Page - 99 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Shadows of the Bat | 99www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 75–104 of enemy stereotypes. invoked bogeymen whose very existence threatens the Western value system, like the Germans during the World Wars, the soviets in the Cold War or the islamist terrorist of present day, carry a clear political func- tion. Exploiting the fears, insecurities and prejudices of a community, enemy im- ages help to simplify things in a complicated, globalized world by pinpointing a scapegoat. they strengthen a weakened group identity via exclusion and serve as a means of justification for a political agenda.54 the United states, in particu- lar, has a long tradition of enemy images. In times of war and conflict, American politicians constantly evoke the Manichaean rhetoric of good versus evil, pos- ing God’s chosen people against foreign enemies of freedom and democracy. Considering the terrorist attacks of 11 september 2001, George W. Bush de- clared that the United states were “at war” and famously labeled enemy states like North Korea, iran and iraq, which seek weapons of mass destruction and allegedly support terrorism, an “axis of evil”.55 throughout his presidency, he constituted a bipolar world of “freedom” and “fear”, “us” and “them”.56 in their Batman movies, tim Burton and Christopher Nolan visualize the dy- namics of enemy images; they deconstruct the Manichaean worldview by illus- trating its flipside and highlighting its fragility. In place of the dualistic belief sys- tem, their movies propose an alternative discourse about the nature and origin of evil. in the case of Batman Returns (1992), Burton tells a modern fairytale about good and evil from the perspective of the rejected other. He lets us par- take in the “personal catharsis” he gains from identification with “characters who are both mentally and physically different”:57 he renders Batman, Penguin and Catwoman non-conformists who use their alleged otherness to express their independency and are therefore sanctioned by a hostile collective. for that, Burton utilizes the gothic imagery of horror movies he grew up with, but reverses it. Originally, the monster in classic U.S. horror films was depicted as an inhuman, external force of evil that invades the idyllic harmony of everyday American life. thereby it has often functioned as a coded sign for contemporary images of the enemy58 and a social panic that the traditional order within the sexes, races and classes could collapse.59 in Batman Returns (1992), monstros- ity is a sign not of evil, but of isolating individuality, while the so-called normalcy conceals true viciousness. Like the pitiable creature (Boris Karloff) in James Whale’s Frankenstein (US 1931), Burton’s monsters are inherently innocent; it is the confrontation with a xenophobic society that makes them evil. 54 see fiebig-von hase 1997, 1–40. 55 Bush 2002. 56 see Wagner 2009, 31. 57 hanke 2007, 95. 58 see Worland 1997. 59 seeßlen/Jung 2006, 127.