Shadow & Integration: The Dark Knight
Photo: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar/Warnes Bros
Spoilers!
Don’t judge me too harshly - but until this recent holiday season, I had never experienced Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy. Although I had seen a few superhero films (and enjoyed them!), I generally felt that this genre was somewhat superficial, lacking depth. But how wrong I was! While there’s plenty to discuss in each trilogy film, the second film, The Dark Knight, is undoubtedly the most compelling when it comes to human psychology, morality, and ethics. It’s also an incredibly complex, beautiful, and powerful film. In short, I’ll think twice next time I roll my eyes at a superhero flick! (Apparently I’m not alone though: even the legendary Heath Ledger - TDK’s Joker - initially refused to partake in the trilogy and make “this kind of movie” before changing his mind after watching Batman Begins!)
Novice that I am into the world of comics, I will add that many have written about and analyzed Batman, Joker, and TDK with far more familiarity with the genre than I (I’ll link to some in this piece), so I won’t pretend to have as full an understanding of Batman’s world as others! The areas I will cover, however, are related to a psychological / Jungian concept called Shadow; more simply, I’ll focus on the constraints of our ‘good’ and ‘bad’ selves and the heroic work of integrating the Shadow with the rest of ourselves - a concept that is beautifully depicted in this film.
Carl Jung was a German physician and psychoanalyst, initially part of Freud’s inner circle until breaking away to cement his own theories. His contributions to psychology are plentiful, such as his four major ‘archetypes’ which he believed stem from humanity’s ‘collective unconscious’. Film, television, and other stories often pull from these archetypes; one of these archetypes is the Shadow, which represents the deep, dark, shameful parts of ourselves that we typically attempt to hide, repress, destroy. I found TDK so gripping because of its focus on this archetype via the perfect Shadow character, the Joker. As the film opens, we immediately recognize both the terror and the genius of the Joker, as he masterminds a bank heist while also killing off all his accomplices in an eerily methodical manner. One of Jung’s definitions of the Shadow involves the ‘Trickster’ who is constantly in motion, duplicitous, a joker - and we very literally see the Joker embody this in the first few minutes of the film. I’m sure viewers of this film can think of countless other examples of Joker embodying darkness, evil, depravity; some say Heath Ledger’s portrayal is amongst the darkest and most Shadow-esque of all on-screen Jokers.
And yet, which of us doesn’t admire the Joker from time to time throughout this movie? His snippy one-liners, his (unreliable, yet still somehow sympathetic) traumatic tales about how he got his scars, his intellect and wit - he’s not just any old ‘bad guy’, right? The most famous lines of this film arguably belong to Joker, not Batman (“Why so serious?”). It’s almost confusing how much we cheer for the Joker (at least in the beginning), even though we know Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman much more intimately, since Joker is introduced in the second film of the trilogy. Perhaps a part of us cheers for him because the Joker speaks to our own Shadow tendencies - we all have one. And perhaps it’s also because he’s not all Shadow - just like any person, he has strengths and ‘good’ qualities that we can appreciate and admire. The complexity of this character is one of the strongest aspects of this film, in my opinion.
Not only does TDK’s Joker elucidate our collective Shadow, he also brings out Batman’s Shadow. Even the supergood superhero has a Shadow, after all. This is most evident when Joker taunts Batman in the police interrogation room and goads him to break his ‘one rule’ - not to purposely kill. He dangles Batman’s Shadow in front of him, and for a moment it seems Batman will give in and break that rule. Without acknowledging his own Shadow, Batman is one dimensional; seeing him struggle with it makes him whole. Joker tells Batman, “You complete me” - and don’t they perfectly complement one other? Would Batman really be Batman without Joker? Perhaps we all need to face our Shadow to recognize our wholeness.
