BATMAN BEGINS -- by naudy

Poor Connie. She's forced to sit in a room all day with younger co-workers who talk about nothing but obscure/foreign/bad movies and fantasy novels. It's hard on her, never having bothered to learn French, Elvish, OR Klingon, and she was bound to crack sometime.

As it happened, she finally lost it when we (yes, I'm one of the geeks) were sitting around b.s.-ing about the philosophical ramifications of BATMAN BEGINS. We had been making things up for a while, getting louder and more slap-happy as the day went on (it had already been a long week) and she who had been silent for so long finally burst out with a very cross "Batman! Huh! What's the point of Batman, anyway?"

At that point most of the room evacuated silently and in good order, with no pushing or noticeable panic, because all of them are smart enough to know when there's gonna be a smack-down. They left it to me to defuse the situation. Nice of 'em. I started talking, trying to explain the essential concept of Batman to her and by the time I'd figured out what I was trying to say and Connie finally understood me everything was back to normal. Which was when all the rats came back in the room and started talking about zombie movies.

Anyway, it made me think. What is the point of Batman? Why are we so drawn to him as a character? He's always been popular, even when he's mocked on TV sitcoms and embarrassed by feature films. What is it that makes him universal to all of us? What is it in him that we see in ourselves?

I think that BATMAN BEGINS addresses and crystalizes the answers to my questions. One of the primary conflicts in the film is the balance between social justice and vigilante-ism. Batman is not The Punisher. Batman never kills. He walks the tightrope between right and left, liberality and conservatism, never quite tipping over to the dark side completely but always questioning himself, his motives, and his actions. In the book "HOW CAN I HELP" by Ram Dass, the author says that service is always a series of questions, a curriculum for life. Whenever we seek to help others we always end up asking ourselves how is it we think we can support these people who are so strong, feed those who are so rich in spirit, shelter those who embrace us with their humanity. Batman, in providing what he sees as a needed service for his community, also asks himself these questions. He's never quite settled, never finished learning and growing, never completely at peace.

This then is why we are drawn to him. Using darkness as a mask for light, using conflict to bring peace, using terror to inspire hope, Batman symbolizes the human condition and teaches us to be brave in the face of our fears.