Fear is the main underling theme in BB. It recures throughout: Bruce as a boy aquires a fear of bats, a fear that disturbs while watching opera with his parents forcing them to leave the theatre which leads to their death. Upon dying, Bruce's dad tells him "Don't be afraid Bruce"
Later on, Bruce is forced to confront his fear in the league of shadows, using a hallucinogenic fear toxin that is later developed as a means of destroying Gotham.
Enter Scarecrow: A character who is obsessed with the facets of the mind. As Raz-Al-Guul said about fear: "Feel its power to distort, to control" Scarecrow enlists the use of fear to gain insight and power over the human psyche, which he uses on Falcone - a man who, as Bruce says: "Uses Fear to prey of the fearful".
Bruce then becomes Batman, using his own fears to elicit terror in the criminals of Gotham.
By the end of the film, Bruce has conquered his fear. As in, his fear of bats, but more significantly: His fear of loss personified in the death of his parents which is displayed in the destruction of Wayne manor and of the monorail system - the two great edifices of his father which he both hated and loved; thus going through a symbolic clensing of sorts, letting go of past wrongs and truly rising above his own fear.
Tell me if I left anything out... Or if this has all been covered before.
