The Bat Signal and the Bat Symbol

Applying Communication Theories to Batman

In this entry, I want to take a communication theory that I've studied in my Comm 3300 class and apply it to my favorite superhero, Batman, in attempt to gain a greater understanding of his identity. I will exclusively use the film "Batman Begins" to narrow my field of application. I want to apply Symbolic Interactionism to the film to see how Bruce Wayne uses it to determine both who he is and who Batman is. I'll sum up how Symbolic Interactionism works first.

Symbolic Interactionism says that we are constantly determining ourselves through the exchange of symbols, such as language, and meaning with others. Who we are at our cores is not something that we are born with. Rather, these are things that we determine for ourselves over time as we interact and exchange with others. As with any theory, there are a few critiques that come along with Symbolic Interactionism which you can read about here.

I want to give you a brief synopsis of the movie “Batman Begins” before delving into my application of the theory. “Batman Begins” is about the legend of Batman and his origins as a superhero. As a boy, Bruce Wayne is forced to watch his parents murdered by a robber. As a young adult, he is denied the chance at taking his vengeance when someone else guns down his parents' murderer. The young Wayne then decides to go East where he is mentored by a man named Henry Ducard, and joins Ducard’s guild of ninjas led a man named Ra’s Al-Guhl.


Wayne is trained by these ninjas for a period of years in martial arts. His final test is to kill a man in cold blood, but Wayne refuses and travels back to Gotham City. Wayne sees that the city has changed since he left and now the crime lords hold sway over its affairs. Wayne decides to take it upon himself to deliver justice utilizing his ninja training. He adopts the symbol of the bat and so, Batman becomes a reality. I have limited my discussion of the plot to these points as this is what I will primarily focus on. More on the plot of “Batman Begins” can be found here.

Now I'll begin my application of theory to film. I'll start with the bat. Ever since Wayne was young, he was afraid of bats. So, Wayne assigns the meaning of “fear” to the symbol of "the bat." Things change during Wayne's ninja training when Wayne is forced to interact with the symbol of the bat first hand. Through his training, Wayne is able to set aside his fear of bats and change the meaning he has attached to the symbol. Then Wayne returns to Gotham. Desiring to strike fear into his enemies as he delivers justice, Wayne embraces the symbol of the bat, this time applying it to his identity as a crime fighter. Wayne makes himself Batman and the bat as a symbol becomes something that Wayne is no longer afraid of and instead finds power in.


Another thing Batman finds power in is his mask. This is the last symbol I want to discuss. Traditionally, masks have been used to cover up, coneal, or take on an identity seperate of the wearer's "real" identity. Both Batman and the Scarecrow wear masks and have a seperate and "normal" identity. Batman is Bruce Wayne and the Scarecrow is a psychiatrist named Jonathan Crane. Both Wayne and Crane don their masks intending to do just this. However, as both men interact with the symbols they have made, their identities change. Instead of covering up who they really are with a mask, the mask becomes and exposes who they really are, their once "real" identities becoming the mask. Wayne's childhood friend Rachel Dawes comments on this at the end of the movie, saying,

"[Touching Bruce's face] "No, this is your mask. Your real face is the one that criminals now fear. The man I loved - the man who vanished - he never came back at all. But maybe he's still out there, somewhere. Maybe some day, when Gotham no longer needs Batman, I'll see him again."

So what does this mean for us? As we know from Symbolic Interactionismls us, symbols in our lives carry whatever meaning we assign to them as individuals and whatever meanings we assign together as a culture. We exchange these meanings both within ourselves as we determine who we are individually and with each other as we determine who are collectively. Here’s the really cool thing that I think Bruce Wayne caught and that I don’t want us to miss. This means that we can change the meaning of these symbols however we want. Wayne took a symbol that had always personified fear to him and made it into a powerful piece of equipment, a weapon, to use against his foes. However, as we change these symbols, we too will change in response in the same way that Bruce Wayne became lost behind the Batman. Here’s the equipment for living. We also have the ability to change and redefine the meaning of the symbols in our lives, but as we interact with these changed symbols, they too will change us.

- J 

Works Cited

1. "Batman Begins (2005) - IMDb." The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/>.
2. Griffin, Em. "Theory Resources—A First Look at Communication Theory." The Book—A First Look at Communication Theory. Web. 13 Oct. 2011. <http://www.afirstlook.com/edition_7/theory_resources/Symbolic_Interactionism>.