The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes
The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes
Slide 1: Introduction
Batman’s presentation in comic books, films, and television programs is a typical example of superheroes’ stories. The emerged during World War II and has been ongoing and evolving since then. This presentation describes how Batman’s superhero story has been reflecting the culture or the era of production. Also, the presentation describes the hero’s journey in brief and gives examples about how the story of Batman features the underlying stages The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
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Slide 2: Superhero’s Brief History
The first story of Superhero Batman was written by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in Detective Comics and was published in May 1939. Since then, Batman’s stories have been published in comic books and reflected in films and television programs (Young & Gabriel, & Hollar, 2013). The character Batman has even been appearing in the most recent films in the 21st century. Among the stories the superhero has been presented in the past include Superman #76, Batman: The Animated Series, The Dark Knight Trilogy, Knightfall, and DC Rebirth The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
Slide 3: Reflection of an Era
Batman’s story and presentation in comic books, films, and television programs have always reflected the culture of the production period, despite maintaining some of the traditional elements of folktales (Reyns & Henson, 2010). Initially, Batman was presented as a killer of criminals and his enemies without remorse, reflecting the culture of war and aggressiveness and insecurities and struggles experienced by the Americans in the 1930s and the earlier years. After the end of World War II, however, the portrayal of Batman changed. To reflect a society where forgiveness was promoted more than war, Batman stopped killing his enemies (Reyns & Henson, 2010). Also, a softer sidekick of Batman called Robin was introduced The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
Slide 4: Refection of an Era (Cont.)
In the 1960s, Batman’s story reflected messages that were central to the Civil Rights Movement. For instance, Batman expressed support for equal educational opportunities for all children and accepted that the native tribe in American needs to be recognized and respected. In recent years, significantly since the 1990s, Batman’s story has drifted more toward science fiction (Kurniawan, 2018). At the same time, Batman’s stories have increased the emphasis on the importance of education and training. In Dark Knight Trilogy, for instance, Bruce Wayne travels to all continents to acquire skills and knowledge in psychology, sociology, criminology, forensics, martial arts, and manhunting (Kurniawan, 2018) The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
Slide 5: Why Resonate with Eras
The main reason why Batman’s story has always strived to resonate with the era of production is to reflect the existing culture and to address the most recent issues and problems in society. Also, the writers strive to enhance rather than reduce the stories’ ability to appeal to the audiences (Kurniawan, 2018). After World War II, for instance, the menacing overtone in Batman’s presentation as an aggressive killer of all of his enemies and criminals scared young audiences and seemed to be uninteresting. However, the change of the tone afterward led to a doubling of the sales of comic stories of Batman (Kurniawan, 2018). As technology has advanced over the last few decades, Batman’s presentation has to catch up to maintain its attractiveness to the audiences The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
Slide 6: Monomyth/ Heroes Journey
Hero’s journey, the monomyth, is the path of transformation that a hero or superhero goes through from the start of a story to the end. The path usually makes the mythical stories have an almost similar pattern or structure in transforming a hero (Williams & Carvalho, 2021). Monomyth has three main stages, as shown on the image, namely the separation or departure from the ordinary world, initiation of the new world, and return after winning or succeeding (Williams & Carvalho, 2021). The transformation process involves many small stages, which vary from one theory to another. Joseph Campbells’ theory suggests 17 steps of a hero’s transformation as shown in the image The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
Slide 7: Superhero’s Elements of Monomyth
The first stage in monomyth is the call to act to adventure. During the stage, the heroes experience situations that push them toward acting in a way that would move them away from the ordinary world (Williams & Carvalho, 2021). In Batman’s story, the call, for instance, the story starts with the hero experiencing extreme anger due to the murder of his parents by criminals when he was young, yet he was helpless and could not protect them (Williams & Carvalho, 2021). He turns the anger toward killing other people, primarily the criminals.
Slide 8: Superhero’s Elements of Monomyth (Cont.)
The fourth stage of Campbell’s monomyth, called crossing the first threshold, is also apparent in the story of Batman. During the stage, a hero enters the new world consisting of many risks and dangerous situations (Williams & Carvalho, 2021). The hero has to deal with the dangers and, in most cases, fight against powerful forces. In Batman’s story, the hero reaches a point where he acts as a spy (Williams & Carvalho, 2021). He faces more significant challenges than fighting crime on the streets of stopping a terrorist attack involving Anatoli Knyazev and other parties and dangerous acts by the military of planning to use DNA to awaken superman that could harm the humans The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
Slide 9: Superhero’s Elements of Monomyth (Cont.)
Stage 11 of Campbell’s monomyth, called the ultimate boom, is also very clear in the story. During the stage, the hero manages to win that final battle and achieve the accomplishments of the whole mission. In Batman, the hero wins after fighting and successfully defeating superman, who is very strong and the most feared (Williams & Carvalho, 2021).
Slide 10: Conclusion
In conclusion, Batman is a superhero written in many comic books and presented in numerous films and television programs since World War II. Batman’s story has always reflected the culture of the production period to appeal to the audiences and address the present issues and problems, among other reasons. The story follows the stages of the hero’s journey, as explained in the presentation The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes.
References
Kurniawan, D. (2018). The Death Of Superhero Portrayed In Batman V Superman: Dawn Of
Justice Film. Universitas Brawijaya: Sarjana thesis.
Reyns, B.W. & Henson, B. (2010). “Superhero justice: The depiction of crime and justice in
modern-age comic books and graphic novels.” In Deflem, M. (Ed.) Popular Culture, Crime and Social Control (Sociology of Crime, Law and Deviance, Vol. 14). Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, B, pp. 45-66.
Young, A. & Gabriel, S. & Hollar, J. (2013). Batman to the rescue! The protective effects of
parasocial relationships with muscular superheroes on men’s body image. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49(1), 173–177. doi: 10.1016/j.jesp.2012.08.003
Williams, B. & Carvalho, L. (2021). The trajectory of a fourth-generation female entrepreneur as
seen through a monomyth lens – Casa Ermelinda Freitas.” Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 1-21. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2020.1789827 The Monomyth and Superhero Recycled Themes
