Batman = Bush? The Dark Night Revisited
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This is in response to Andrew Klavan’s article, “What Bush and Batman Have in Common.”
Klavan writes, “There is no moral equivalence between a free society– in which people sometimes make the wrong choices– and a criminal sect bent on destruction. The former must be cherished even in its moments of folly; the latter must be hounded to the gates of Hell.” We must free ourselves from this delusion that somehow the deplorable actions committed in the name of righteousness are somehow different from the deplorable actions committed in the name of villainy. Actions are actions, regardless of intent. As Stephen Fry once so eloquently put it, “One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” While many consider the acts of terrorists to be monstrous, there are many that praise these same acts. The same occurs with actions committed by U.S. military forces.
The author goes on to point out that conservatives must hide their ideals in films like Batman, while liberals simply display them outright, in works such as “Redacted.” He dually notes that the latter, and others like it, failed miserably. The reason that these films flop is not that people don’t agree with the sentiment, its that no one wants to be confronted by these questionable ideas when they are merely looking for a film to take their mind off of the real world. The reason that conservative messages are able to penetrate films such as “The Dark Knight,” is that no one is looking for them. These opinions are not rubbed in the face of the viewer, they are merely presented in the background, on an almost subliminal level.
I find it hard to believe that anyone came out of “The Dark Knight” thinking, “You know what? Good ‘ole G.W. isn’t really that bad of a guy.” It is foolish to say that films such as this one are more successful than more “liberal” offerings because of their conservative message. Films like these are more successful because they have better special effects. The reason that these films are more successful is that they involve a man in a rubber suit, who flies off of the sides of skyscrapers. It’s FANTASY that people want. I shall point to the success of a little known film, dubbed “WALL-E.” This film was absolutely filled with green-liberal propaganda;” however, it grossed over 63 million dollars in its first weekend (thanks imdb). Why was this film so successful? I’ve got two words for you, robots and spaceships. The underlying theme of the movie could have been, ” Global warming doesn’t exist,” and it still would have made 63 mill (maybe 62; I hear Al Gore saw it several times). People don’t want overt social commentary, be it conservative or liberal; they want mindless entertainment. Out of all of the things that people want in a movie, reality is not one of them.
The author states that conservatives MUST be more suttle, when it comes to social commentary. I call shenanigans on this. Conservatives are free to make blatantly conservative films; hoever, the public is also free not to watch them.
“The moment filmmakers take on the problem of Islamic terrorism in realistic films, suddenly those values vanish. The good guys become indistinguishable from the bad guys, and we end up denigrating the very heroes who defend us. Why should this be?” Now we are getting somewhere. The point of “realistic” films is to do exactly that, to show the flaws and moral contradictions in the actions of our “heroes.”
10 Comments
E2001
July 25th, 2008
at 6:13pm
I think you hit the nail right on the head. But then, I’m probably the only living individual I know who prefers documentaries.
taurusxiled
July 25th, 2008
at 6:20pm
Thanks! Don’t feel alone, I live for a good documentary. That’s where Netflix instant watch comes in handy.
heyall
July 26th, 2008
at 11:00pm
In your article, you talk about Wall-E and its underlying message being an enviornmental one. That is a far cry from Batman and its underlying message that tries to justify Bush’s crimes. Batman tries to paint a false picture with its message that sometimes we need a necessary evil to counteract the terrorists. That is what makes it such a bad influence. I have no problem with a movie that has conservative or liberal underlying themes, but in this movie, pro-Bush themes are used to justify terrible crimes.
Tadd Barstowe
July 30th, 2008
at 9:19am
If we really want to look for a movie character similar to G W Bush I would say that Anikin Skywalker in Star Wars 3 would be the closest
kris Arnold
August 2nd, 2008
at 9:54pm
wait a second…
1 - theoretically batman cares and bravely does the battling himself.
2 - i just saw dark knight, and they did not stop it halfway thru and say “well, actually there were no wmd’s” (or the joker’s equivalent.)
3 - who was the real life harvey dent?
one thing is for certain, the war in iraq + the dark knight = too long.
lucas s
August 7th, 2008
at 5:54pm
Now i dont really care whether you think the dark night held symbolism to George W. Bush, but to say that the only reason people go to movies is because “they are merely looking for a film to take their mind off of the real world” is excessive. And to say that the reason movies like the dark night sell so much is because of the special effects is also untrue. Do I think that special effects adds a lot to the overall production? Yes. But I know when I saw the dark night, i was deeply intriuged by the Jokers’ point of view. It wasnt just the now-cliche ‘two sides of the same coin’ deal, it was chaos. Joker beleived that by just making people choose between their own life or someone else’s , humans would revert to our primal instinct of survival. Now, obviously chaos did not win in the end, but i still found myself questioning whether that idea of chaos makes sense. I believe that people do not just go to movies to escape the real world, but in many cases, to use eye-pleasing mediums to convey a deeper thinking into myself. For instance, i watched the movie wall-e a few days ago, and on the outside, the movie is a fanciful adventure in a futuristic world where the fat & lazy humans team together with some dysfunctional robots to go back to Earth and begin society again. But if you dig further, the movie has many very tragic implications. For about seven hundred years people let machines tell them what to do, how to think, what to wear that they stopped having the capacity to make those decisions. And since they never moved from the chair, they couldn’t live like we know it. They were ignorant to the lives they could have, and that was a truly tragic thing. Kinda deep for a kid’s movie, right? That’s the point! All movies have those (with the exception of many stupid, sarcastic, comedies). That’s what has kept the flame of storytelling alive since the beginning of mankind. A moral, if you will. Something you can think about and take away from the theatre. People crave that. We are drawn to knowledge, to a higher understanding, and movies & plays are the most enjoyable way to get there.
taurusxiled
August 7th, 2008
at 7:20pm
I did not say that the only reason that people go to the movies is to escape the real world. I said that those who do go to the movies to escape reality do not want to be confronted with glaring social commentary. Obviously, there are plenty of people who go to the movies to expand their knowledge, but I do believe that these people are not the majority. I appreciate the post, it’s been the best developed one so far.
Matt Love
August 11th, 2008
at 11:45pm
It amazes me that anybody thinks that there is anything to learn about the real world from that movie. The notion that terrorists are just people that like to see things burn, and any grievance they have is just a lie anyway - the Joker’s story changed every time he told it. Cute, but when you go around blowing up weddings, real people are dismembered.
No, if there are any real world equivalents, Bush is like the Joker, and Omar Khadr is Batman. Think about it. That guy has a story that’s more like a superhero origin story than anybody in the world, and who are the terrorists that terrorize him? the US mis-government.
Maybe the despicable and awful Stephen Harper is two-face.
ali razavi
September 12th, 2008
at 2:31pm
i belive he was , he is and he will be a hero a true and reall hero i belive he is the best president of united state of america even better than ronald reagan or george washington he is the man who mark in history the hero that destroyed sadam hoseyn regim in iraq and taliban in afghanistan and fight vs terrorism in all around the world and suports the people looking for freedoom god bless you mr president you are julio cesar of our age
taurusxiled
September 12th, 2008
at 3:44pm
And the awards for best grammar and spelling go to…..