Nolanverse Batman Reflections- The Ill Made Knight

Some ramblings in anticipation of The Dark Knight Rises:
In Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne refuses to execute a murderer on behalf of the League of Shadows. His reason? He believes compassion is what separates the just from the unjust. A noble and true claim. However, when we reach the climax of the first film we see Batman refusing to save Ra's al Ghul from fiery death. Now we have a problem. Bruce fails to live up to his ideals of justice and compassion. He refuses to save Ra’s, the man to whom he once professed the importance of compassion. Bruce once thought killing was unjust because it lacked compassion but now he rejects the spirit of compassion in order to observe his “no killing” code in a way which ultimately makes him feel better. He has become a very theatrical and very well dressed vigilante.  Beyond that he is demonstrating the same lack of compassion which he once chided Ra’s and the League of Shadows for. What's going on here?

Nolan is continuing the tradition of the imperfect hero. Like T.H. White's Lancelot, Batman proves to be an Ill-Made-Knight. Though by his superhero profession a man striving after goodness, Bruce Wayne’s choices reflect those of a flawed human-being and a citizen of the same broken city that took his parents. He is fundamentally a child of Gotham. Forged in grief and pain in Crime Ally, Bruce Wayne spent most of his life striving after vengeance. After having the opportunity for revenge stripped away by Carmine Falcone, and his understanding of vengeance shaken by Rachel Dawes, Bruce Wayne attempts to become a just hero—to no success.

For whatever reason, Nolan wanted his audience to have an imperfect hero. Someone who is very much a part of the same city he hates. Who commits the same fundamental mistakes which he judges and criticizes his opponents for making. This version of Batman seems designed to support, at least for now, Harvey Dent's pessimistic idea that, "you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain." He may not be a villain yet but Batman keeps failing to be the hero Gotham really needs.

And given the circumstances of Dark Knight we are tempted to agree with Harvey to an extent. Harvey fell into Two-Face. And Bruce...well Bruce actually saw himself become the villain in the eyes of Gotham; maybe Harvey was wrong! Maybe there is--in Bruce's noble lie--salvation for a city and the means of preserving the purity of his soul through sacrifice! Or not.

Nolan is clever. We almost fall for his bait and accept that in spite of what the public may believe that Batman has overcome his brokenness. But once again the director has given us too much coincidence for this to be the case. As it was with Ra's al Ghul so it has been with the Joker. Batman reprimands Joker for wrongly believing that the people of Gotham city will make the easy, selfish choice when faced with an unpleasant reality. The Gothamites refused to play the Joker's game. Batman, on the other hand, was more compliant. After Harvey's corruption, Batman and Gordon agree that the people of Gotham would be unable to handle the truth of Harvey's betrayal. Batman takes it upon himself to become the living lie, a story and scapegoat meant to save Gotham from the unpleasant truth that their great White Knight was undone by the harshness of reality. Batman and Gordon so believe that the people of Gotham would, like Harvey, be unable to cope with the harsh truth of reality. Like Harvey, Bruce and Gordon choose to follow the Joker all in the name of defeating the Joker.  They choose to compromise rather than to embrace chaos completely as Harvey did. But they do compromise. In an attempt to keep the Joker’s success and Harvey’s failure under wraps the heroes also buckle under the strain and become little Two-Faces. We have a hero selflessly sacrificing his own reputation...but for an unworthy cause. He deceives Gotham, protecting them from truth and adds a failure to live up to the ideal of truth to his previous failure to live up to that of Justice. If Batman goes on to renounce the American way he will essentially become an anti-Superman—but that would just be bizarre.

I constantly get flagged as being a fiction conspiracy theorist by my friends and family. Sometimes they are joking and other times they mean every word. In all honesty I deserve it, in retrospect some of my ideas have been rather... shall we say far fetched? I get asked--isn't it all a little too coincidental? Isn't that out of character for the author or director? This is one of those happy times when I can easily support my theories with hard evidence. How do I know this was Nolan's intention? Honestly I don't. It’s a bit of a gamble. But if you're asking why I think someone like Nolan would have his hero broken and conflicted and why he might choose to pile on misdirection after misdirection to make you lose track of whether or not Batman is a hero or a failure; all I can say is look at the man's track record. Inception. The Prestige. Insomnia. Memento. Nolan shows a penchant for messing with our perspective and shaking us up, for writing characters and events which aren't quite what they seem, and for resting the truth of entire movies on a single scene. He truly believes in the power of theatricality and deception. The man is a cinematic magician.

So what's next? Will Batman fail to meet some ideal in this new film or will he "rise" as the title suggests? Is our Dark Knight destined to commit an error similar to Bane's or will he somehow manage to pick himself up from this fall which has continued since that night in Park Row behind the opera house? All trailers and promotional signs point to our hero's redemption but looking at Nolan's track record I wouldn't be surprised if a tragic flaw is slipped in his final victory. Perhaps Bruce won't be redeemed. Perhaps he can't really save Athens. I mean Camelot! I mean Russia! I mean Gotham! Maybe Nolan doesn't see Batman as a true hero. Maybe Bruce is just the prophet and Noland would prefer a character who, like Nightwing, can better balance light and dark to save the city. Or maybe humans aren't good enough! Perhaps only a Superman could truly and completely save the day. We will see. It’s been a long run and I’m looking forward to the finish.