Study of Generic Superheroes:

Study of the Superhero Film Genre:

The Corpus → The Repertoire of Elements↓	Film1: Superman (1978) Donner	Film 2: Spider-man (2002) Raimi	Film 3: Wonder Woman (2017) Jenkins
Typical Locations	New York, mythical places, big cities, urban location, usually America… or space.
Characters / Groups	Typical hero with ‘powers’, group of heroes in conflict, dead family members, orphans, extremists, antagonist, sidekick – tech guys, love interest – the damsel in distress
Conflicts & Themes	Good overcoming evil, overcoming adversity, origin story, internal conflict,
Filmic Technique	Kaboom, CGI, big action sequences, cars chase, flashbacks, training montage, explosions, special effects, aerial shots, voiceovers, the costume reveal
Iconography /  Mise-en-Scene	Cityscape, primary coloured superhero suits, vehicles, specific weapons, power prop, superpower,
Shape of the story	Opening action setting – origin story explained – characters introduced	Superhero is put in challenging situations – their arch nemesis tries to destroy the world. Achilles heel is tested	Superhero wins / saves the world – and the girl

 

How Does Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ Conform to the Superhero Genre?

• The use of special weaponry and vehicles by the protagonist that are designed around a central theme or image – Batarangs, the Batmobile and the Batsuit.
• The hero has a ‘secret lair’ or hidden base of operations – The Batcave.
• Lucius Fox serves as the archetypal support character, assisting the hero through the use of technology from another location.
• The murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents motivating him to root out all evil in Gotham ties into the conventions of generic superhero stories.
• The Joker is a great example of the archetypal supervillain, or arch-nemesis, as his role as an agent of chaos is the antithesis of Batman’s crusade for justice and order.
• The setting of Gotham is a stereotypical American city, like many others in the corpus of the superhero genre.

How Does It Subvert the Genre?

• Despite Robin appearing prominently in the original Batman comics, there is no archetypal sidekick in ‘The Dark Knight’.
• Bruce Wayne has no superpowers, nor is the world of the film home to any supernatural elements.
• The dark, gritty tone of the film differs significantly to the more light-hearted tone of generic superhero movies.
• The hero’s love interest, Rachael Dawes, not only chooses another man, but dies in the film, not able to be saved by Batman. Usually, the superhero always gets the girl.
• Batman as a hero is not necessarily a force for good. He is willing to walk the line between darkness and the light to make Gotham a better place, and doesn’t live up to other generic protagonists as a paragon of virtue and righteousness.