Batman and Culture

I had not realized it had been so long since my last post. The con season as well as the end of a long fall semester got the best of my time though.  But, I am back with a post on the cultural significance of Batman tonight.  I tried to come up with a running theme or themes, but have found I tend to write according to my mood and what I am tuned into at the time.  So, with that, I will move forward with Batman !

Cultural Significance of Batman

Since the conception of Batman in 1939 the face of popular culture in the United States and the rest of the world has greatly changed due to many technological advancements, because of these advancements the face of Batman as a cultural artifact has changed as well, reflecting those changes and benefiting our culture by giving people a common idea of how powerful a superhero that is merely human can be while remaining the original conception of Bruce Wayne, a business man, and Batman, his secret identity. The artifact of Batman can be found all over the world. In the United States specifically it would be hard to go shopping at a mall without having an encounter with at least one piece of Batman memorabilia. With his two sided nature, Batman can identify to any normal person with a job and an agenda for helping mankind, which is generally an inherent quality of all humanity.

Batman the artifact significantly functions as a cultural sign by having a great amount of symbology from the symbol of a solid black bat in front of a circle of light to the idea that Batman the artifact is symbolic of a hero and good having the ability to overcome evil. Popular culture is very aware of all of these symbols of Batman. Batman even has his own song, “nananana, nananana, Batman”, which is seemingly imprinted within our culture so that if you sing the Batman song the majority of people will know exactly what your referring to. As culture and technology have changed from the time of Batman's first conception the portrayals and depictions of Batman have changed as well. When Batman was first created he was created as a detective in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939), in a time period commonly referred to as the “Golden Age” of comics when many of the comic superheros and villains were being created. When Batman was first created he did not yet have all of the villains, weapons, and experience that the character has now. The personification of Batman, like society, has grown since his first conception. This becomes extremely obvious if one looks at the capes that Batman used to use in the original television show, and then then looks at the body armor suite that he wears in The Dark Knight (2008).

The bat itself can be seen as a symbol of darkness and mysticism as the bat flies only at night and is blind, relying on its ears to navigate through the night by hearing echoes and using them to judge the shape and distances of objects. Batman is a sign of someone reaching for that darkness and mysticism for the greater purpose of good. Because of this darkness, Batman creates fear in his enemies and dares the criminals to be not, or face his bat strength and wrath. Not only can Batman and all of his symbols be seen as cultural artifacts, but the villains that he overcomes as well. For example, the Joker, one of Batman's greatest nemesis represents the idea of someone being overly comical, and not taking life seriously enough, which batman overcomes, showing that life is not all fun and games which also represents some of the inner workings of Batman because if he were to not take life seriously he would not be the super hero that he is. There are many other villains that Batman has to overcome, including, Two-Face, the Riddler, Mr. Freeze, Poison Ivy, and Penguin, to name a few. Batman functions as a sign of all these things and as an icon of American culture.

According to Barry Brummett there are three types of meanings; indexical, iconic, and symbolic (Brummett, P8). The artifact that is Batman has cultural meaning in all of these ways. Batman has indexical meaning by representing the entire sub-culture of comic book heroes, and superheros. Not only does Batman represent the comic book sub-culture, he also represents the idea of a hero in general, going back to stories told in parables and mythos of a hero that has the ability to overcome intense opposition. Another indexical meaning of Batman is that he can be his association with a bat, anytime someone sees a bat it can be likened to Batman, and vice versa.

One icon of batman of course is his own symbol of a bat with a circle of light behind it, which has changed numerous times from the time of its first conception, this icon has the cultural meaning of giving help to those in need, as a giant spot light is shined into the sky with the Batman symbol in the middle of it whenever his help is needed, this icon also represents Batman himself. The image of Batman himself has an iconic meaning to the culture and has always been changing from the first drawings to the most recent movies and comics. The actual icon of Batman is always changing, but the meaning to the culture has always been the same. Batman will always be a superhero that can overcome tremendous trials and tribulations in order to benefit the good of mankind.

All of these are also symbols of Batman that give meaning to his entire entity. Batman has symbolic meaning in every aspect of his being, if one looks at it from any perspective, they can see that there are symbols throughout all of life, including Batman, so many it would be impossible to mention or process them all. According to Barry Brummett, “everything is a sign of something else” (Brummett, P8). For example I could say that the symbol of batman having a black cape means that he has an underlying desire to be dark and mysterious, one could also say that the cape represents his swiftness and agility in the darkness in the night, further, one could just say that his black cape is symbolic of a the wings of a bat, in any case the symbol of Batman's cape has meaning. There is also the symbol of Batman being a bat and a bat has the meaning of being is seen as scary to some people including Batman the character, according to the storyline of Batman Begins (Nolan, 05), and this is why Batman chose to be a Bat so that he would seem just as frightening to his enemies.
 

    Another aspect is the  normal societal self, we also have a secret self that we are not necessarily open to everyone about, and like Batman, everyone is  a product of  culture and change with mculture as well as create the culture around us. This is why Batman can be considered a great example of an artifact of popular culture. The reason that so many people are into Batman is very complex, yet understandable. One can understand how all of these people would be interested in Batman, but would have to ask them the question of exactly why they like, or relate to this cultural artifact. One would think the appeal of Batman comes from the ways he kicks his enemies butts and is not a bragger about it, or how he has two balancing sides seemingly black and white, maybe the way he always ends up getting the girl, or maybe people are even more interested in the characters that Batman fights against, regardless, Batman has a great appeal and deserves respect as one of the most popular artifacts of our modern society.

Throughout all cultures one will always find artifacts of great significance and influence. In our culture the artifact Batman has ultimate significance and influence. Batman the personified character has undergone subtle change many times in physical appearance and has manifested into something much greater than the original, which is indicative of the changes within our culture. Even the characters that have played Batman in the Batman movies are direct representations of the popular culture of the time, for instance, in the late 80's Batman was played by Michael Keaton, and recently Christian Bale. Although the face of Batman has literally undergone many changes, the idea of Batman being a well off business man with a secret super hero facade and his commitment to justice has remained. With all of his existence in popular culture one can understand how Batman was manifested by popular culture, and at the same time must understand that Batman has had just as great of an affect on popular culture itself. As our culture grows Batman will continue to change and manifest as the same old superhero with new, modern characteristics, thus Batman will always have just as great of an influence on culture as culture has on Batman. All of this will pave the way for superheroes at heart and popular culture into the future.

Nolan : http://www.batman-on-film.com/batman-coolness_Bat-Films_Nolan-Bale-BEGINS-CRose_7-4-13.html

Brummett: Rhetoric in Pop Culture.  2014.