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Batman Archetype

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The modern world is filled with different kinds of heroes. To some, heroes are sports figures who are winning not only on the playing field but also in life. To others, heroes are family members or in most cases fictional characters, (superheroes), who are fighting against evil. That being said everyone has a hero figure that he or she views as a role model, it is who they are striving to be like. An example of the modern hero that will be discussed in the remainder of this paper comes from The Batman Trilogy, which happens to be Batman himself. When people talk about different heroes the thing they tend to not realize is that the hero is a part of a character archetype, also known as archetypal hero. The idea of archetypes was first introduced …show more content…

The idea of a hero has been around for centuries, going back all the way to Biblical times; for example, Moses was viewed as a hero for delivering the Jewish people from slavery. Even going further back in time to the Greeks and their idea of Greek mythology which also had heroes in it. The archetypal hero possess many traits specific to his or her character that common people do not have; for example, the hero endures a tragedy, the hero goes on a journey, the hero is willing to self-sacrifice, and lastly the hero has a specific goal. The character played by Christian Bale, (Batman), is an archetypal hero who posses the qualities of a hero mentioned …show more content…

Typically, after the journey, the hero acquires useful skills, such as, wisdom, strength, courage, etc. The journey is never easy and according to Joseph Campbell, the hero’s journey consists of twelve stages: ordinary world, call to adventure, refusal of the call, meeting with the mentor, crossing the threshold, encounter of tests, approach to the inmost cave, ordeal, reward, the road back, resurrection, and return with elixir (Michigan State University). Since there are so many stages only the five main ones will be described. The first stage of the journey is the call to adventure. The hero’s normal world is shaken up by an event, (at times a tragedy), that causes him or her to go on a quest to search for answers. In the movie Batman Begins, Bruce Wayne’s parents get murdered, which results in him leaving the city to go on a journey. The second stage is meeting with the mentor. On his journey the hero meets a mentor who is there to help/teach the hero all the necessary tasks for the trials to come. In the same movie, Bruce Wayne meets his mentor Henri Ducard, (played by Liam Neeson), who trains Bruce to become an exceptional fighter and to learn “to confront the guilt/anger and face the truth” (Batman Beings). The third stage is crossing the threshold. Crossing the threshold signifies that the hero is fully committed to the journey and is willing to complete the

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