Bruce Wayne's public profile

[The Laughing Fish]

I've always been fascinated about Bruce Wayne's public profile in Burton's movies. Unlike the comics, Bruce's fame in the '89 film is much smaller; people may have been aware of this billionaire but they don't seem to know too much about him. Not even his parents' murders seem to have too awareness in Gotham. This is especially apparent if you look at how shocked Alexander Know and Vicki Vale were when they find out about his past. I think I remember Burton explaining in the commentary that Bruce feels uneasy about being around a crowd of people, but I always thought it was a cover to avoid widespread suspicion as possible. I thought it was a clever way of suspending disbelief for the audience, and these were the kinds of films that didn't take themselves too seriously.