Christian Bale-fest (SPOILERS)
Jul. 22nd, 2008 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeffxandraI saw The Dark Knight on Saturday and then, while donating platelets, I saw 3:10 to Yuma today
The Dark Knight lives up to its billing. It's not spooky dark, in the way a comic artist would draw excessive shadows in which Batman would lurk. Indeed,Chicago Gotham City is surprisingly well lit throughout most of the movie. Instead it's more a omnipresent sense of despair that pervades every inch of the celluloid upon which this movie is shot.
There's little to no hope, no inspiration, found in this movie, even in any single person. The sole exception, if any, is the doomed pair of district attourneys fighting a losing battle agains the forces of organized crime. And with their inevtiable demise, Batman and Gordon make a choice that says what the little hope you have is more important than truth.
Unlike (attributed to) Franklin's argument that those who trade liberty for security deserve neither, it is deliciously seductive to make this trade in a world without hope. This is not a case where there is an illusion where people believe things are good, only to find them bad. Everyone knows that things are bad inChicago Gotham City. Everyone wants to believe that things can get better. Is the sacrifice of the truth about Harvey Dent worth the inspiration it might give to the citizenry? It would seem the answer is yes
But what else will they lie to themselves about if the truth seems too difficult? What other things are they willing to give up to believe that things are better, or even merely going to do so? I find that concept disturbing to contemplate.
In some respects, I find it even more disturbing than the many disturbing scenes provided by Heath Ledger's Joker. Oh yes, Ledger's Joker is the wonder to behold that everyone tells you he is. He's not a comedian in the way every version, even Nicholson's, makes him out to be. Here is a man who is simply, and purely, incredibly sociopathic. Every moment the Joker is on the screen, and many he is off, you see what happens when a brilliant, capable, person is unwilling to adhere to the rules society dictates. And that's where his version is different. In the past, the Joker may have been a malcontent but he needed society for him to exist, because he wants to go on existing. Ledger's does not care if he goes on existing, as long as his point his made.
That's not to say it's not a good movie, but the more I think about it the more unsettling it becomes. There is an statement towards the end that Batman is the hero Gotham City deserves. That's probably true. But the scary thing is if hope is so dear that one will deny reality, at what point will Gotham truly acknowledge just how far it as fallen, which it needs to do, to fully recover.
Meanwhile I have my wife and![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
josabry swooning over the concept of (complete fantasy) casting David Tennant as The Riddler.
The Dark Knight lives up to its billing. It's not spooky dark, in the way a comic artist would draw excessive shadows in which Batman would lurk. Indeed,
There's little to no hope, no inspiration, found in this movie, even in any single person. The sole exception, if any, is the doomed pair of district attourneys fighting a losing battle agains the forces of organized crime. And with their inevtiable demise, Batman and Gordon make a choice that says what the little hope you have is more important than truth.
Unlike (attributed to) Franklin's argument that those who trade liberty for security deserve neither, it is deliciously seductive to make this trade in a world without hope. This is not a case where there is an illusion where people believe things are good, only to find them bad. Everyone knows that things are bad in
But what else will they lie to themselves about if the truth seems too difficult? What other things are they willing to give up to believe that things are better, or even merely going to do so? I find that concept disturbing to contemplate.
In some respects, I find it even more disturbing than the many disturbing scenes provided by Heath Ledger's Joker. Oh yes, Ledger's Joker is the wonder to behold that everyone tells you he is. He's not a comedian in the way every version, even Nicholson's, makes him out to be. Here is a man who is simply, and purely, incredibly sociopathic. Every moment the Joker is on the screen, and many he is off, you see what happens when a brilliant, capable, person is unwilling to adhere to the rules society dictates. And that's where his version is different. In the past, the Joker may have been a malcontent but he needed society for him to exist, because he wants to go on existing. Ledger's does not care if he goes on existing, as long as his point his made.
That's not to say it's not a good movie, but the more I think about it the more unsettling it becomes. There is an statement towards the end that Batman is the hero Gotham City deserves. That's probably true. But the scary thing is if hope is so dear that one will deny reality, at what point will Gotham truly acknowledge just how far it as fallen, which it needs to do, to fully recover.
Meanwhile I have my wife and
josabry swooning over the concept of (complete fantasy) casting David Tennant as The Riddler.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
That's exactly the point
Date: 2008-07-23 02:35 pm (UTC)But what does, arguably the two most honest men in Gotham, making that choice say about future ones?
Re: That's exactly the point
Date: 2008-07-24 02:15 am (UTC)Then, once the crisis is past, you can give the bad news. I don't think Batman or Gordon intend for Batman to be considered a murderer forever. They just felt that the city needed to have a hero to look up to, and Dent was a good man until something very bad happened to him. Later, when things are better, they can clear his name.
It's not a perfect analogy, but it's certainly an example of a time when you need to lie in order to save someone.
Re: That's exactly the point
Date: 2008-07-25 01:50 pm (UTC)And who will they say killed those men? Dent? Suddenly all the prosecutions made in Dent's name will get called into question once more. It's merely forestalling the inevitable. Or, do they lie again and find some scapegoat? Oh yea, Zsasz killed those guys, and these guys too?
It's not a perfect analogy
You are a master of understatement.
Re: That's exactly the point
Date: 2008-07-25 05:13 pm (UTC)The problem isn't letting those guys out of jail. You're missing the point. It's a morale issue. People need hope. They need someone to believe in. They need a guy they can look up to and say "He was a great man. We need more people like him." Later, when the city is better and crime is lower, they can reveal Dent's psychotic break. Really, it doesn't diminish the man he once was; it just needs to be broken to the public gently and in a time when it's ready to hear it. Right now it would be disasterous.
A psycho was running around killing people at random and the local hero who was looking to turn things around just died after getting mangled, his girlfriend was blown up, a judge was blown up, the police commishioner was poisoned, the police station was bombed, and numerous cops were killed and injured. That's going to cause a pretty damn serious morale problem. My analogy isn't perfect but I don't think it's as bad as you seem to think. Gotham is fighting for its life right now. You tell the people right now that it's local hero went psycho and killed cops, that could be a backbreaker.