The 21st century film iteration of Batman was created by Christopher Nolan who reimagined the character and his story in The Dark Knight Trilogy by adopting a darker, grittier, more serious tone....Show moreThe 21st century film iteration of Batman was created by Christopher Nolan who reimagined the character and his story in The Dark Knight Trilogy by adopting a darker, grittier, more serious tone. This thesis will explore how the shift in tone moved the films away from fantasy into what might be termed a heightened reality, thereby allowing for the creation of a more complex, Batman-orientated narrative. Moreover, this thesis will demonstrate how these changes deepened the superhero genre and brought to the foreground the ambiguous, morally gray nature of the main protagonist, which resulted in the redefinition of how a superhero can be presented and understood, and lifted the ‘superhero film’ above being mere escapist entertainment.Show less
