Poster Analysis - The Dark Knight Rises

The Dark Knight Rises film poster denotes the main protagonist character being situated in the centre of the page with the location in flames behind him. This appeals to the audience straight away as it connotes that Gotham has gone up in flames and Batman is going to save the city as well as the people. The poster denotes the protagonist character ‘Batman’ being represented as a strong, powerful superhero. This is emphasised by the costume he is wearing as well as his facial expressions and physicality. Batman is wearing his iconic, globally known superhero outfit, which is the colour black. By Batman wearing all black this connotes to the audience that Batman is hiding his real identity, he is secretive and unknown due to the colour black represents these meanings. As a result of Batman wearing all black it creates mystery for the audience. Batman’s representation on this film poster conforms the ideologies of male characters as he is being presented as trying to protect his city and the people that live there. The poster denotes the location of Gotham, which is known to be the city where Batman lives to the target audience. This appeals to the target audience mainly the primary target audience, as this is a location they are familiar with so they feel a relation with this film encouraging them to go and see the film even more. By having the dominant image of the protagonist character Batman, as the main focus on the film poster it appeals to the target audience, as Batman is the successful iconic character who is globally known to the Batman franchise.

The film poster follows the narrative theory of Roland Barthes and Claude Levi Strauss, as Roland Barthes believes that there are five codes, which are woven into any narrative. These consist of the hermeneutic code, which is the code of enigmas, and puzzles as well as the porairetic code which is the code of action and any action initiated must be completed. In addition to this narrative theory, Claude Levi Strauss as he believes all narratives are driven by binary oppositions. As Batman is globally known, it is clear to audiences worldwide that Batman who is the protagonist character in this film are needed by the society of Gotham to save them and the city as well as capture and kill the antagonist characters. This appeals to the target audience, as they know Batman, as they want to see if Batman will be successful once again, yet they will only know if Batman has completed his mission by watching the film. This leaves the audience with hermeneutic code an enigma and it can only be solved by the porairetic code, which is the action, completed by Batman in the film. Yet following the narrative theory of Claude Levi Strauss, Batman can be viewed as both the protagonist and antagonist characters throughout the film in different aspects, which conforms the conventions of an action film. The main assumptions underpinning the poster is that Batman is being relied on again to save the city and people of Gotham yet he is unknown to the large majority of society as nobody knows his real identity. This is emphasised by the fact his face and body is completely covered in his ‘Batman’ costume, which is known to everybody in Gotham’s society. The audience are able to see that Batman is confident, strong as well as has authority. Therefore this appeals to the target audience as they encouraged to see if Batman would be fortunate again to win the battle that is about to commence with the antagonist. The target audience this poster is aimed at are both males and females from the age of twelve upwards. As part of the audience, my main assumption of this film is that the Batman is confident and strong enough. I am also relying on Batman to be successful. However I will not know what challenges Batman has undergone and if he has completed his mission with triumph unless I watch the film so overall the poster encourages the audience to go and see the film.