Batman vs. Shakespeare

Today, I came across this interview with 60's TV Batman Adam West.

http://blogs.coventrytelegraph.net/thegeekfiles/2008/06/tv-batman-adam-west-not-excite.html

While I certainly won't fault him for not being game for The Dark Knight (I couldn't have a more dissimilar opinion on the matter, but he's entitled to his opinion), he mentioned something that irked me to my very core.

West claims "With the villains, especially, it was almost Shakespearean because of the bizarre costuming and makeup".  I've studied Shakespeare.  Bizarre costumes are, by and large, not really a major part of it.  Same with makeup.  Don't get me wrong, I love the 60's Batman, but it has very, very little to do with Shakespeare.  I'm sure that The Bard would love the puns and wordplay (he was very much a proponent of such things), but I doubt he'd see too many echoes of his own work in Adam West and Burt Ward's adaptation.

Here's where I think Adam West doesn't know a damn thing about what he's talking about.  The Batman film franchise has been moving steading more towards Shakespearean tragedy.  Much of this is due to comic artists recognizing the agonizing darkness of Batman's birth as a character, but Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan have been, likely unconsciously, taking Batman in a Shakespearean direction.

The most obvious parallel would be to Hamlet.  Hamlet has served as the template for the tragic hero for centuries, and Batman isn't even the only comic book superhero who has been drawn from him in some way.  Batman and Spider-man both draw significantly from Hamlet.  Both saw a parental figure (in Batman's case, both parents) killed in the most unjust ways imaginable, and both turn to seeking justice as a grieving process.

Granted, Hamlet had a great deal of Oedipal influences, but my feeling has always been that that aspect of Hamlet has always been greatly over-emphasized.  The man standing in the way of Hamlet and Justice is neither here nor there

Take yet another example.  Horatio in Hamlet is possibly the only other person in the play aware of his deep turmoil.  While Spider-man is, by and large, a hero without a confidant (Spider-man doesn't always have Mary Jane in the know), Batman has Alfred as his Horatio.  This role was emphasized much, much more in Batman Begins than in the Tim Burton/Joel Schumacher arc (and this is despite Alfred's illness being a fairly large plot point in the horrific mess that was Batman and Robin).

Another major area where Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale get their hero mythology absolutely in-line with Shakespeare is the fact that there really is no happy ending for Bruce Wayne.  It's entirely possible that Batman might die in the final act of Nolan's trilogy, and I for one hope he's bold enough to consider it.  If the audience is unsure that Batman will be able to survive, it increases the drama and makes for an entirely thrilling movie experience.  Batman simply has to be Hamlet.  Batman's suave Bruce Wayne is equivalent to Hamlet's "antic disposition".

Another Shapeskearean element that The Dark Knight might be flirting with is a possible descent into the realm of the anti-hero.  Rumour has it that Batman's key conflict in The Dark Knight is whether or not he's able to sacrifice an innocent life to save countless more.  This is something of a subversion from Shakespeare, as his most memorable Anti-hero is Macbeth, who killed the innocent for his own gain, not for a safer world (this could vary depending on your interpretation of both Macbeth and Lady Mac, but I never got the impression that Macbeth saw his ascent to King as a philanthropic goal).  But Macbeth had to question if he was willing to take a life, and when he did, he slipped from ambition to megalomania.  Could Batman's first kill lead him down the same road?  Who knows.

And finally, The Joker.  Played by the late Heath Ledger, his performance absolutely drips of Richard III.  He's disfigured, bold, shameless, and cocky.  He's bold enough to crash a party at gunpoint and try to pick up in the same scene.

I think at this point, it's pretty clear that I'm absurdly excited for The Dark Knight.  And Shakespeare.  Why so serious?