I just saw Batman the Dark Night a few days ago, and after processing the film for a while, feel like I can now speak on it. At the same time, the book club I am a part of has been reading Camile Paglia’s book Sexual Persona, and for good or bad, some of her ideas have snuck into my analysis of the movie.
Before I talk about Batman, I find it only fair to give you a brief look at the themes that I have found in Paglia’s book. One of here thesis is that we are in the midst of an extremely Pagan culture, that is climaxing in idol worship of stars. The cult of personality is real, and religion. She also has this idea that the two main driving entities in human existence have been the Apollonian and the Dionysian- which she will call the chthonian.
The Apollonian is male, Dionysian female. The Apollonian is conqueror, Dionysian rest. Apollonian is rational, categorical, visual, analytical. The Dionysian is chaotic, base, unknown, emotional. She gets here via many avenues (including the sex organs themselves) but that is not what concerns us for today’s purposes. What is important is that these two elements are always present in Pagan myth. There is always a god Apollo and Dionysus. Other traditions call them by different names, but their characteristics are the same.
The Apollonian Gods are knowable. They are rational. The Dionysian are not. Very often the Dionysian shown up as different sexes, or as cross dressers. They are tricksters not to be trusted. They revel in chaos, since it is their mother tongue. The Apollonian don’t. The gods of Olympus are rational and ordered. They don’t enter into the affairs of the Dionysus’. Apollo was the god of light, sun, truth, prophecy, healing, arts, etc. Dionysus was he god of wine, frenzy, orgy, madness, ecstasy. We can compare this to Norse mythology with Thor and Loki. Thor the protector, and Loki the god of mischief, lies, and chaos. There are always these opposing forces in Pagan mythology.
I tend to agree with Paglia on this point. I don’t always agree with what she says, and some of her assumptions and conclusions I find erroneous, but she is right on the mark with this one. (I intend to write more about the book and its assertions as I get into it, but right now I am only on chapter 4, and I want to talk about Batman). Which brings us to Batman. If Paglia is right and the cinema is the height of paganism, then I submit that Batman proves here thesis. In fact, I have not seen a more pagan movie in the general cinemas in my lifetime.
That is not to say that there is not pagan tendencies in other movies, but even then they pale in comparison to the Dark Night. Movies about vampires and the occult, even about pagan deities retain a distinctly Christian narrative, or the throw it completely off for nothing, in the very Post-Modern way. No Country for Old Men is the culmination of this post modern approach. There is no redemption, and even no code to live by. The criminals morality is just as good (if not better since he is consistent) as anyone else’s. This isn’t a return to paganism though, it is a casting off of Western Christian Thought, but it fails to replace it with something. If we look at Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a show which frequently depicts occult actions, and even more that this actual Pagan gods as characters, we still see it is Christian in origin. The slayer has to sacrifice herself (end of season 5) to save the world. There is good and evil, and they are named as such, they operate with in the human system (for the most part), and there is an eventual triumph of good over evil. This is the Christian world view.
Batman had none of this. It operates so ,much differently from all other hero movies, I think it is in class of its own. Let us explore Batman’s world. There is a definite morality (unlike post modern works). There is a right and a wrong, criminal and Samaritan, a good and a bad. Batman is fighting for the good. He is fighting for a good (almost) bigger than himself. He is fighting to protect his city. But unlike Christian morality he is bigger that it. There is right and wrong, and he is fighting for right, but he doesn’t have to answer for his actions. He is outside of the system he is trying to save. This is evident in the multiple crimes he commits to bring outlaws and criminals to justice.
If the movie has morality, but the main characters operate outside these rules, then the scene is ripe for Paganism. Now the Christian God is outside the system in some sense. He created it. But the way he saves his people is through submission to said system. He enters it as human and follows its rules, and through this is able to bring about salvation through self sacrifice. This is not Batman. He is above. He is Apollo who can watch and protect from afar, but never enters, never sacrifices (we will get to this in a moment). He is a savior who rises above the morality to rescue, not one who lowers himself to the people’s level. This is why it is pagan. Batman is a pagan god. He is the apollonian trying to create order. He is stable, unemotional, visual (as seen by his radar). He makes plans and has ideas. He is self control. He is Thor protecting another’s creation.
