Christopher Nolan and company have
created what is arguably the most celebrated comic book movie trilogy
of all time. Not only have the movies been box office smashes but
they have been lauded with critical acclaim, most famously Heath
Ledger's posthumous Oscar for his riveting portrayal of the Joker.
Now that the series has come to its
conclusion, it is worth investigating the philosophy presented to us
in these films. Since the last movie is still in theaters now, I
will try to remain as spoiler free as possible, but I do not know if
that will be very successful.
METAPHYSICS
There appears nothing metaphysically
extraordinary The movies make no specific comment as to what the
underlying metaphysical principles are at work. The universe does
appear to have random elements to it. Bruce's parents are not killed
by some master criminal, but by a desperate lowlife who was in the
wrong place at the right time. But we can see how justice does not
sleep and that eventually good wins out. The world is not empty of
meaning. In fact, meaning is one of its central points in the form
of symbols.
“People
need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. I can't do this
as Bruce Wayne. A man is just flesh and blood and can be ignored or
destroyed. But as a symbol... as a symbol, I can be incorruptible,
everlasting.”
Bruce
says these words as he begins to gestate the idea that would become
Batman. But the point is that symbols matter. What is flesh and
blood is passing. But there are some things that cannot be destroyed
that way because they are not material. Now, it is not clear if this
points to some kind of spiritual reality or if this is only in
reference to concepts and ideas. Either way, there is an
acknowledgment that matter is not enough. A material symbol is
needed to bring about awareness of an invisible reality.
EPISTEMOLOGY
As
with the philosophy of the Terminator,
The
Dark Knight
films focus heavily on experiential knowledge. Bruce has to
experience fear as boy from his fall into the bat cave and his
parents' murder.
When he confronts Carmine Falcone, the
mobster puts him in his place when he says, “Now,
you think because your mommy and your daddy got shot, you know about
the ugly side of life, but you don't. You've never tasted desperate.”
As cold as those words are, Falcone was correct. It's these words
that start Bruce's training in his war on crime. He needed to
experience criminality in order to understand it, so he left and
became a street thief.
But
the role of parents is also very important in the series. While
Bruce needs the experiences to shape his abilities, it is his father
who imparts the great moral lessons of his life. We see this in two
areas. First, his father teaches him that failure is a tool to
learning. “Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves
up,” his father says. We learn about the world and ourselves by
failing and starting again. The second lesson is ethical. His
father teaches him that he must give back to Gotham. Thomas Wayne's
example of doing good for others is the ethical core of Bruce's life.
This
parent/child relationship also has a terrible flip side noted in The
Dark Knight Rises.
The
grand designer of all the evil in that movie is motivated by the
lessons of that person's father. The moral core was poisoned because
of the influence of the parent.
ANTHROPLOGY
Here
we find the central thematic elements of the series. Are we
essentially good or essentially bad? Thomas Aquinas said that humans
are essentially good and that given the choice between good and evil
they will always choose the good (even if it is only an apparent
good). Martin Luther said that people are by nature bad and given
the choice, we will always choose the bad. Both acknowledge that
human nature is fallen, but one thinks that we can rise above it, the
other does not. Thomas says that we can be transformed and become
good. Luther says that we have to be covered up by the righteousness
of another.
The
Dark Knight Trilogy
recognizes the worst and the best in humanity. The Joker is the
embodiment of evil. It is important that we do not know his origins
or his true identity. It does not matter what his upbringing was.
“[S]ome men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They
can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just
want to watch the world burn.” The trilogy recognizes that some
men will choose evil no matter what. They cannot be persuaded or
moved by compassion. Men can become monsters.
But
men can also be heroes. Batman is incorruptible on the issue of
life. He refuses to kill (though he does skirt the line at the end
of Batman
Begins
and The
Dark Knight Rises).
He constantly puts others before himself. There is a lot of
Christology in the Batman character. Though he is too flawed to be a
perfect Christ figure, Bruce goes out of his way to take on the
burdens of others.
But
what about the common man? Sure we have great saints and horrible
sinners in our history, but those are the exceptions. What about the
rule?
Man
is corrupt and fallen. Ra's Al Ghul says to Bruce, “You
are defending a city so corrupt,
we have infiltrated every level of its infrastructure.” We are
weighed down by our desire to do what is evil.
But
the most important anthropological statement comes at the end of The
Dark Knight.
The Joker sets a bomb on two boats, one with convicts, the other
with ordinary citizens. Each has explosives and the detonator to the
others boat. Either they blow the other up or they both blow up.
This test was the Joker's ultimate point. “See,
their morals, their code... it's a bad joke. Dropped at the first
sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows them to be.
I'll show you, when the chips are down, these... these civilized
people? They'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster, I'm just
ahead of the curve.” He is trying to prove that everyone, deep
down, is like him. So what do they do? These people are faced with
a choice for survival: Murder others or die.
At
first, everyone starts leans towards killing the other. It is so
tempting. But when the time comes, they cannot do it. And though
the desire was there, the words from Batman
Begins
are important: “It's not who I am inside, but what I do that
defines me.” Our desires and pre-dispositions may be inclined to
some evil. But it is not how we feel, but what we DO that is
important. Here is where the is actually defeated. It is a great
moment in the movie where we can see the look on his face how his
whole view of the world collapses in a moment.
