The Dark Knight Rises, Some Thoughts

Ethan Gach

I write about comics, video games and American politics. I fear death above all things. Just below that is waking up in the morning to go to work. You can follow me on Twitter at @ethangach or at my blog, gamingvulture.tumblr.com. And though my opinions aren’t for hire, my virtue is.

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35 Responses

  1. Pyre says:

    Dark Knight has brought out the crazy. As I said on my G+

    ————————————————————————————————-

    First, people were making bizarre political commentary about The Dark Knight rises.

    http://globalgrind.com/news/rush-limbaugh-dark-knight-rises-villain-bane-mitt-romney-reference-audio

    Then people were threatening movie critics who didn’t like the new Dark Knight movie with death.

    http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/18/12811044-dark-knight-rises-comments-suspended-on-rotten-tomatoes

    Now people are shooting up movie theaters that are showing the Dark Knight Rises.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/20/aurora-shooting-movie-theater-batman_n_1688547.html

    This movie seems to be really drawing out the crazies.

    ————————————————————————————————————

    By themselves, they become explainable individual incidents. Limbaugh is being a blowhard. DC fans are taking the whole “East Coast-West Coast rivalry” mentality a bit far in their notion that Dark Knight must beat Avengers. Shooter chooses a packed opening night for maximum effect.

    But, taken together, it makes me wonder why this movie is bringing out all the crazy.Report

  2. Rob says:

    Rises was amazing and the people who thought it sucked or was the “Batman Forever” of the Nolan franchise are probably gay.Report

  3. Glyph says:

    Hmmm.

    Not sure how to say this Rob, other than to come out and say it, but please try to drop the ‘gay’ as a slur from future comments here? There are gay writers and readers at this site who may not appreciate it; and even many straight people such as I find the term’s use in this fashion a bit juvenile at best.

    Take it for what it’s worth.

    Glad you liked the movie.Report

  4. wardsmith says:

    Putting a human face on the tragedy. but even more incredible a link from inside that story where the same girl was almost involved in a similar tragedy in Toronto and talks about it on her blog here.

    I was shown how fragile life was on Saturday. I saw the terror on bystanders’ faces. I saw the victims of a senseless crime. I saw lives change. I was reminded that we don’t know when or where our time on Earth will end. When or where we will breathe our last breath. For one man, it was in the middle of a busy food court on a Saturday evening.

    I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.Report

  5. James K says:

    Politically, many are reading the movie as a passively conservative (or according to some: fascist) manifesto against class warfare or anarchistic populism that would seek to upset the status quo. But while there certainly are those sentiments, there are many others as well, expressed by different characters, at different times, in such a way that no clear political manifesto could ever be distilled from its many conflicting conceits.

    I’m not a big fan of drawing political lessons from fiction, but what I thought they were going for was: “Realising you have a problem doesn’t really get you anywhere toward finding a solution”.Report

    • Glyph in reply to James K says:

      Haven’t seen the movie but this comment intrigues me. One of the greatest things about the TV show ‘The Wire’ was that although David Simon and I probably disagree more than we agree politically, he made sure to show that it was no particular political ideology that produces the dysfunction on display, nor was there any easy way to fix it. I guarantee that most of the politicos represented were probably liberal/Democratic, but that was not the point that the show was making in the least.

      The point to me was that the trio of forces of Capitalism, Democracy, and Prohibition create a feedback loop between themselves that ruins lives and cities. The politicians responds to (dis)incentives from the voters; the cops respond to (dis)incentives from the politicians; the dealers respond to (dis)incentives from the police and market; and round and round the wheel turns. ‘The Wire’ was a picture of a system, fatally flawed.Report

  6. Mike Schilling says:

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-suspect-profile/index.html

    Witnesses told police that the shooter entered the sold-out movie theater dressed in black, wearing a ballistic helmet, a tactical ballistic vest, ballistic leggings, protectors over his throat and his groin, a gas mask and black tactical gloves.

    But after being questioned on his way into the theater, he was allowed to enter after demonstrating that he wasn’t carrying any outside food.Report

    • At least one witness’s account is that the shooter entered through one of the emergency exits. From memories of my long-ago youth, such doors were easily opened and seldom alarmed. Personally, I find this attempt at humor to be in very poor taste.Report

  7. gachmandu says:

    This…

    Today that is not the case though. Something about this morning, still dreamy eyed over being in a theater with hundreds of people, alongside other theaters with hundreds more people, with people from other places and other backgrounds, filled with boundless other complexities and human foibles, filled with equal excitement, shared and in unison, all oriented around someone in a cape, confronts me as breath-takingly striking. It makes me feel more connected to those around me, to those not around me, to those like me breathing in the world, and exhaling themselves into it, and to those who can no longer do these things.

    A thousand times, this.Report

  8. Tod Kelly says:

    Forgot to say, but this post was outstanding, Ethan.Report

  9. Jaybird says:

    Saw it. Loved it.

    If you loved the first two, you will love this one.

    If you thought that Avengers was a fun ride and want to see if Batman will give a fun ride, you’ll probably walk away disappointed.Report

  10. Michael Drew says:

    I liked it a good deal. I think I liked it more than Begins, which for me is saying a lot, as I went a little ga-ga for Batman Begins because the Nolan style was pretty much new to me then (I didn’t realize at the time it was by the director of Memento, and I’m glad because if I had my expectations would have been higher), and I’m a sucker for stories depicting social breakdown. I definitely liked it more than TDK because the plot sustained itself throughout the movie better, and Wayne’s character development & relationships with Gordon, Alfred, and Fox were better attended-to throughout. Also, Hathaway was perfectly cast, while M. Gyllenhal was utterly out of place (though she was still fine) in the previous film. Also, Aaron Eckhart is annoying. Nothing annoyed me very much at all in this one.

    I still don’t believe that was actually Tom Hardy’s back and not someone from WWE.Report