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The Dark Knight is not a political film. Rather, I should say that it is not JUST a political film. The movie could easily be categorized as a drama, an action/adventure, a psychological thriller, and above all, a horror flick. Studying all of the aspects, themes and questions provoked by Christopher Nolan’s epic sequel would take far more than just one review, but I believe the core of the film is a question.
How do you respond to terror?
The Dark Knight is not subtle (one reason I love it) about any of its subject matter, and the relevant themes to the war on terror are right out in the open. Several different characters refer to Heath Ledger’s Joker as a terrorist, which is exactly what he is. Outside of the realm of the screen, one reviewer dubbed the film a “Bush apologia,” and another called the Joker “Gotham’s Osama bin Laden.”
While I don’t entirely agree with the first characterization, it’s impossible to miss the similarities between the Joker’s reign of terror and the post-9/11 age. As opposed to Batman Begins, the word “fear” doesn’t appear in the script 47 times, but it still is the primary emotion that the action is intended to provoke. The moments of levity are few and far-between (a necessary flaw, given the driving force of the action) and the roaring pacing of the film create a paranoia in the audience that I imagine only a heavy dose of PCP can normally provide. (Think October 2001 during the Anthrax scare, and multiply it several hundred times.)
How each character copes with tragic events is the central, recurrent theme. It’s a theme that America has been dealing with for the better part of 7 years, and will continue to cope with for decades to come, given the fact that images of the World Trade Center falling are still such fresh, painful memories for most of the nation.
How did we respond to the terror of September 11? Let’s look at 3 different reactions to tragedy, each embodied by a different character.
While we never learn exactly how, or why, the Joker became the frightfully entertaining menace that he is, one can imagine that his formative years were filled with terror. The story of his facial scars changes with each telling and seems to be an inside joke that only the Joker is in on, but one fact we definitely come away with is that he hated his father. The Joker responded to the terror around him by embracing it in a way that 99.9999 percent of human beings are incapable of doing. The only real-life comparisons I can make are that of Adolph Hitler and Bin Laden. (Side note, a tremendous debate occurs in the current issue of the American Conservative about Hitler’s legacy on foreign policy and just how good the good war really was.)
One could debate whether the Joker is a nihilist or not for an eternity, but what is clear is that he is completely disillusioned with humanity. He sets out to prove throughout the film that people are just as bad as him. “I’m just ahead of the curve!” While America has shown flashes of deadly callousness during the Global war on terror, the idea behind it is still a noble one: that people must be protected from violent extremists.
Batman became a vigilante after watching his parents gunned down in front of him. He is obsessed with an alternative quest for vengeance or justice, depending on his mood of the evening. While he shows no qualms about breaking the law in order to bring criminals and terrorists down, Batman still maintains a code. He has a chance, towards the end of the film, to run the Joker down with his absurdly muscular motorcycle. Given the horror that the gleeful terrorist has caused, Batman has every reason to exercise capital punishment. But he doesn’t. The Joker later mocks him for his “misplaced sense of self-righteousness,” but Batman proves that he is a better man than the villains he fights precisely because he refuses to kill.
There are many similarities between our post 9/11 foreign policy and Batman’s vigilante crusades, but he has shown that there are lines he is not willing to cross. (If ever the threat of Jihad is abated, I sincerely doubt that we will show such honor to dismantle our domestic spying program the way that Bruce Wayne does.)
Which brings us to reaction number 3 to tragedy: the path of Harvey Dent.
Throughout most of the film, Dent rather than Batman is the main protagonist. He manages to successfully bring down half of the city’s organized crime leaders and starts to push Gotham back towards a relatively safe, secure place to live. With honesty, courage, and a dedication to the law he brings criminals to justice and earns the respect and admiration of the city, including Batman. One could juxtapose this rise to America’s global image following World War 2. We defeated the ultimate evil and set a new standard for the way a powerful, but moral nation should act. (Of course excluding Dresden and a host of other war crimes, but the image was still intact.)
SPOILER ALERT: Avoid next paragraph if you’re not familiar with the character of Harvey Dent in the DC Universe.
