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messed-up man behlnd the mask, had
a number of consequences for the
supposedly 'fun' franchlse. Leavlng the
batsult out of much of the trllogy and
settlng lt ln a Gotham Clty so hlghly
recognlsable that lt mlght as well have been
called New ork, the dlrector seems to have
been lnvltlng crltlcs to make comparisons
between the films events and their
contemporary socio-political context.
Nolan stated ln a Rolling Stone
lntervlew that 'the fllms genulnely aren't
lntended to be polltlcal' but many have
argued otherwlse, enforclng thelr own
lnterpretatlons on the ldeas of the trllogy.
Douthat (20l2) even goes so far as to argue
that
Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy is notable
for being much more explicitly right-wing
than almost any Hollywood blockbuster of
recent memory.
Are these accusatlons falr or are there
some alternatlve lnterpretatlons of 8atman's
most recent relncarnatlonI
Christopher Nolans Batman trilogy
has been critically acclaimed and a
huge success at the box office. Pete
Turner evaluates its exploration
of dark themes, and considers
accusations of a reactionary
ideology.
You have to become an
idea
After Joel Schumachers Batman and
Robin was a day-glo dlsaster ln l997,
anyone would thlnk the dlrector had kllled
off comlc book lcon 8atman for good. 8ut
only elght years later, British director
Christopher Nolan resurrected the dark
knlght, loslng the sldeklck, neon llghts
and rubber nlpples ln favour of enhanced
realism and contemporary relevance.
Nolan's focus on 8ruce wayne, the
The ideology of Nolans Batman trilogy
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wlll of the people on thelr slde ln order to
start more wars and assert more Amerlcan
domlnance over the rest of the world.
Comlc book characters llke 8atman slmllarly
need an enemy to flght agalnst.
Without an enemy, the virtuous warrior will
lose his virile strength; without an uprising,
the repressive capacity of the state will grow
idle, and sterile.
Bady, 2012
Batman needs disorder, chaos and
enemies to attack. He serves the status
quo, protectlng the dominant hegemony
of hls soclety. Superheroes, partlcularly
8ruce wayne wlth hls abundant wealth,
beneflt from malntalnlng soclal structures
as they are, or as Meggs (2009, p.4) argues
of superheroes:
protecting the status quo gives them
countless opportunities to defend it from
attack.
By any means necessary
the tactics of Batman
Conslderlng the tactlcs of 8atman over
the whole trllogy also sheds llght on some
cause for concern over thls darkest of
knlghts. whlle 8atman ls not a klller and
certalnly not as cheerfully fasclst as 1udge
Dredd's executloner, he ls on the other
hand 'forced' lnto some pretty abhorrent
acts over the course of the trllogy. |n The
Dark Knight, hls lnterrogatlon of the 1oker
becomes brutal, llke the torture so eagerly
[ustlfled by stopplng acts of terrorlsm ln real
llfe. 8atman then uses a scarlly sophlstlcated
and completely lllegal survelllance
Vigilantism, justice and
vengeance
The Dark Knight trllogy has led to
contlnued debates that have long exlsted
about 8atman as a symbol of vigilantism,
justice, vengeance and even fascism. He
ls a force for 'good' who flghts crlmlnals
by puttlng on a mask, attacklng them ln
the dark and dlshlng out hls own vlgllante
[ustlce, unlnhlblted by the laws, restrlctlons
and corruptlon that the local pollce deal
wlth. 8ruce wayne ls a character who beglns
by wantlng to take vengeance on the
murderer of hls parents by attemptlng to
assasslnate the crlmlnal. He then [olns what
some crltlcs have called a 'terrorlst tralnlng
camp' ln the mountalns, where he ls tralned
to flght hls enemles when he returns home.
Some see wayne's 8atman as a terrorlst who
tralns wlth a shadowy league, only to spurn
thelr harsher methods before they flnally
show up on hls doorstep for a 'blowback'
that many have seen as reflectlng Amerlca's
lnvolvement wlth the Tallban before
September llth 200l.
Others have argued that:
just as The Dark Knight was a touching tribute
to an embattled George W. Bush, who chose
to be seen as a villain in order to be the hero,
Rises is a love letter to an imperfect America
that in the end always does the right thing.
Nolte, 2012
|n thls readlng, because 8atman takes
responslblllty for Two-Pace's murders at the
end of The Dark Knight, he ls comparable
wlth George w. 8ush, who was wllllng to
do Amerlca's dlrty work ln a tlme of war.
America is the vigilante that has to free
ltself of the shackles of lnternatlonal laws
ln order to flght evll wherever lt flnds lt,
and mete out lts own brand of justice and
revenge for the 9/11 attacks.
There are many who belleve that the
Amerlcan polltlcal and mllltary ellte hoped
for such an attack, as lt would glve them the
He is a force for good who fights
criminals by putting on a mask,
attacking them in the dark and
dishing out his own vigilante justice,
uninhibited by the laws, restrictions
and corruption that the local police
deal with.