But
that is not to say that people will ALWAYS choose the good in a
crisis. The scene that follows shows the total fall of Harvey Dent.
He was arguably the most moral character in the entire series. But
the Joker pushed him to the breaking point. The most important thing
the Joker did was that he took away Harvey's sense of free will.
There is no choice or plan, only chaos and chance.
“You
thought we could be decent men in an indecent time. But you were
wrong. The world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is
chance,” Harvey says. Notice is complete abdication of moral
agency. Rachel wasn't killed by the Joker, but by chance. Harvey
doesn't murder people, it's chance that does it. When Harvey
surrenders his ability to make choices, he can no longer be a moral
man. The people on the boat were given a choice. Harvey removes
choice from the equation.
There
is one more example of how human nature can be horrible corrupted.
In The
Dark Knight Rises,
Bane turns much of the city into a roving, French Revolutionary-esque
mob. If everyday people are basically good, then how is this
possible? First, Bane creates for them an inescapable situation,
which leads to panic. The second is that he appeals to their sense
of envy and injustice. Notice his words outside Blackgate Prison.
He tells the poor of the city that the rich have robbed them and that
they have a right to take it. Like all Marxist revolutionaries, Bane
paints the rich as evil who get what they deserve. This is the
dangerous sense of self-righteousness that I wrote about yesterday
that allows for the dehumanizing of your “enemies.” And by
mobilizing the people into a mob, Bane knows that groupthink can also
sublimate the individual conscience. Mob mentality is a real thing
that can warp the common sense morals of a people.
But
that does not mean that all people will be corrupted. Though it is
more difficult to resist, you still have a choice. Many in The
Dark Knight Rises
resist and fight this mob, even at great personal cost. But humans
need a symbol to rally behind. They need a hero like Batman.
One
more note going back to first part of this section on the
Aquinas/Luther split. Note how at the end of The
Dark Knight
Batman and Gordon try to cover the city in the righteousness of
Harvey Dent. They use his name and his story to cover the sins of
Gotham and make it appear clean. But it is only an apparent good.
The evil festers beneath the city until it explodes to the surface.
This method of making people righteous does not work. The point of
The
Dark Knight Rises
is that people need to be transformed from the inside. People are
given choices and those choices will define them. If they choose to
embrace goodness, they will find themselves becoming heroes. As
Bruce tells John Blake, Batman could be anyone. We all have it
within our power to do what is right and become that ideal.
ETHICS
While
the first movie is about overcoming fear, the main ethical dilemma is
not between fear and courage. It is between fear and sacrifice. In
all 3 films, the main villain inspires fear so as to push the moral
buttons of the people into self preservation. And while courage is
necessary, it is only a means, rather than an end.
The
Joker is the best example of this. He is beyond fear. Notice how he
wants Batman to kill him. He orders him run him over with his
batpod. He laughs as Batman throws him over the edge of the
building. He puts a loaded gun into Harvey Dent's hands. He has no
fear. Bane also shows no fear in the face of certain death. Courage
without compassion can be as destructive as fear.
In
The
Dark Knight Rises,
Bruce says that he is not afraid to die. He is afraid to fail his
people. He is completely selfless. Notice when Selina tries to
convince him to leave before Gotham is destroyed:
Selina:
You don't owe these people any more! You've given them everything!
Batman:
Not everything. Not yet.
Notice
that Selina is right about not owing them anything. His love for
Gotham is completely gratuitous But also see how simply Bruce looks
at his situation. When he says “Not yet,” he assumes that his
love will cost him everything. And he serenely accepts this truth.
Once again we see the Christology come back into play. We see it
work out imperfectly at the end of The
Dark Knight,
when he takes upon himself the sins of Harvey Dent.
But
this points to the fact that sacrifice is also weak by itself. It
needs truth. At the end of The
Dark Knight,
Batman says “Sometimes the truth isn't good enough.” But that is
the major sin that causes so many problems in The
Dark Knight Rises.
Sacrifice must be done in truth. Lies are always destructive. We
see this personally when Alfred burns Rachel's letter to spare Bruce
pain, but this only makes things worse. We also see this socially,
where the lies of Bruce and Gordon light the fire that causes the mob
uprising.
In
regards to killing, there is not an absolute moral prohibition in The
Dark Knight Trilogy.
Batman will not kill because he must be the ideal. He must be above
killing because he is not a duly deputized law enforcer/executioner.
But other characters kill for the side of right like Gordon, John
Blake, and Selina Kyle. They times they take life are not presented
as wrong, but necessary.
The
last point about morality is that it does not have to be big like
saving a city from a madman. In one of the most touching moments in
The
Dark Knight Rises,
Batman says to Gordon “A hero can be anyone. Even a man doing
something as simple and reassuring as putting a coat around a little
boy's shoulders to let him know that the world hasn't ended.” We
can all be moral heroes. Mother Teresa of Calcutta said that
“Not
all of us can do great things. But we can do small things with great
love.”
The true ethical message of Batman is that we must have the courage
to truly put others before ourselves in our every day lives.
CONCLUSION
While
the series holds up an often dark reflection of human cruelty, it is
overall one of the most optimistic pieces of cinema in the last
decade. Human beings can be cruel. But at our core we are good and
capable of being heroes in our world today.
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