Then, towards the end of the second act Harvey Dent experiences a tragic loss. The way that he chooses to react is perhaps the greatest analogy to US foreign policy after September 11. While he had shown flashes of violence and vigilantism before, the terror pushes Harvey Dent over the edge and he develops a disfigured alter-ego, Two Face. Through this persona, Dent goes on a rampage against those that he sees as the culprits. Some of his victims are deserving; corrupt cops and mob bosses, and some of them are entirely innocent bystanders.
Revenge is not a precision-guided weapon. The anger that consumes Harvey Dent is quite similar to our overreaction to terrorist attacks. Several senseless acts of murder (although on a grand scale) have pushed America into absolute backlash mode.
If Osama bin Laden is the Joker to America’s Batman, then so far he has been proven right. The bloodshed that we have visited upon hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis is not a measure of justice: it is proof that the quest for vengeance has gotten the best of us. Our golden boy Harvey Dent image has been replaced by a grotesque embodiment of imperial hubris and outrage.
It’s high time that our nation stopped fighting terror with terror and returned to a foreign policy that would make our greatest heroes, fictional or not, proud.
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Comments
07.21.08
The thought about the film supplying some defense of Bush occurred to me while I watched it.
The film ends with Batman delivering lines about how being hunted by Gotham is the price he pays for defending it with the necessary means. Sounded very familiar.
07.21.08
Tim,
You beat me to a great blog post; I was starting to make a similar argument to movie buddy on Friday, but didn't get a chance to fully bake the thought and write it out.
I wonder how often the general public makes connections between the movies they're seeing and world issues. Are indirect references to serious issues more effective than more direct (War, Inc; Stop-Loss) plays on reality?
07.21.08
@Chuck- I hadn't made the connection to the being hunted by Gotham thing. There are some obvious, some less obvious references to the administration's strategies. But I don't think they were really trying to defend Bush or his choices explicitely.
A great review I read said that Nolan took a more nuanced look at terrorism in 2 and a half hours than we've seen from Bush in 7 years. I don't think they were condoning his methods or damning them- just showing without telling. (With the exception of FISA, which I think was a clear repudiation.)
@Zak- I wanted to watch it a 2nd time before writing the review but couldn't get anyone to go yesterday and wanted to be ahead of the curve. It wasn't easy putting it together in my head at all. When's the last time a comic book movie did that to a reviewer?
Never is my guess.
I think the indirect messages in Dark Knight will provoke a lot more thought and discussion than any Iraq movie can. Partly because the audience is so much larger, and partly because it's much easier to look at without the biases that the words "war on terror" brings up.
07.21.08
I think this analysis is fairly pedestrian. I don't mean to sound causal or rude about it, but it's nothing the average viewer wouldn't get. I am more curious to know what others think about the movie's take on Corporate America and greed (money). The mob is about money, the Joker is about anarchy (sans money), and Wayne enterprises has issues (social and moral). What does this say about our pursuit of the bottom line. Even Bruce got his job through nepotism--it's not like he worked for it.
07.21.08
@John- I really didn't see much commentary in the movie on wealth or corporate America, if any. There was some in Batman Begins, but in general the franchise has avoided spending much time looking at the fact that Bruce Wayne is a billionaire heir and the owner of a gigantic corporation. Iron Man had some nice exploration into Tony Stark's qualms with his company's products. (Weapons) But again, they are action movies.
While he was entertaining every time he was onscreen, I felt myself actually cheering for the Joker when he set those piles of cash on fire. It proved that he really is unique: no interest in money. At the same time he takes over a crime family, but he's not really even interested in power, except the power to create more destruction. In a way, he's very similar to Bruce Wayne in this: Wayne shows no interest in running his company or its finances: he's only interested in justice. The Joker is just the flipside of that coin: he cares about anarchy, deeply.
I have the feeling Ledger's Joker will be the focal point of debates about chaos and order for years to come.
07.21.08
though I don't particularly think Nolan had any wishes to include the themes you derived I did enjoy your analysis of it.
