Sunday, November 29, 2009

Batman as Bluebeard?

Today I was watching one of the many Batman movies. "Batman Forever" to be exact. What caught my attention about this that relates to fairy tales is a comment that Alfred, the butler, makes during one portion of the movie. In this movie, we learn how Robin came to join the Batman. As Alfred is giving him a tour of the Bruce Wayne Manor, Robin (aka Dick Greyson) asks Alfred "What's behind this door?" in reference to the door that leads to Bruce Wayne's Batman Cave. Alfred responds "Master Wayne's dead wives."

I just thought that comment was so interesting, and I began to think about how the idea of Bluebeard plays out in Batman. In a way it is the same, minus the whole killing part, but the basic concept is still there. People want to know who the Batman is, yet he has something off setting, a blue beard if you will, that keeps them away. Villians especially feel this, or atleast in the movie that was the driving force behind their attacks on Batman. So they pursue, out of curiosity, Batman, and punished for their actions, aka ending up in jail.

I just think that some type of copying went into the creation of Batman. Bluebeard seems like such a good archtype for a story that it begs to be copied for something. With Batman, I think the whole concept of curiosity and punishment are adopted to fit a different type of story.

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