Just when we thought it was safe to escape to the movie theater to see our favorite hero fight crime and leave behind the American life that has had us so bummed us out this year, we find out that Chris Nolan’s insanely popular “The Dark Knight,” the entity that was supposed to be letting us leave this all behind may have been a two and a half hour justification of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney’s questionable anti-terrorism policies.
An article at the Washington Independent mapped out an pretty salient argument which claims that the Vice President Dick Cheney’s shady anti-terrorism policies are present in this summers biggest movie.
NOTE: Spoiler Alert!! The comparisons are quite astonishing, the presence of the “noble lies” in the films that serve in the best interest of Batman and the people (Alfred burning the note, the Harvey Dent as perfect hero falsie, Gordon’s “death.”) But one of the more glaring examples would have to be the morally right Bruce Wayne, who is restricted in his ability to fight crime by his refusal to sink to the level of the Joker, being unable to stop or even understand an enemy that has no motivation except to “see the world burn.”
Alas there is hope for a Batman victory, but he must give up his role as a champion of the people, and make unpopular/tough decisions that cast him in a poor public light, and even goes as far as to make him a fugitive, oh yeah and illegal wiretapping, can’t win a war against the nihilistic enemies without it. The final scene’s voice over by Gary Oldman’s is especially suspect and could easily double as a Bush/Cheney radio plug. A bit reductive? Possibly, but you’ve got to admit there’s some major immoralities going on (his ally Lucius Fox played by Morgan Freeman does quit after all).
What does this all mean? Did the GOP just get its best advertising slot ever thanks to America’s comic nerds flooding to the theaters in unstoppable droves? Will “TDK” suffer a blacklash due to the negative connection? Probably not, and most likely it will work the other way around, because who didn’t think Cheney was way fucking cooler after seeing “The Dark Knight.”
Meanwhile, ‘TDK’ has broke the $200 million mark in five days, damn.
Morgan Freeman = Lester Freamon?
Maybe it’s because it’s a movie, but instead of calling it an advertisement/endorsement of Bush/Cheney, I’d probably qualify it as a discussion or commentary, if only for the fact that it is presented as argument (in the Lucius Fox/Batman dialogue). Alfred seems to be a proponent of “by any means necessary”. He’s totally an enabler.
did lucius even quit ? he seemed to smile when the machine was destroying itself…it didn’t strike me as the mentality of a man who was disappointed with the choices he had made. maybe i misunderstood the scene. either way i cannot see them replacing his character, even though he plays a small role in the series, it still feels like a crucial role.
right wing propaganda or not, the movie was great.
Bruce Wayne said (paraphrase) “when you are finished, enter your name” He knew fox would do that, (enter his name), so that command was the code to keep fox on staff. No wiretapping sonar device on hand and Fox does not have to voluntarily resign. Bruce gave him the self destruct password, and it was Mr. Foxes namesake. Fox realized that when he saw that his signal of or resignation (entering his name) was actually a command to destroy the apparatus. That is why he smiled.
The wiretapping is an real-world allegory that is presented (both by the movie and by pro-bush conservatives) as a necessary evil to fight the war on terror. They distort the truth to try and justify Bush’s crimes. To kevinscott who said “right wing propaganda or not, the movie was great”, I must disagree. The fact that this sort of pro-Bush propaganda was even present in the film takes away any greatness it could have achieved.
The wiretapping is a real-world allegory that is presented (both by the movie and by pro-bush conservatives) as a necessary evil to fight the war on terror. They distort the truth to try and justify Bush’s crimes. To kevinscott who said “right wing propaganda or not, the movie was great”, I must disagree. The fact that this sort of pro-Bush propaganda was even present in the film takes away any greatness it could have achieved.
I believe this allegory to be a false one. I think that the dark knight is a very entertaining movie, but I don’t think it has anything to do with the Bush policy.