Truth be told, you can watch any movie
these days and pick your own themes within the film. i think that's the beauty of a great movie, it means so many different things to so many different people.
I could look at Alfred and say he's like congress trying to steer President Batman away from dangerous and immoral decisions and sometimes forced to go along with executives decisions he doesn't agree with, "I told you so". We see whatever we want to see.
For example, I read the review regarding the Bush apologia theme and though I thought it was completely ludicrous everyone derives different meanings from the same experiences.
My personal take, is I think Nolan really wanted to depict his opinion that there is still good left in the world. That no matter the evil around us, there's essentially a good in people. But at most times they're too afraid to stand up for what's right because the time of black and white is over and confusion has set in. Most subjects are a grander field of gray these days.
For those that have seen the movie, I enjoyed a line near the end (no plot spoiler here) I think we all want the heroes we want, but they may not be the heroes we need.
Thanks for the time you put into your analysis I enjoyed your perspective Tim.
07.21.08
@Mike - It's interesting to mention that many people have always assumed that the 1956 movie "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" was an anti-Communist allegory.
Jack Finney, who wrote the original book, said ""it was just a story meant to entertain, and with no more meaning than that". http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=86561&rss=mrqe
07.21.08
@Scott- thanks a lot for the link, that was a cool article.
07.21.08
kudos to the makers Dark Knight for their record breaking opening weekend... it's no wonder there's talk of another one coming out ASAP
07.22.08
Oh please. First, please stop repeating the "[killing of] hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis" canard. The Lancet numbers are bogus, and it's been known for quite some time.
http://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/databomb/index.htm
Second, I honestly don't think you get it. As a primer, here's a link to what Dark Knight Returns' graphic novelist Frank Miller said to NPR last year (to the the Left's derision) (LGT a site I don't necessarily agree with or endorse -- NPR just doesn't post transcripts, and this was the only one I could find):
http://www.theatlasphere.com/metablog/612.php
Gotta love the NPR host's throat-clearing questions in response to Miller's unabashedly pro-GWOT views.
I read the novel back in the late 80s, and the movie is pretty true to it. I have to say that if anything, I bet Miller himself would disagree strongly with your final analysis. But ain't your own interpretation the beauty of movies, anyway?
07.23.08
Actually, it is.
It takes decades to compile accurate statistics about the casualties of war, and they always, always, always end up far higher than the government originally claimed. If you think that onl 50,000 Iraqis have died in these last 5 years, you're living in a fantasy that a comic book nerd would envy.
That is the beauty of movies. I don't have to agree with you or with Nolan.
And please, please, please stop saying "The Left" as if every progressive in the country is a single, vapid hive mind. It makes you look very foolish.
07.23.08
Tell ya what, Tim: Name for me any "progressives" you can think of who would generally agree with Frank Miller's statements. And no, Hitchens doesn't count.
07.23.08
Why shouldn't Hitchens count?
There is a great deal of dissension and disagreement within the liberal community. (Partially why we lose nearly every election.)
I disagree with Hitchens in a bunch of places- most notably faith.
Your assumption that every progressive against the war may be right. That doesn't mean we agree on every single issue all the time.
Can you think of a conservative who is against the war? I can think of dozens.
07.23.08
Hitchens is by no means a "progressive".
Your comment about conservatives against the war (and there were plenty of valid arguments to be again Iraq, or even the GWOT, which you appear to be against as well) merely strenghthen my point:
So-called "progressive" groupthink is rampant, to the extent that while there is mostly unanimity on the Left in opposition to Bush (and the GWOT and/or Iraq), to the extent that there's a diversity of opinions on these subjects, the disagreement is most often over the loudness of the yelling, and over the number of specific reasons to be anti-whatever.
07.23.08
At least I'm not taking my orders from an exective at Fox News who wears a funny tinfoil hat.
07.23.08
My hat is NOT funny!
07.24.08
@ Tim: Liberals lose elections because the large majority of this nation's citizens are not Big-L liberals. Most people are moderate, and their election choices boil down (sadly) to the lesser of two losers. Like the 2008 Presidential Election, for example.
