preview

Analysis Of The Vigilante Spirit

Decent Essays
Open Document

Mann, Justin., “The Vigilante Spirit: Bernhard Goetz, Batman, and racial violence in 1980s NY”. George Washington University, pg. 57-66
Rising in the late 1980s the ‘vigilante spirit’ as explain by Justin Mann was brought upon by the regularity of “crime and unending hostility” (Mann) that plagued the streets on New York. It was in this time graphic novelist Frank Miller sought to captivate his audience in a “more realistic” (Miller) representation of New York which was the model for Batman’s ‘Gotham City’. The vigilante spirit presented during this time coincided with a sense of “color-blind racism” (Alexander 2012; Bonilla Silva 2014) that was built on the fear of ‘white-city dwellers’ being vulnerable to minority crime. Frank Millers …show more content…

This creates a deeper moral issue for the viewer as well as Bruce and Batman.

Mara Sophia Ellen Weiss, R.O., Th.D.. The Christ Complex. www.gnostic.org/articles_teachers/christ_complex.htm.
Committing himself to a life of seeking justice following his parent’s death it can be implied that Bruce Wayne channels himself into what Mara Weis refers to as the ‘Christ Complex’. Weis explains the Christ Complex as an “individual fixed on superiority and claim of being a savior” (Weis). Disregarding the obvious extreme of this which includes psychopathic murders, Weis claims there are varying ranges of ‘subtle conditions’. This addiction of subtle conditions can play into Bruce’s alternate identity by swearing to avenge his parent’s death and “rid Gotham of crime” (Origins). Bruce Channels this almost profound responsibility into his alter ego Batman which creates an image of superior stature. Weis confirms the logic by stating as one grows spiritually “development allows us to realize our full potential behind the innocence and loss of the child we once were”. (Weis??)
Marks, Nadine F., et al. “Death of Parents and Adult Psychological and Physical Well-Being: A Prospective U.S. National Study.” Journal of family issues, U.S. National Library of Medicine, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2638056/.
To better understand the underlying psychological problems Bruce faces with his parent’s death the authors of this article explain in their

Get Access