I just walked out on The Dark Knight. My wife and daughter are still watching it, but after what felt like about 90 minutes, I just got disgusted and left.
In the early days of movies, there were rules about what could and could not happen in films. One of them was that the people who stood for the rule of law couldn't lose. In the end, they always won, while the evil characters always lost. Film makers found this unduly restrictive, and so they worked out a way around it. The bad guys got the money, the success, all of the trappings of victory, right up to the end. At the very end, they were finally hauled away, and the forces of right were triumphant. Eventually.
I'm sure that TDK will turn out the same way. In the end, Batman will win. This being a modern morality tale, he'll undoubtedly go through great personal angst along the way. The Joker being what he is, many more people will die, many more police cars will get blown up, buildings will be destroyed - but at the end, Batman will win, however equivocally, and the Joker will lose, however equivocally. But the message that will come out -- which is the reason that I left -- is that evil will essentially triumph, and the forces of right, and justice, will die, be destroyed, be tarnished beyond recognition. When they win -- if they win -- it will almost be by accident -- and the film will essentially mock them as saps and not-too-bright rules followers bound by rules and standards. For action -- for forceful action, people making things happen, affecting their world -- the message will be that evil's the way to go. Screw society; do what you want, act as you want, and go for the gusto.
I don't care for that message. So I left.
2 comments:
Evil doesn't win. But we're asked to consider what evil really is. That's the power of The Dark Knight. :-)
Carolyn Ann
Or as the philosopher put it - Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?
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