Some find the moral murkiness of
the films to be more about criticising
Americas behaviour than celebrating
what was achieved through morally
dubious tactics.
Batman needs disorder, chaos and
enemies to attack. He serves the
status quo, protecting the dominant
hegemony of his society.
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Gothamltes lmprovlng over the course of
the three fllms, wlth less corruptlon, poverty
and organlsed crlme, they also lack any
real suggestion that such fundamental
inequalities in wealth are in any way
wrong. wayne may lose hls fortune by
8ane's deeds, but hls wealth and access
to technology ls never crltlclsed, even as
they talk of the army lacklng funds to buy
wayne Lnterprlses' hardware, or the pollce
not havlng the resources to catch crlmlnals.
Only 8ruce wayne can afford a batsult, a
batmoblle and a batplane. The army and
the pollce, funded by tax dollars, wlll have
to do wlthout, but 8ruce wayne, vlgllante
mllllonalre, can carry on belng the savlour.
The fllms have no 'notlon of a structural
crlsls ln capltallsm' (8ady, 20l2). |n The Dark
Knight Rises nuclear bomb,
the movie allows Bruce Wayne to invent a
technological solution to poverty and then
discard it.
Bady, 2012
Though the reactor could have been
used as a source of unllmlted cheap
energy, ln the wrong hands (l.e. anyone
not as wealthy, noble and wonderful as
8ruce wayne) lt ls turned lnto a bomb and
therefore must be destroyed. 8ady goes so
far as to argue that
this decision to not end poverty because
you might release a weapon into the public
sphere demonstrates the real driving force
for the movies morality, sense of history, and
its understanding of civic virtue: the violence
within, which must be contained.
Bady, 2012
8atman ls a comlc book hero and hls [ob
ls not to battle lnequallty but to flght evll
vlllalns. The cause of crlme ls left to hls alter-
ego 8ruce wayne to occaslonally tackle ln
charltable donatlons to orphanages and
the llke. 8atman has a reactionary role,
flghtlng the bad guys whlle lgnorlng the
soclal allments that cause crlmlnallty. |n thls
way he can choose to lgnore
more liberal, systemic changes that might
have broader effects and challenge dominant
institutions and ideology.
Meggs, 2009
Throughout the trllogy, Nolan ls showlng
that Gotham ls spllt along class dlvlslons,
and whlle he acknowledges the ln[ustlces of
the rullng ellte, he ls also
suggesting that both the revolutionary and
anarchic alternatives would be much, much
worse.
Douthat, 2012
a playboy mllllonalre who lnherlted hls
wealth from hls parents and who knows
nothlng of the poverty of the ordlnary
people of Gotham untll he wllllngly and
dellberately throws hls wallet away to get
a taste of what lt ls llke to feel hunger. The
people of Gotham are poor, struggllng and
desperate. The flrst real contact wlth them
that wayne has ls when a crlmlnal robs,
then kllls hls parents for thelr expenslve
belonglngs. Douthat (20l2) argues that:
the Batman movies pretty consistently
portray Gotham as corrupt, chaotic, unequal
and unjust.
Those at the top dupe, intimidate and
control the masses. |t ls no wonder that
many [oln 8ane's army by the flnale to flght
agalnst lnequallty ln thelr soclety. Marcotte
(20l2) argues that:
watching the super-rich be pulled out of their
homes and murdered can be read as a slam
against the left, but it felt more like the ugly
result of allowing the rich to gobble up too
much of the pie in the first place.
whlle the trllogy shows llfe for ordlnary
technlque ln order to track down hls
nemesls. As 8ady (20l2) states:
Bruce Wayne became the terrorist and
Batman became both torturer and operator
of a mass surveillance system; it was exactly
the point that in fighting the villain, he
became the villain.
Some read thls as an attack on the
behavlour of Amerlca whlle others,
Marcotte (20l2) lncluded, argued that
The Dark Knight 'ended wlth a seemlng
endorsement of authorltarlanlsm'.
|nterrogatlons that stray lnto brutallty
and vlolatlng prlvacy laws are [ustlfled ln
the fllm by the seml-posltlve outcomes.
The 1oker ls captured, though there are
two ma[or vlctlms of hls chaos, and good
and evll become such murky concepts that
lt ls no wonder so much of what occurs ln
The Dark Knight looms omlnously over the
events of The Dark Knight Rises. The truth
of Harvey Dent's turn to the dark slde ls
eventually used agalnst those who plotted
to decelve the masses.
Marcotte even suggests that:
by violating human rights to deal with crime,
Gotham opened the door for Banes extremist
reaction.
Thls suggests a rather more progresslve
argument than many have glven these
recent Batman fllms credlt for. Some flnd
the moral murklness of the fllms to be more
about crltlclslng Amerlca's behavlour than
celebratlng what was achleved through
morally dublous tactlcs. 8ady argues that
the fllms show that:
America has become what it says it fights
in the process of fighting it and made it
impossible to distinguish good from evil.
