Garden State Meets Batman Begins

Garden State Meets Batman Begins

Spoiler Alerts

The similarities between the movies Garden State and Batman Begins are remarkable. They are both essentially homecoming stories where our protagonists, each suffering the death of a parent or parents and blaming themselves for this death, both return from extended absences. Each protagonist must overcome obstacles related to this loss of loved ones and ultimately “finds them self” albeit the path they each take is a different path. Still, both movies share some common ground.

 Both movies feature mansions. Both movies have steep cliffs/ an abyss. 

 Both movies have comical swimming scenes.

Both characters learn to blend in.

(Ninja Training) 

And both characters steal.

 (This is why Batman Begins begins with batman in prison.)

 In both movies, psychiatrists are the antagonists. The Scar Crow in Batman Begins is really Dr. Crane, a psychiatrist who mistreats his patients and tortures them with his scar crow mask. In Garden State, Zach Braff’s father is the psychiatrist who misdiagnosis him when he is younger due to the untimely death of his mother, and has him overly medicated throughout most of his young adult life. This is ultimately what each character is confronting, well, that and the league of shadows. Who’s to say they’re not in Garden State though, they’re ninjas, they could be anywhere.