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Alisa Heskin Religion in Film Dr. Hammerling Final Paper 25 November, 2014

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Alisa Heskin Religion in Film Dr. Hammerling Final Paper 25 November, 2014 Alisa Heskin Religion in Film Dr. Hammerling Final Paper 25 November, 2014 Walking the Abyss in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm “He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.”1 For Friedrich Nietzsche and countless others, the abyss has long been a source of fascination. It is the “huge and yawning emptiness” of Ginnungagap where existence first comes to be in Norse mythology.2 The abyss also finds itself in Genesis as the void and the “darkness [that] was upon the face of the deep.”3 Alongside this connection to beginnings and life, the abyss is also “symbolic of hell, destruction, or death.”4 This is the abyss that seems to possess this unnerving sentience and stares back with the implied threat of death, moral or physical. It is the second of two “eternities of darkness,” the specter that is yet to follow this “brief crack of light.”5 Cinema proves an apt medium in probing this discussion further since films “both interpret us and are being interpreted by us.”6 Acclaimed documentarian Werner Herzog and director of the 2011 film Into the Abyss noted that more than one of his films could have had that title since they often explore the “abyss of the soul” and our “humanness” whether it is on death row in Texas in the aforementioned film or beneath the ice of Antarctica in Encounters at the End of the World (2007).7 Indeed, a part of what makes Into the Abyss so powerful is that in making the film, Herzog himself faced the abyss, did so unflinchingly, and 1 Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil (New York: Barnes & Noble, 2007), pg. 67. 2 Kevin Crossley-Holland, The Norse Myths (New York: Pantheon Books, 1980), pg. 3. 3 Gen. 1:2 King James Version 4 Kathryn Wood Madden, “Images of the Abyss,” Journal of Religion and Health 42 (2003), pg. 117. 5 Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited (New York: Random House, Inc., 1989), pg. 19 6 Robert K. Johnston, Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2006), pg. 33. 7 “‘Into the Abyss’ director Werner Herzog in Studio Q,” YouTube video, 9:50, posted by “Q with Jian Ghomeshi,” November 14, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlbQF2ht2ic. Heskin 2 did not surrender his views concerning capital punishment. The character of Batman and his films are also no stranger to gazing long into the abyss. Through these intermediaries, the abyss can be more freely confronted since they also provide paradigms and inspire introspection in preparation for one’s own encounter with this inevitable reality. This mode of introspection emerges in Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993) through the mirrored relationships between Batman and his antagonists, and it is these similarities between them that establish the significance of choice when gazing long into the abyss. For the purpose of clarity, the development of the analysis will begin by briefly summarizing the film in question and elaborating on the connection to Nietzsche in conjunction with Batman’s relationships with his antagonists. Due to the long and prolific history of the character, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm will serve as the cinematic focus with references to other films and adaptations being used for supplementary purposes. In the film, Andrea Beaumont acts as the primary antagonist, and her similarities to Bruce Wayne/Batman will be considered in the forms of the influence their respective parents have on them, their shared tragedies, love for each other, and the resemblance of their alter egos. In connecting Andrea’s masked persona with the means by which she pursues justice, the construction will culminate with an examination of how the two characters’ choices distinguish them in their encounters with the abyss. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a film that exists within the context of the animated series that began in the wake of Tim Burton’s Batman (1989). A masked figure going by the moniker of the Angel of Death begins systematically killing mob bosses. Mistaken for the Angel, Batman is ostracized by Gotham City’s public figures. The return of Bruce Wayne’s ex-fiancée, Andrea Beaumont, sparks a number of flashbacks to their romance ten years ago that ended with Andrea fleeing with her father to escape his dealings with the mob. The World’s Greatest Detective uncovers the victims’ connection and begins to suspect the elder Heskin 3 Beaumont of the homicides. However, the discovery of Carl Beaumont’s murder reveals Andrea as the one who has been dealing out vengeance in the guise of divine retribution. Batman intervenes but is unable to prevent her final act of revenge as she confronts the Joker at the ruins of the Gotham World Fair. The film closes