Carnival in the "Knight"

Embrace the Mask.

            Superhero comics have long been part of American culture, and recently, they have become entrenched in popular American film culture. Throughout superhero films and comics, one can see elements of the Carnival. One of the superhero films in which the Carnival is most apparent is Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.

According to Mikhail Bakhtin:

“. . . The mask is connected with the joy of change and reincarnation, with gay relativity and with the merry negation of uniformity and similarity; it rejects conformity to oneself. The mask is related to transition, metamorphoses, the violation of natural boundaries, to mockery and familiar nicknames. It contains the playful element of life; it is based on a peculiar interrelation of reality and image, characteristic of the most ancient rituals and spectacles" (40).” (Iswolsky 5).

The Joker is the literal embodiment of the Carnival.

The Joker is the hero of the Carnival. He comes to Gotham and sees Batman as the great hypocrite of the Carnival idea. He sees Batman as a mockery of the idea, one who pretends to transcend the law, but still allows it to have its place; he sees Batman as one who has even placed boundaries on himself, limiting his own use of the Carnival. (Nolan). The Joker looks at Batman’s mockery at the beginning of the film and seeks to put him in his place among the lawmakers and those who live within boundaries, as a carnivalesque hypocrite.

It isn’t until later into the movie, however, that the Joker realizes that, though there are definitely differences between them, Batman has very much embraced the Carnival. The Joker decides to take upon himself the task of pushing Batman over the edge into complete acceptance of the Carnival, abandoning all rules, including his own. In The Dark Knight the Joker even tells Batman that breaking his rule is the only thing Batman can do to stop him. (Nolan).

What is the real Mask?

As Batman, Bruce is able to transcend the law. He uses his mask to free himself from the confines and consequences that come with identity.    

As Bruce, Batman acts out the stereotypical life of a wealthy bachelor with too much money to spend. Instead of showing intelligence and power, Bruce shows a complete lack of self-respect and dignity, mocking the aristocracy within Gotham.