Back to Dark Knight: The problem with extrapolating this movie to real life is that I don't know if there is anyone we can trust, like Wayne, to dismantle systems that may be necessary in time of war, but that, once the danger abates, hinder the spirit this nation was founded under. A pickle indeed.
The one problem I have with your connection to Bush apologia is that the movie was true to the spirit of the Batman comic storyline; written over the last 60 years. So maybe it's actually more apologetic to FDR than Bush. Or not.
07.24.08
Bri- most of this country is liberal, they just don't like being associated with it. When it comes to the issues, America consistently picks progressive stances. Conservatives have made it into a curse word with no meaning for policy.
The source material for TDK was a book written in the late 80's by Frank Miller, so maybe it was a Reagan apologia.
07.24.08
The courts are the progressives really, because many "progressive" issues are defeated on the ballots. Courts become the recourse to generate policy. Take a look at the voters, though. The moderation of the voters was the underlying premise behind Clinton's triagulation method.
And I wasn't trying to take away from your analysis (which I thought was pretty spot on) I just think that the connection to Bush is made convenient as coincidence of when this movie was made. As you say, a similar argument could be made for Reagan. I think the movie was stunningly faithful to the comic, like Iron Man was. First two times I've really seen that done well and effectively.
07.24.08
Plus there's a huge distinction between liberal and Liberal
07.29.08
I'm glad I'm not the only one who walked away from the Dark Knight with their mind wrestling around the deeper issues of the movie.
I too wrote a post about the batman movie titled "Unlock Your Inner Batman" (www.fly4change.com)...unlike other superhero movies, all the characters in Batman are ordinary human beings. No special powers. This and the picture the movie paints about humanity is what stayed with me and your post helped shed light to it, so thank you!
07.29.08
@ Jon E- I just now got to read the NPR interview with Frank Miller, and my esteem for him has plummeted.
Why do you have to liken Batman to Bush, as the Wall Street Journal did?
Why does every single threat have to be compared to Nazi Germany?
This is the real world, and the enemies that we're fighting are real people who are living today under VERY different circumstances than those of Germany or Japan in the 30s.
Please stop making this comparison- you're disrespecting the sacrifices that were made during a brutal, but essential war.
07.29.08
@ Bri- the principle idea behind Clinton's triangulation was to strangle any opposition to free markets. It had nothing to do with pacifying extremists on the left, it was, and is, all about money.
@Alex- Thanks for contributing! Nice to see that some people appreciate the complexity of the movie, rather than trying to prove a point.
07.31.08
Frank Miller is right-wing. He didn't write this film, however, and there's substantial differences between the plot of this film and the Dark Knight stories by Frank Miller. other writers who have worked on Batman, Warren Ellis and Grant Morrison for example, are outspoken in their rejection of the war on terror.
07.07.09
I'm glad I'm not the only one who walked away from the Dark Knight with their mind wrestling around the deeper issues of the movie.
08.20.09
Well written... you definitely took a different angle there. Can't wait for the next movie. Maybe another clever post from you on that one?
08.22.09
Its just you have thought The other side of the Dark Knight.
Its superb description and your points are really good on the topic. Just waiting for the coming next epic of The Batman and hope to see more stuffs from you on that.
08.22.09
great writing...You've got a nice different opinion. can't for the next movie...
regards,
stop dreaming start action
09.07.09
Who is the real terrorist? I though, you've known that the answer.
stop dreaming start action
10.04.10
Thanks for letting us know about this and I hope to read more from you. Keep the posts coming!
10.07.10
You are really a great author of this article! Great writing! You are helping people to enlighten their minds in different aspects in life through your excellent writing skills! Thanks so much!
10.12.10
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10.12.10
I get a lot of spam comments so I'm glad I moderate. I started comment moderation because some weirdo started using my blog to post white supremacy crap (very strange and very, very random). I assure you though, I publish all comments even when the poster doesn't agree with me.
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11.23.10
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01.06.11
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