Batman Movie Themes

The fundamental and arguably the most important theme in the Batman trilogy is Fear. Fear is instilled in everyone’s hearts and this is what drives the criminals and villains such as the Joker, Scarecrow and Bain to use their force to create unrest and chaos in the city of Gotham. Raz Al Ghul tells Bruce, “In order to manipulate the fear in others, you must first master your own”. Bruce had this fear of bats and that moment in the cave has tormented his whole life (image 1). He decides to turn his own greatest phobia and transform it into the symbol he will become to strike terror and fear into the hearts and minds of his enemies: A bat.

“You must journey inwards, to what you really fear, it’s inside you”, the words of Ra’s al Ghul. This

Fear is the motivation of Batman; he himself strives and is inspired by it. The theme fear is evident throughout the batman trilogy but especially in the first movie, Batman Begins. The story begins when Bruce falls down the well and is swarmed by bats and he immediately starts to fear. On the night Bruce’s parents died, Bruce dies with

He pays a price as he tries to stop the chaos in Gotham by confronting Bain and injuring his back ineptly. Bruce is placed in a well in a Subterranean prison located somewhere in the East. This well image was also shown in the beginning of Batman Begins where Bruce faced on of his most fearful encounters, the presence of bats. The well reveals an alluring circle above the prison that shows the clear, blue sky. In order to roam free the prisoners must make despairing leaps for freedom, which often results in injury or even death. Bruce Wayne’s countless attempts to roam free of the prison is related to the scene early in Batman Begins his father comes down by a rope and lifts him back up. This traumatizing fear of that cave with the bats has been with Bruce his whole life and he is constantly reminded of it. Towards the end of the first movie Bruce is seen patching the well with wood and this almost symbolizes that he has patched over his trauma but he hasn’t really confronted it. Instead of facing his fears he chose to delay them and this has ultimately changed his whole life. In order to escape the prison Bruce needs to confront his fears and take a leap of Faith. In that scene when he is seen getting ready to take his final jump bats fly out of the wall and this is the key as he embraces the bats and he finally is ready to