It’s important to note that Jung never intended for us to think in binaries (‘good’ vs ‘bad’) about these archetypes, especially the Shadow. Jungian theory states that in order to be fully realized human beings, we must recognize and embrace our Shadow, though this is not the same as giving into it. Rather, we must integrate the dark with the light. As the film unfolds, we start to see Batman beginning to confront his own limits, questioning the purity of his motives; we see his moral compass wavering when those around him - such as Lucius Fox - ring warning bells about the ethics of his choices. We see him continue to recognize his Shadow, which Joker brings out more clearly than anyone else - as any good villain should - and we even see Batman potentially break his no killing rule with the death of Harvey Dent/Two Face. But rather than fleeing from his Shadow, Batman persists - he doesn’t let the fear of the Shadow keep him from his goals and his purpose.
On the other hand, the once heroic Harvey Dent’s spiral into Two Face seems to represent his inability to integrate his Shadow with the rest of himself, due to the trauma Joker inflicts on him, and maybe due to his own mythical image as a purely ‘good’ hero. Joker tells Batman, “I took Gotham's white knight and I brought him down to our level. It wasn't hard. You see, madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push!” The Joker’s true quest is to flip good into evil, light into shadow. Indeed, Joker shows us that anyone can become a monster, under the right conditions. This is perhaps what makes the Joker - and TDK - so powerful.
But this isn’t what happens to Batman. Given that the ultimate goal is to integrate the Shadow, TDK shows us how Batman’s confrontations with Joker strengthen Batman’s superhero status - precisely because he doesn’t let Joker turn him into a monster, reduce him to his Shadow. As the film closes, Batman repeats Harvey’s words from earlier in the film (pre-Two Face) to Commissioner Gordon: “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain”. We can’t deny that Batman crosses into his Shadow self at times (this is a theme often reflected in the comics as well, according to this piece). But by the end of the film, he seems to recognize that he resides in the grey area - neither pure hero nor pure villain. He doesn’t let himself be confined to one version of himself, and perhaps this is the truest form of defeat over the Joker. The ferry passengers - both inmates and ordinary citizens - also don’t fall in line with the Joker’s plan of evil triumphing over compassion, although they come very close. Not everyone succumbs to the Shadow, though almost all the characters, big and small, have to confront it. In grappling with their Shadow, all these characters recognize its presence within them and come closer to integration: closer to becoming the fullest, truest versions of themselves. And isn’t that the greatest super power of all? Confronting our Shadow takes strength, courage, and a conviction in our true character; to integrate our Shadow is to allow it to inform who are are without consuming who we are. TDK’s Batman is able to do this - and he becomes all the more ‘super’ by achieving this integration.
**A note about the filmmakers’ inspiration: Writer and Director Christopher Nolan, along with his brother and co writer Jonathan Nolan, have shared that through this film, they hoped to capture what troubled them most about the world around the time of film’s release in 2008: chaos, anarchy, and the psychological concepts of the characters, particularly Joker, that represent this. Several reviews, including this one in the New York Times, recognize the brilliance of the film’s ability to portray the complexity of these horrors, and in 2020 - perhaps one of the most Shadow years in modern history - The Dark Knight was added to the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress. As I write this in January 2021, following a violent failed coup attempt and a second impeachment - as well as a historic defeat of voter suppression in Georgia and the inauguration of a new administration - the themes in this film continue to ring true. I sincerely hope we, as a nation, can truly begin to integrate our Shadow and become more whole.
A couple resources by two very cool superhero-scholar psychologists:
Dr. Drea Letamendi // The Arkham Sessions Podcast: Episode 153 “The Dark Knight”
Dr. Robin Rosenberg // SXSW Talk: “What’s the Matter with Batman?”
For more on Jungian therapy and Shadow work, take a look at these resources:
Evidence for the Effectiveness of Jungian Psychotherapy: A Review of Empirical Studies // Christian Roesler
What is Shadow Work and How to do Shadow Work in Therapy // Natasja Wagner
There’s More and More Evidence for Jung’s Concept of the Shadow // Jules Evans
