I saw this movie today. I'd like to start out by saying that Heath Ledger was brilliant. He was terrifying actually. This made the movie frightening and wonderful to be a part of. This blog entry will be pretty political because I was thinking politics the whole time and want to point some things out that may have already been obvious to the smart readers of this blog. There will be some spoilers.
1. Much of the movie was a philosophical discussion about doing evil for the overall good of humanity. The Joker spent most of the movie trying to make people embrace the warrior within. He wanted people to act out of anger and to use power to bring about the each man's desire. He tried to prove that all men and women will really forfeit their ideals in the heat of the moment. This was ironic timing in my life as I'm trying to figure out the bounds of pacifism and loving thy neighbor.
2. Batman supports the Jokers notions of giving up on ones ideals if it is justified. This is a pretty complicated notion too. At one point Batman uses everybody's phone in Gothem City to spy on the residents and create some kind of sophisticated sonar map. He gets into an argument with Morgan Freeman about the ethics of this. Batman... being smarter than all of Gotham City... decided it was best for its' people for him to use this illegal phone tapping for the overall good. Does that sound familiar? Later on Batman accepts the blame for the deaths of some of Gotham City's finest in order to try to save the city from falling apart. He feels that if the city knows the truth, it will make poor decisions and fall prey to anarchy. Big Brother is out there watching over us.
Both of these examples describe what could happen to any man/woman who has too much power. It's bad news when any one person has the power to decide what is best for the masses. In some ways I think this is where the good ole USofA has it right. We do strive to make decisions as a nation by voting. We don't want one "cowboy" doing what he thinks is best for us.
The movie also touches on what I think is the deeper root of this situation: human nature. Will we make good decisions when nobody is around? Will we abandon our ideals when it will cost us a great deal? Are we willing to let people make poor decisions and handle the fallout of those choices alongside them?
One last thing I noticed. Heath Ledger once played a cowboy in a movie. I used the word "cowboy" in this blog describing "W". He also is from Texas and kind of embraces the cowboy way. The Joker is a psychopathic killer with no conscience and wheres lipstick. Coincidence? I think not.
5 comments:
Yeah man, it was a thought provoker for sure. I think this one was actually a little too dark for me. It left me feeling pretty hopeless and depressed. I couldn't really say I enjoyed the movie. It seemed to have a bleaker outlook on human nature than Batman Begins (which I liked a lot better for multiple reasons). But the overall message of this one seemed to me that no one is really good (Batman using questionable means to do good etc) and some people are just really extra bad for no explainable reason (the Joker). I envisioned Feltch showing it in his Calvinism class as an example of "total depravity." Harvey Dent declares: "You Either Die A Hero, Or Live Long Enough To See Yourself Become The Villain" and by the end even Harvey and Batman have proved his cryptic words true.
I agree it was pretty dark. i kind of like the dark feel though. I think it's a nice contrast to all the other hollywood crap out there. I like movies that make me feel bad sometimes. Did you know I also like nightmares. Do you think I need to see a therapist.
After we left the movie my wife said that she felt it was sad that nothing good ever really happened. Batman hadn't really done much of anything to deter crime since Batman Begins (other than making criminals afraid to go out at night). And by the end of the movie things weren't really any better than at the beginning.
In a comic book movie you expect the hero to do something that will ultimately make life better for the people - but that doesn't really happen here. Instead you're hit with the bleak notion that one man can't change things on his own.
That's interesting Steve. What DID Batman do? He mostly just kept things from reaching the tipping point. That really isn't very super heroee. But I guess we would have to debate about whether a man with good technology can actually be a superhero. He has no super power. Just a frickin belt and sidekick with a stupid name.
But he did have lots of smokin hot girls all over him. That's cool.
Isn't the point of heroes like Batman to show that a normal person could be a superhero too?
I mean, super powers or not, I wouldn't mess with Batman. And let's not hold Robin against him. He's not in this latest Batman series, at least not yet, and given how awesome the series has been, if he does show up, I believe they could find a way to make it work.
Then again, if a man with good technology can be a superhero, does that make W a superhero? He might not be able to fly or see through walls (um, at least I hope he can't) but he could choose to drop a nuke on you whenever he wants. That's some serious power.
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