishment must be more severe.
Bruce Wayne: Torture?
Bane: Yes, but not of the body, of the Soul. I will build you and Gotham up with hope and then destroy you. Hope is really the key to torture. Gotham will build to a point of joy and then be wiped from the map.
Bruce Wayne: You are a madman.
Bane: When Gotham is ashes... then you have my permission to die.

When the hero falls into the deepest abyss of desperation and hopelessness, he must fall back on his own soul to find light. The hero must turn his own weakness into his greatest strength, Bruce Wayne receives wisdom – use your fear to rise!! . The only way to climb out of hellhole is without using ropes, using the strength that fear provides. The hero must Rise!!
Crowd: [chanting] Deh-Shay, Deh-Shay, Bah Sah Rah. Bah Sah Rah.
Bruce Wayne: What does that mean?
Prisoner: "Rise."

Finally after the evil is vanquished and order is restored, we are reminded that heroism is reflected not only in great acts of valour but also in simple acts of reassurance and help.

Batman: A hero can be anyone- even a man doing something as simple and reassuring as putting their coat around a young boy's shoulder to let him know the world hasn't ended.

Hat’s off to the wizardry of Mr. Nolan, now the long wait for his next masterpiece!!