And here is the kicker, the Joker is no different. He is larger that the system as well. He is chaos, death, and destruction. He is the prankster, unpredictable. He is Dionysus, Loki, the chthonian. He doesn’t operate within the bounds. He burns his money and kills indiscriminately. Even the criminals fear him because he doesn’t follow their rules. HE is the absence o rules. He has no loyalties, no beginning (he gives multiple reasons for his scars, and we are left to decide how he really got them, although we lean toward a new, unspoken explanation) and nothing to lose.
He is Batman’s opposite, but also his compliment. Every Apollo ha a Dionysus. An the Joker knows this. He says throughout that he won’t kill Batman, that they are alike. And he is right. They are brothers. They are outside the system. One wants to save it, and the other destroy it, but they work the same way. Thy break the rules and don’t answer for it. They live by their own code, and don’t apologize for it. They are the Greek gods. They sit on Olympus and watch the humans. They intervene to enact their own ends, but they never intervene within the rules. Batman is not a cop or lawyer fighting for justice; he is a dark vigilante spying on people in the night. The Joker is not a mob boss, or crooked politician; he is something completely other.
And the battle, although talking place in the mortal coil, is more than it. It is the battle between the Olympians and Titans, the order and disorder, the Apollonian and the Dionysian. The Joker understands this, while Batman is lagging behind. The Joker is ready to assume his place as god, Batman is unaware he is one.
This is why the battles are so epic and yet so Pagan. This is why the Joker is so creepy, yet so captivating. This is why Batman is so “honorable”, and yet so stoic. This is why we can’t relate to either. They are above us, they are not of this world, they are gods. We can never be like them. The others who try in the movie die. They mimic the costume of the Bat and try stop fight crime, but he stops them, and the Joker hangs one. Neither want them to be. They can’t be. They are not gods. They are still forced to operate within the world, and when they don’t the gods have their justice. They won’t be mocked. This work is not for mortals. In the same way the crime bosses also die. They don’t understand why they can’t work with the Joker. He is not like them. They have to work with in the system. They need money to bribe, to pay their goons, to feed themselves. The Joker is above this. He is a god, the god they thought they wanted to worship, until he shows his face. They can’t work with him, he is to far other.
Only Batman, a fellow immortal understands him, can hope to understand him. It is Batman who figures out the Jokers schemes, and no one else wants to listen. The Joker can turn the system on itself because his is not part of it. His identity has nothing to do with the rest. All of ours does. In the final battle it is Batman who realizes that the hostages are the criminals and visa versa. It is Batman who has to fight both the cops and the Joker to preserve the good. Not because the swat team was evil, but they were not transcendent enough to know the Joker. They couldn’t be, they are human. They work within the system, they are not gods. Batman on the other hand is. He is larger. He can know the Joker, in part because they are of the same otherness. He can protect even the people with guns (who are actually the good guys) because he is not bound by society. He is outside the system as its protector, and as such is its god.
This is pagan salvation. The gods are always outside human affairs, though they do meddle in them. There are no consequences for the gods when the interfere, only their human followers. They follow their own code that is outside and above humanities, and as such can fight for justice. They perfect humanity (in Batman’s case) by being outside it and calling us to its ideals (though begging us to forget the means). They also destroy humanity (as in the case of the Joker) buy being outside it, and therefore independent of its rise and fall. They bring chaos and order, good and evil, the Apollonian and Dionysian. The pagan gods are create din our image, both light and dark, but better than us at both. They are not bound to struggle and rules. They are released to be pure. And they are only released by operating outside of us.
Pagan gods protect from afar. They are not dirty. They are other. They need not sacrifice. Christian God does. He not only creates humanity (and so in inherently above it) he enters it (and so becomes it). It is through this entrance into the system that He will save it. It is through death that He will live. It is through the apparent victory of Chaos that God will triumph.
Let me digress quickly to speak about creation. Pagan creation had chaos reigning first. The primordial chthonian is the rule. Order is hen brought by Apollonian gods. Chaos is always there under the surface though. Christian creation is different. Order is the rule. God creates orderly. He then puts man in a garden (which is by nature tame) and gives him duties. There is plan. The chthonian enters in though. Disorder was outside, against God’s plan, and is allowed to enter. It is not the first. Nature does not revolt against man until man revolts against nature. This is anti-pagan. The serpent brings chaos in, it is not inherent in mans creation. And so we have the seemingly triumph of chaos. But there is still plan. Redemption is still going to occur, and chaos can’t stop it. It tries many times, and when God is crucified it looks as though it has won, but God ultimately triumphs by making that part of the plan. Order wins. God’s sacrifice, although it appears a lose, is a win. It was what he wanted to happen. What seemed like chaos and evil was in fact order and good. This is the Christian redemption.
