Anguiano 1 Alejandro Anguiano Professor Vana DerOhanessian English 114B April 29, 2014 Superheroes Not So Super Superheroes

have a great amount of influence in todays society, especially with all the films that are constantly being released. The films usually follow the typical superhero genre where the hero is introduced with a problem, fixes the problem, and throughout the conflict they meet their damsel in distress. However, Frank Miller took a different approach on the graphic novel that he wrote known as Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In this graphic novel he presents some characters less powerful than the audience would think. The overall theme of the graphic novel is that people in positions of power are not as powerful as the audience would think they are; in fact, they might not even be wanted in that position or make the wrong decisions when given that power. Batman, being the protagonist, is one of the characters with a great amount of power or so the audience would think that he is. Batman seems to not only struggle with crime in the city, but also had to confront his own problems that he knew he was going to face if he became Batman. For example, there is a panel where Bruce Wayne is debating on whether he should return to fighting crime as Batman while standing under a streetlight (13). The ways the text and images are positioned represent his struggle. When he stands under the streetlight that represents how he is putting himself under the spotlight and the words being on the outside of the panel represent how he is feeling like an outsider of the city. Even though Batman looks like he is a powerful character, he still has to deal with his own personal struggles which make him weak

Anguiano 2 and vulnerable. It is ironic because Batman is seen as a powerful character and is given whole pages in the book dedicated to him, but since the people of Gotham see him as a criminal more than a hero it ends up lowering his position of power such as on page 78. This whole page is given to him, but to the people of Gotham do not see him as that much of importance. This is important because these panels are great examples of how much can be analyzed in the graphic novel from one panel of a page and shows the academic value that is hidden in the text. Another important character that is in a position of power is Commissioner Gordon. Being a detective usually means that he makes good decisions for the protection of the people. However, Gordon makes a mistake by killing a seventeen year old gang member without hesitation (58). Due to this mistake he is replaced as commissioner and the spot is then given to Yindel. This shows how even those in positions of power can make the wrong decisions because Gordon was given the power to protect the city and forgot to stabilize the situation instead of jumping to the action and killing the gang member. I think he is also represented as less powerful because he is replaced by a woman. Woman did not have the same respect back then that they do now so seeing this in the book must be a way of making Gordon look weaker and embarrassed. I think Miller knew the purpose of replacing him with a woman because of the time that he was living in, which was not too long ago. Batman and Gordon are the obvious powerful characters, but the most powerful character in the graphic would have to be the newscasters. The news media are the center of attention whenever something happens in Gotham, especially when Batman is involved. Anything the newscasters say has an effect on the people of Gotham, whether they agree or disagree with what the newscasters are broadcasting. For example, Lola the newscaster states that Batman has died of a heart attack (197). We as the reader know that Batman is not dead, but the people of Gotham

Anguiano 3 still think that he is dead because they follow and trust what the news media have to say. Frank Miller realized the great amount of influence that the television has on people, and used that in his graphic novel to put the newscasters in an important position of power. According to an article from the EBSCOhost database, it states that In 2010 Americans spent more time (70 minutes daily) consuming news than ever before. This quote signifies that Miller imagined the society that people would be living in the future and created that society in his graphic novel. Another quality that makes them powerful is that even though the newscasters are out in the open, the panels they are put into are usually small compared to the larger panels that are given to Batman or other characters. The sizes of the panels are sort of misleading to the readers when it comes to the newscasters, but I think it was done on purpose because the newscasters are able to quickly give the news through the panels just as they would on television. Some people would say that newscasters are not powerful characters or state that they are not considered characters at all because they are a group of people. However, I would disagree because not only are they constantly shown throughout the graphic novel, but the newscasters are also given names such as Lola and Dave. I dont think Frank Miller would give the characters names for no reason. He wanted them to be noticed and be just as important in Batmans life as other characters in the story are. The newscasters position of power has an effect on Batmans and Gordons position of power because it makes the people of Gotham look down on them for their actions. The news media in our society gets a great amount of attention when people in positions of power are gaining publicity such as political figures. In an article from the EBSCOhost database, it says that During political campaigns, media portrayals of political conflict are one of the main reasons for increased emotional arousal among the electorate. This quote shows how media impacts political figures and can affect how they are portrayed in

Anguiano 4 situations such as political campaigns. Even though the newscasters are a group of people working in news media they still count as characters because the Mutants are a group of people and count as characters also. Overall I think all these characters are in great positions of power, even though some are greater than others. Frank Miller did a great job of illustrating that power through the different techniques used in the text such as positioning the text in certain areas or making the panels different sizes to make a statement. Another thing he does great throughout the graphic novel is that he puts characters in positions of power, but is still able to include some irony to them. For example, Batman being given a whole page to himself, but still hated by Gotham. Gordon was given the title of a protector by being a detective, but ends up making a mistake by killing a seventeen year old. The newscasters given small panels, but in reality are more powerful and have a great impact on Gordon and Batman. Frank Miller keeps shifting the positions of power throughout the graphic novel, and done in a scholarly manner.

Anguiano 5 Works Cited Bailey, Rachel L., Julia R. Fox, and Maria E. Grabe. "The Influence of Message and Audience Characteristics on TV News Grazing Behavior." Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 57.3 (2013): 318-37. EBSCOhost. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. Miller, Frank, Klaus Janson, and Lynn Varley. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. New York: DC Comics, 2002. Print. Namkoong, Kang, Timothy K.F. Fung, and Dietram A. Scheufele. "The Politics of Emotion: News Media Attention, Emotional Responses, and Participation During the 2004 U.S. Presidential Election." Mass Communication & Society 15.1 (2012): 25-45. EBSCOhost. Web. 26 Apr. 2014.