What did I learn?

Batman Knightfall is comprised of several different stories that begin with an event and continues through the resolution of that event.  Because of this, the theories learned in this class were fairly easy to find an example pertaining to the particular theory from each week.  These theories taught me a lot about how to analyze a piece of popular culture and gave me the ability to learn more from popular culture rather than just get entertainment from them.  Of the many theories that I learned from this class, the one that seemed to have the biggest impact on my understanding of Batman Knightfall is the analysis of heroes and celebrities.

At first there seems to be little to no difference between heroes and celebrities.  Reading about the two subjects and looking up definitions I was able to find that they are similar, even sharing some synonyms in the dictionary, but rather different in understanding and definition. 

Of course when we think about how the theory of a hero applies to Batman it is obvious, the bad guy threatens the people of Gotham City, and Batman stops the bad guy becoming the hero for the people of the city.  We can also see how Batman’s true identity, Bruce Wayne, fits the definition of celebrity, making Batman/Bruce Wayne fit into both sides of these theories.

Through these analysis’ I found it interesting to see how the culture was shaped by popular culture artifacts such as Batman, not just this story but the character himself.  It seems to be hard to tell how much of the culture is shaped by the artifact, and how much of the artifact is shaped by the culture.  What it seems to me from these analysis’ is that each shape each other, and when an artifact influences the culture, the culture influences the next artifact, until after many iterations of different artifacts, the culture and artifacts have changed dramatically.

Hulk Smashed! Analysis

            There are many lessons that can be learned from popular culture.  We can learn from the mistakes of celebrities, we can learn morals, and we can use popular culture to teach us how to cope with issues in our life.  The article written by Joseph F. Brown entitled Hulk Smashed! The Rhetoric of Alcoholism in Television’s Incredible Hulk is an article that speaks to the last point.  Brown uses the television show to teach the reader ways of coping with the issue of substance abuse.

Formulas

                Most articles of popular culture follow some kind of formula.  Music typically utilizes similar formats, horror movies have specific noises that indicate something scary and action movies have over-the-top explosions.  These formulas provide the consumer with a familiar rhythm, allowing them to understand everything happening in the story.  Sometimes a piece of popular culture does not utilize the formula, often leading to the consumer being confused.  The story of Batman Knightfall definitely has formulas that are present in most stories of Batman.

Heroes and Celebrity

It is interesting how the two theories that we are discussing is heroes and celebrity.  This is interesting because in the story of Batman, he falls into both categories.  As the hero Batman, he fights for the safety of the people, fitting exactly into the definition of a hero.  As Bruce Wayne, he is the richest person in the city, and therefore is a celebrity.  He is constantly being followed by the media.  But there is another side, each of the personas also fit into the other category.  In several story arcs of the Batman, there are groups of people that follow the character closely and even try to emulate him, as if he’s a celebrity.  Likewise, as Bruce Wayne, he gives lots of money to various charities, in order to help people who are suffering.

Rituals and Stereotypes

What theories seem to apply to your pop culture topic?

In the Knightfall series, there are several examples of rituals.  One such example that is prominent throughout the series is the ritual of how the enemy is subdued.  Batman is notorious for his lack of lethal action, and this story line is no different.  In cases that his enemy is in a deadly situation, he will do his best to save the life of that person, even though that person was attempting to kill him not too long before this.  This could also maybe be a stereotype that has been placed upon Batman.  At one point, another person has to take over as Batman, and he allows someone to die.  This action, or lack thereof, leads people to believe that the Batman they see, is not the real Batman.

The Morals of Pop Culture

What theories seem to apply to your popular culture topic?
Taking a lesson from popular culture is important.  These lessons shape the way we live our lives, and how we interact with other people, whether we know they have influenced us in this way or not.  It seems like many people use icons from popular culture and shape themselves from this.  This can be seen by some people who tell a young girl who loves a particular princess “that’s not how a princess acts”, I have seen this many times, and often the little girl will show a desperate attempt to correct any misbehavior.

Three Pop Culture Icons

Here are three contemporary icons that I have chosen.    The first image is from the Avengers.  This movie began with several other movies staring each of the individual main characters in the movie, each hinting at a team up of all the heroes.  The Avengers were first found in a comic book in the 1960's, which is around the same time that the first story of Spiderman was released, which is the second picture.  There have been several TV shows and movies starring Spiderman, this is the logo from the most recent reboot of the franchise.  The third image is that of a logo from the the most recent Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises.  The first issue of Batman came out in the 1930's, and has been in many iterations of the character including books, movies, TV shows, and video games, which was one of the highest rated video games in 2011, called Batman: Arkham City.