This is not Batman’s salvation. He doesn’t sacrifice at all. The argument can be made that he took a bullet by Two Face at the end to save the kid, but this is erroneous. First it doesn’t save anyone. His being shot doesn’t replace the execution of the Commissioner’s kid. What stops it is Batman recovering and killing Two Face. This is not sacrifice. More than this, we know, as does Batman that he is wearing body armor. There is not fear of death. It is a rouse. He is pretending to die so that he can stop Two Face. Again this is not sacrifice. Sacrifice is only true when there is a real possibility of death, or death itself. There also must be a shifting of blame in the act. The one being sacrificed must assume another’s guilt so that they go free. If this doesn’t happen, there is no sacrifice. This scene is Pagan salvation, not Christian. The god (still outside our rules) appears to operate with in them to trick the mortal. He then stops the threat by imposing his will upon the mortal, and as such saves the others. The Apollonian violently usurps the chthonian. The city is saved because our god forced the evil away. He embarked in battle, and comes back victorious.
The other possible sacrifice we see is that Batman, after Two Faces death assumes his guilt to spare the city the same of Two Faces transformation. But is this really sacrifice? First I claim it is Pagan because of the ideals it holds. It is okay to lie to maintain honor and glory. This is distinctly Spartan. If truth hurts the greater cause it is okay to withhold it. This is not sacrifice but deception. This is Pagan salvation. Humans need to be sheltered from reality. The gods decide hat is best for us against our wishes. Since they are outside the system, they can do this. They a e our betters. They have the better view. They protect by keeping us children.
I claim it is also not sacrifice because nothing changes. Batman still operates. He doesn’t give up anything. Sure some cops who once were on his side are now against him, but let us remember they should have been against him all the time (if he were human) because he constantly breaks the law. He is a criminal. This act of “sacrifice” doesn’t change his status, just people’s perception of it. Reality has not changed. This is not sacrifice. He is still Batman. He is still protector. He is still god of Gotham. Pagan worship has always been tenuous. People worship their god when he blesses them, and revolt when he doesn’t. This is no different for Batman, and one can assume that they will worship once again when the time calls for it. They don’t need him anymore, and so he is a threat. This is true of all pagan deities. They are always threats since they are outside out system. They never have to follow our rules. Sometimes we need them though, and so tolerate their presence. Once we have established order on our own though, it is too great a threat to keep those who are outside it. Batman will still be Batman. Nothing has changed. This is not sacrifice in the Christian sense. He is still watching from a distance, and will return when the need arises. He has succeeded in his mission, bring Apollonian order to Gotham, and now he can sit form afar until the Dionysian returns, at which point he will be there to stop it. Remember he was never to save the city from the inside.
His assuming blame for Two Face’s murders is much more akin to a mother Bear driving her offspring away when it is time for them to grow up, then sacrificing himself. HE sees Gotham as fixed, or on the road to goodness in the very least, and needs it to depend less on him. He is thee to save it, not maintain it after. That is always the systems job. The Greek gods interfere at moments in time, content to let he humans decide their own fate. They occasionally steer the ship, but they are not the captain. So it is with Batman. He is needed to fight Chaos, bring about order, but once it exists, he needs to stop Gotham from suckling his tit. The threats are gone, and so must he. But he can not leave until Gotham realizes it no longer needs him, and so he criminalizes himself. Again this is pagan salvation, no Christian.
As you can see, the world of Batman is pagan to the core. It is set up to be the classic (pagan) struggle between chaos and order. Its agents are gods who operate outside of humanity, and are guided by higher principles. As such they are allowed to violate ours. They escape consequences in the conventional sense because they are ultimately other, and so can’t possibly be expected to conform. I intend to write more as I digest it.
If this is truly where cinema is going, or where our ideals lie as a nation, I feel we can say confidently with Paglia that we are a pagan culture. And I think this is where we are. Movies do well because they resonate. If Batman is resonating with people, it is because they believe what it is selling. And they are buying it hand over fist. We are pagan, not post modern, not Christian, not other, but pagan, and I also intend to write about this in the future as well. Stay tuned.
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