Batman and Theatre — Avhinandan Chakraborty and Samyarup Choudhury
Bruce Wayne took the longest walk of his life in a cold dark Gotham alley after Joe Chill had squandered off in the busy traffic that night. Martha and Thomas both lay on the street. Little Bruce would become the saviour of the city that spilled his parents’ warm blood. He just did not know then. That day, standing in the cold dark Gotham alley beside Monarch Theatre.
Batman fans and non-fans alike might find it tough to acknowledge theatre and Batman in the same sentence. However, with some sixteen years of obsession about a comic book character and a developing passion for theatre, the idea does not seem too far-fetched.
To begin the arguments, one should not ignore the fact the first major incident in Bruce Wayne’s life happened to take place beside the biggest theatre in Gotham. Bruce Wayne had gone to see a musical named “Footlight Frenzy” on that unfortunate night with his parents. The influence of theatre and drama in Batman comics to a spin from that exact incident.
It has been a long time since 1939, and with over 900+ published issues ranging across multiple story arcs, it is tad difficult for a 23 year old me to comprise all the knowledge one can fathom about the masked crusader of Gotham. Therefore, my humble regards to anyone who is left outraged and flabbergasted by my audacity.
Let us bring the Riddler into this context. Long-time Batman’s nemesis, he has caused a lot of trouble to the citizens of Gotham, but only in a unique way. The Riddler leaves riddles and clues that the law enforcers and especially Batman have to solve to stop a catastrophe in effect. Riddles and plot twists are all over dramas around the world. One cannot forgive Shakespeare and his use of riddles to mislead the audience in his famous comedies. Why does the Chorus in Romeo and Juliet say thus: ‘two houres trafficke of our stage’, when the play is ideally longer than 3 hours? Similarly, one has to overthink why the Riddler chooses to leave clues like “When is a prize-fight like a beautiful lady?” Most certainly it is meant as a misdirection for Batman who is the POV of the reader. This is very similar to the misleading tropes and riddles used in drama through the ages which choose to mislead the audience.
“Introduce a little anarchy”
We cannot speak about Batman and theatre and not mention the most dramatic character in the franchise, The Joker. As a character, he is perhaps the one who has seen the most development or rather metamorphosis over the years, adding more layers of definition to the character at the hands of different writers. Which is possibly why he has come to be one of the most interesting ones.
Deconstructing Joker has been a favourite for comic book scholars, and as far as his connection to theatre or theatrics is concerned, there is a lot to talk about. From his origins to the crimes he commits, Joker is synonymous to a grand performance. According to his most widely accepted origin story, The Killing Joke, the Clown Prince of crime wanted to make it big as a performance artist, a standup comedian. Now, Killing Joke itself follows the structure of the Aristotelian idea of Tragedy, with the invocation of pity and fear, but discards the notion of poetic justice and provides a denouement in its own twisted sense.
The Killing Joke, towards the end, brilliantly and in a rather graphic way, incorporates the idea of meta theatre. While Jim Gordon is taken through the Playhouse, he is shown a rally of pictures of his violated daughter on large screens, as a quest to make him unhinged.
This resonates with the idea of Joker as a character as he is as twisted as the world around him is. In a sense, he provides a double ironic vision, a harshly clear lens to view the world. In the entire Batman lore, Joker acts as a foil to Batman’s principles. Joker, in a sense, fails to become the tragic “hero” that Batman could. Although they are both characters whose worlds were ripped apart from them. However, interestingly, Joker finds solace when the world reflects the chaos within him, through which he finds catharsis. Batman, on the other hand, remains Joker’s purgatory.
Joker, as a character, embodies all the nine Rasas of Natyashastra: Shringara (love/beauty), Hasya(laughter), Karuna (sorrow), Raudra (anger), Veera ( heroism/courage), Bhayanaka (terror/fear), Bibhatsya (disgust), Adbutha (surprise/wonder), and Shantha (peace or tranquility). It is not quite possible for a character to display all nine, but Joker achieves this feat for the simple reason that he is merely a mask. He is a facade that holds a myriad of faces in one. Conversely, it can be stated that he is more of an idea than a tangible face.
Morrison, Batman and Hamlet
As we dwell on Joker, it would be an injustice to not mention the brilliance of Grant Morrison and his treatment of Gotham and its constituents. BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM: A SERIOUS HOUSE ON SERIOUS EARTH is one of the best examples of the use of theatrics in Batman comics.
The novel deals with the crooked mind of Amadeus Arkham and one of his chilling lines from the novel sums up the subtle helping of catharsis any theatre lover would love to indulge in:
“One of my first patients is Martin Hawkins, “Maddog”. He delights in recounting to me every little details of the atrocities he inflicted upon Constance and Harriet. He giggles and drools and tells me they begged him to abuse them. He calls my daughter a whore. And I listen. I treat him for six months. I am praised for my courage and compassion. And on April 1st, 1922 — — one year to the day — — I strap him into the electroshock couch. And I burn the filthy bastard.”
While Batman faces most of his enemies holed up in a mad house inside this novel, the dilemma of Two-Face is the most eye-catching feat of all. Dent struggles with choice, his messed-up identity, his dwindling conscience and he tries to push it all on a simple coin that he believes is lucky. However, the irony floats up when Dent and Two-face both let Batman go, going against the lucky coin, proving to the readers that split mind is still a mind capable of thinking on its own.
If you did not find something odd with the reference above, let us remind you of Hamlet and his indecisive madness. Hamlet is often considered mad by Ophelia, Polonius, Claudius and even his mother Gertrude. But when the time comes for “mad” Hamlet to push the sword into his uncle from behind, he stops and steps back. Whatever be the reason (as Claudius was praying therefore his soul was at his most pure), a mad man on a quest similar to Two-Face in the asylum should not have been able to decide the meaningful stance without pretence. While this is in no way our attempt to find factual flaws in Morrison’s work and claim he was influenced by Shakespeare, the entire episode can be best given meaning by accepting Roland Barthes comment on authors who he believed are always quoting ideas from all ages subconsciously.
Batman-Joker dance in Gotham
However, probably some of the most dramatically charged aspects of the lore of the Caped Crusader lies in the Joker-Batman dynamic. Their relationship can be imagined as a dance at a Masquerade ball, a strangely attractive tradition that became all the rage during the Elizabethan era. Just like a pauper and a Queen can engage in a dance, oblivious to each other’s, and sensory courtship, Batman and Joker engage in not just a battle of wits but a battle of philosophies as well. The masks they both wear makes this an anonymous courtship on the stage of Gotham City. Their battle is an endless attempt to understand each other while they hide behind their masks: Beneath the face paint, the Joker is an idea, one that Batman tries to grasp and fails; on the other hand, Joker does not want to find out Batman’s identity on purpose. His anonymity is the major fuel to Joker’s twisted tragicomedy featuring the Dark Knight. As long as Batman is an idea and not a concrete person, he can be experimented with and contradicted.
Bob Kane and Bill Finger’s brainchild has come a long way from being an iconic costumed detective to a layered and troubled vigilante. And during that journey, his lore became one of the most theatrical and visually charged sagas of all time.