Inequality in Gotham
Gotham, although much lmproved
between Batman Begins and The Dark
Knight Rises, slmmers constantly wlth
class tension. 8ruce wayne ls the notable
representatlve of upper class arlstocracy,
Batman does not fight inequality or
any of the other factors that might
cause increases in criminality.
english and media centre | April 2013 | MediaMagazine 41
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and hls vlllalns: agents of chaos versus
an agent of order. 8atman does not flght
lnequallty or any of the other factors that
mlght cause lncreases ln crlmlnallty. 8ruce
wayne ls a prlvlleged playboy who can do
as he pleases, but chooses not to change
the system for the good of the people. At
the end of the day,
by not seeking to create a radically new
system of government or social structure, he
ensures that he will always be needed.
Meggs, 2009
And wlth a reboot expected ln 20l7, you
can bet he always wlll be.
Pete Turner is undertaking a PhD at Oxford Brookes
University, writes a film blog at http://ilovethatfilm.
blogspot.com/ and is currently writing a book on The
Blair Witch Project.
Follow it up
8ady 20l2. http://thenewlnqulry.com/
blogs/zunguzungu/do-not-go-gentle-
lnto-that-dark-knlght/
Douthat. 20l2.
Marcotte. 20l2. http://prospect.org/
artlcle/masked-morallty-batman-trllogy
Meggs. 2009. http://trace.
tennessee.edu/cgl/vlewcontent.
cglIartlcle2296&contextutk_
chanhonopro[
Nolan. 20l2. http://www.rolllngstone.
com/movles/news/chrlstopher-
nolan-dark-knlght-rlses-lsn-t-polltlcal-
20l20720#lxzz21Tw3XLDZ
Nolte. 20l2. http://www.breltbart.com/
8lg-Hollywood/20l2/07/2l/Dark-Knlght-
Plses-Pevlew-Nolte
20l2), partlcularly ln the flnal fllm. The
people of Gotham are nowhere to be seen
durlng the occupatlon of Gotham. |t ls
left for 8atman to release the pollce force
and for them to then flght the uprlslng of
prlsoners and dlsgruntled poor young men
who [olned 8ane. Many see parallels wlth
the Occupy Wall Street movement but
8ane has no peaceful or noble lntentlons of
flghtlng for the redlstrlbutlon of wealth to
the 99%. |nstead he ls slmply a puppet of a
crlmlnal organlsatlon that wants to watch
the world burn. Nolan has addressed the
slmllarltles, argulng that he ls not crltlcal of
Occupy wall Street but clalmlng
if the populist movement is manipulated by
somebody who is evil; that surely is a criticism
of the evil person. You could also say the
conditions the evil person is exploiting are
problematic and should be addressed.
So though the masses only play a
very mlnor role ln thelr own destlny, the
fllms suggest that there ls some lnherent
decency ln the people of Gotham Clty.
Conclusion: order vs chaos
The Dark Knight trllogy ls many thlngs to
many people. |t throws post-9/11 concerns
about terrorism, justice and retribution
lnto the decldedly less comlc-book-llke
settlng of a very modern and recognlsable
Gotham Clty. Some conslder lt wllfully rlght-
wlng, even more than the ldea of a wealthy
vlgllante ever formerly suggested. Others
conslder lt more balanced in its ideology,
argulng that lts approaches to crlme and
capltallsm are far from slmpllstlc. Nolte
(20l2) pralses the flnal fllm for belng
mostly about a rousing defence of an America
under siege by a demagogue disguising his
nihilistic rage and thirst for revenge and
power as a noble quest for equality.
Marcotte (20l2) argues that
there are no easy dichotomies. By the end of
the third film, a clear argument for balance
between authoritarianism in the name of
order and an anarchist view of people power
emerges.
|t all ultlmately comes back to 8atman
The masses
Karl Marx belleved the workers of the
world would unlte and when they achleved
class consclousness, they would revolt
agalnst those who had explolted them
for too long. However Nolan's fllms have
less falth ln the masses. Aslde from The
Dark Knight's cllmax, Gotham's people are
seen as doclle, useless and lncapable of
achlevlng anythlng worthwhlle. The Dark
Knight ls lnterestlng ln that
the films ideological conflict seems to center
around the fundamental worth of humanity,
whether it is truly as corruptible as the Joker
thinks it is or if it has an essential nobility as
Bruce Wayne believes.
Meggs, 2009
Portunately at the end of the fllm, wayne
ls proved rlght: nelther the prlsoners nor the
ordlnary people of Gotham choose to blow
up each other's bomb-laced ferrles as The
1oker had hoped they would.
However the masses are more often
portrayed as 'a populace content to walt for
8atman to save lt wlthout dolng anythlng
- good or evll - on lts own behalf' (8ady,
Gothams people are seen as docile,
useless and incapable of achieving
anything worthwhile.