8) Christopher Nolan’s Batman
For all the realistic and gritty qualities that Christopher Nolan melded to The Dark Knight Trilogy, his cinematic portrayal of Batman brought a certain spiritual angle to Gotham’s caped crusader. From Bruce Wayne’s globe-trotting odyssey in Batman Begins to his personal sacrifice in The Dark Knight Rises, Batman’s journey from banished vigilante to a worshipped hero is brilliantly realised and it’s a tribute to Christopher Nolan and his team that the story never feels contrived or predictable. And over the course of the three films there are a plethora of reasons to parallel Nolan’s Batman to the messianic archetype.
Bruce Wayne’s self-sacrificing traits are perhaps most evident during the finale of The Dark Knight. Spurred with his go-save-the-world-attitude from the first movie, the world’s greatest detective goes head to head against his arch nemesis The Joker, which forces him to take the blame for Harvey Dent’s death in order to maintain the reputation of Gotham’s White Knight. Enduring this sacrifice for the salvation of others who don’t deserve it is unquestionably a messianic trope, and the interchange between Commissioner Gordan and his son cements Batman’s representation as the true anti-hero. “The hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.” Bound by principles, Mr. Wayne is the silent guardian, the watchful protector who will go out of the way for his city because his belief in the people is so unwavering.
This symbolism is further emphasised in the concluding film, particularly when Bane extradites Bruce to the arid prison. It’s a metaphorical hell. A dark underworld that our hero must ascend from in order to return to his people. What’s more, Talia Al Ghul is a modern interpretation of the Judas archetype, a trusted ally that betrays Batman when he is most vulnerable. Even the ending can be interpreted as Bruce’s resurrection into a new life following his city-saving sacrifice. It’s interesting, after all, once all those components coalesce you not only have a magnificent trio of movies, but a cinematic trilogy that will go down as one of the modern greats, and the religious subtext adds a fresh and remarkable dynamic to Nolan’s magnum opus.
Why so serious, eh? At times it would seem studying a film through a religious lens is tenuous. Everybody brings different baggage to the movies and different cultures will always have individual and unique spiritual contexts. And yet, the aforementioned hegemony that Hollywood has been empowered with over the years has brought about a slew of film characters that try to emulate the messianic archetype. As a business, Hollywood is rather fond of trends and our popular culture isn’t exactly short of stories orbiting around Christ-like figures or tales containing biblical motifs in some capacity. However, it is these which stand on the cinematic pantheon as memorable characters. Heck, look at how Zack Synder is bringing Superman back to the silver screen after a seven year hiatus. Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s creation has been the pioneering messiah figure since his inception in 1938 and it’ll be interesting to see how audiences receive the latest filmic adaption this coming June.
What did you make of the list? Is the messiah archetype as effective as it should be? If you’d like to pitch in with your own modern messianic figure, drop your thoughts in the comments below and be sure to tell us if you’re excited for Zack Synder’s Man of Steel, too.
