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Batman is a symbol. If we don't know who he is, then his power is greater. We live in a
world where what we buy and what we see shapes who we are. Research shows that in
cultures where there are large social divisions-divisions in wealth and divisions in culture
like different religions and languages-have much larger problems with crime than more
homogeneous societies.
Batman exists in that chasm. He is no society and no culture. His choice of a costume
makes him 'not us' since no culture or religion has ever dressed like him. His decision to
take on animal aspects makes him even more mysterious and taps into very profound and
mostly unconscious reactions from us, the same reactions that were evoked by the Shaman
of Trois Freres, whose very human eyes look out at us from the mask of a stag. We are
programmed to respond to Batman's us/not us status in powerful ways-with fear.
If you expose the man behind the mask, the power of the marginal status disappears
and the man becomes just a guy in a weird suit.
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