Batman Begins - Genre Tropes

Batman Begins

Superhero Genre Tropes

'Batman Begins' is the first installation in the Christopher Nolan trilogy of Batman films and was one of the first Superhero films to take a much more dark approach to the genre. It was an attempt by DC to create a more gritty and brutal version of the classic hero to expand into the action genre and (with that) widen the audience.

Though the cliché of a superhero costume is still present, the one in Batman Begins is nothing like that of Superman or Spiderman; replacing the tight pants and underwear for a bullet resistant combat suit. I believe this is an important detail when trying to compare B.B to the classic representation of superheroes in comics since it shows that they don't want to stray too far from the source material and completely remove the costumes, but they also don't want to just give them the same silly style that everyone is bored with.

Plot wise, B.B doesn't do anything particularly genre defining, sticking to the old 'Save the City/World from the villains!' idea which, however boring it may be sometimes, is a very effective way to create a problem for the hero to solve that shows off his kind and noble attributes.

The lighting/overall atmosphere is one of the main things that differs from the classic superhero genre. The best way to compare B.B is to one of the 1970 Batman films which were extremely over-saturated and over-lit to show off Batman's purity and 'goodness', where as in B.B, Batman

is almost always cloaked in darkness and shadows.