with Andrea leaving behind her locket for Bruce and sailing away to eternal loneliness. The final shots are of Batman, also alone, as he perches high above the gargoyles before being called forth once more to continue his unending crusade against Gotham’s criminal element. As alluded to previously, Batman’s relationship with Nietzsche and the abyss is not a novel one. This relationship is made explicit through essays such as those that describe Batman as the ideal embodiment of Nietzsche’s übermensch or “overman/superman,” and the two are similarly characterized by independence, knowledge of suffering, great passion, and will.8 In an analysis of heroes who consistently confront their own darker natures, acclaimed writers like Jeph Loeb are said to take “Batman up to the edge of the abyss.”9 The connection reveals itself more implicitly in films such as The Dark Knight (2008) where then- District Attorney Harvey Dent asserts with tragic foreshadowing that “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain,” which echoes Nietzsche’s warning about monsters and those who fight them.10 Another allusion to Nietzsche is found in the Joker, a character who does not so much look into the abyss as cannonball into it. His remark in The Dark Knight that “whatever doesn’t kill you simply makes you…stranger” is a play on Nietzsche’s more conventional statement that such things make you stronger.11 In the philosophical Justice League: Crisis 8 C. K. Robertson. “The True Übermensch: Batman as Humanistic Myth”. The Gospel According to Superheroes: Religion and Popular Culture. Edited by B. J. Oropeza. (New York: Peter Lang Publishing, 2005), pg. 49. 9 Greg Garrett, Holy Superheroes!: Exploring Faith & Spirituality in Comic Books (Colorado Springs, Co: Piñon Press, 2005), pg. 117. 10 Christopher Nolan. The Dark Knight. Blu-Ray. Directed by Christopher Nolan. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2008. 11 Nolan, The Dark Knight; Robertson, pg. 55. Heskin 4 on Two Earths (2010), the Caped Crusader’s nihilistic counterpart, Owlman, despairs from the apparent meaninglessness of choice that accompanies an infinity of parallel worlds and endeavors to end all of reality. During the confrontation, Batman affirms, “There is a difference between you and me. We both looked into the abyss, but when it looked back at us, you blinked.”12 Here, to blink is to allow feelings of despair, fear, apathy, or vengeance to take hold of and corrupt the self. In opposing his parallel self, Batman not only defends existence from being plunged into abysmal nothingness but implicitly assigns meaning to choice. This type of shared experience contrasted with differing reactions to the abyss characterizes much of Batman’s rogues gallery, who often act as a “dark mirror” to the Dark Knight’s character by reflecting what could happen if Batman ever chose to embrace the darkness he combats.13 Most famously, or infamously, the Joker’s enthusiasm for chaos inverts Batman’s pursuit for order. On hearing of Batman’s supposed, newfound lethality during Phantasm, Joker gleefully exclaims, “Wouldn’t it be great if I’ve finally driven him off the deep end?”14 The same applies to Batman’s other villains or “counterparts.”15 Two- Face reflects the duality of the Batman/Bruce Wayne persona. Scarecrow uses fear to accomplish his ends as does Batman. The Penguin’s corrupt sense of aristocracy opposes Bruce’s benevolent presence as a philanthropist. In Andrea Beaumont, this symmetry is exemplified by their love for one another, the similarity of their tragedies, and their comparable masked personas. Most prominently, the ties to their respective parents bind Andrea and Bruce together, cause their separation, and keep them apart. This shared filial piety brings about their first 12 Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery. Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths. Directed by Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery. 2010. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 2010. 13 Michael Nichols, “I think you and I are destined to do this forever: a reading of the Batman/Joker comic and film tradition through the combat myth,” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 23 (2011), pg. 239. 14 Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Directed by Bruce W. Timm and Eric Radomski. Burbank, CA: Warner Home Video, 1993. 15 Andreas Reichstein, “Batman—An American Mr. Hyde?” Amerikastudien 43 (1998), pg. 346. Heskin 5 encounter at the cemetery where Bruce overhears Andrea speaking to her mother’s headstone. Significantly, Bruce’s vow that results in his taking up the cape and cowl precedes the meeting and foreshadows the conflict that arises in their ensuing romantic relationship. The encounter is poignantly echoed in the present following Batman’s investigation of the second murder, which occurred at the same cemetery, when Andrea glimpses Batman near the Wayne tombstone.
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