Hello all. No goofy essay this week, instead I wanted to share my thoughts on one of my favorite things to come out of comics, and that is what I'm calling "The Batman Voice".
If you're unsure what I mean by "The Batman Voice" (TBV for simplicity sake) I'm referring to how Christian Bale (and a good decade before, Kevin Conroy on the Batman Animated Series) use their regular voice to portray playboy Bruce Wayne, but then drop to a lower register and harsher quality for when they portray Batman.
While I do poke fun at the voice and how saying regular things in TBV brings infinite joy to my day, (examples are "I don't want fries" and "Bane you're a dick") the voice is important for the character. When Bruce Wayne has to get into the mindset to brutally attack thugs, mod bosses, and psycho villains, he needs to do something to shift beyond the practice of suiting up. He needs to trick his brain into think he is a different person altogether.
Ignoring the obvious physical strain of a dual life as the face of a company and the shadow of Gotham's justice, the mental strain can be, and usually is, enough to shatter any man. If Bruce Wayne wore the bat suit and kept his regular voice, he would never sleep simply due to the night life he leads. But combining the cowl and alteration of his voice, Bruce Wayne ceases to exist for a few hours, and Batman comes out to save the day. Now Bruce can sleep a little easier and Batman gets the job done.
If this sounds familiar, I would agree. I would not doubt that the premise of Fight Club borrowed from this idea of Batman and Bruce Wayne, or any hero with an alter ego barely co-existing, as we see with The Narrator and Tyler Durden.
That was all I wanted to say, thank you for reading this far (or even clicking on the link) and I hope everyone enjoys The Dark Knight Rises as much as I expect to.
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