thoughts on the Dark Knight

I watched the Dark Knight for the first time recently (yes, I know it came out last summer, but I was getting my wisdom teeth pulled and missed it). I thought it was very well done, though not the kind of thing I would necessarily watch for pleasure. Many people I’ve talked to didn’t like the movie due to its darkness and, well, gruesomeness. I found it to be thought provoking. It raised some interesting points.

The thing that bothered me was the hopelessness of the message. They came point blank with reality, with evil and human nature, but didn’t present an answer. There was a sort of inspirational moment at the end, but it seemed to contradict itself. They established, in a way, that Gotham City needed a savior, which was Batman, but the fact was he couldn’t adequately take on the job. He was human, with limits and weaknesses, and though he could inspire people, he couldn’t redeem them. Furthermore, Batman couldn’t frighten the Joker, who said to him, “You have nothing, nothing to threaten me with. Nothing to do with all your strength.”

The Joker, on the other hand, didn’t seem human. He seemed invincible, without limits, he couldn’t be stopped, and he didn’t feel fear. He did nothing but spread chaos and terror. He said, “The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are…Introduce a little anarchy. Upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I'm an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It's fair!” He also said, “You 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 almost seemed Satanic. “It’s not about money, it’s about sending a message. Everything burns!”

Ledger did a pretty good impersonation of evil, and to be honest, he seemed more powerful than any of the other characters, even Batman. I suppose I found this to be a depressing idea. Throughout the movie, his main goal was to bring “good people” down to his level. He would even place his own life on the line to do this. For instance, he wanted Batman to kill him, for this would be breaking his “one rule.” Batman wouldn’t. The Joker said towards the end, “You won't kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever.” That seemed to be the flavor of the ending. In one sense, there was a resolution, but in another sense there wasn’t. It was as though the battle between good and evil in Gotham City was never to end, that it was, in fact, to last forever – with no peace.

The “hope” presented in the movie was that humans have an innate sense of good. This was displayed when some of the members of the city chose not to play into one of the Joker’s corruptive schemes. Batman said, “What were you hoping to prove? That, deep down, everyone's as ugly as you? You're alone!” At the conclusion, the fact that this world needs help was stressed, and that some sort of sacrifice was necessary (with the whole Harvey Dent thing at the end.) I thought this was insightful, but then Bruce said, “Because sometimes the truth isn’t good enough. Sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.” This pretty much destroyed the hope they were trying to present. It’s a nice way of saying that in reality, it’s all bad, but it can be covered up in order to inspire the people. In some ways, this was interesting. The movie displayed the evil side of human nature, as well as this driving force of chaos and terror personified in the Joker, but it removed God from the scene. Without God, without a savior, if we are alone, then truth really isn’t good enough and there’s no hope.
As a Christian, I actually found my faith to be strengthened after watching this movie, strangelly enough. The belief that there’s no such thing as right and wrong seems to be increasingly promoted in our culture. It reminded me that there are, indeed, two parts to this world, things you can see and touch, and things you can’t touch and see, namely: emotions, good and evil, God, the devil. There’s more to our lives than, well, the basics. For instance, in the movie, the Joker’s goal was to bring “good people” down to his level. At the end, he took Harvey Dent, one of the “best of them” and talked him into becoming a monster. He said, “I took Gotham's white knight and I brought him down to our level.” Gordon and Batman said, in response, that “the Joker won,” evil won. On the other hand, when people chose not to respond in a corrupt way, the Joker lost. Batman said, “This city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good.” When you plug God back into the picture, there is hope. Yes, the world has problems, and corruption, but God hasn’t left us alone. We’re not like Gotham city, alone with the Joker, having to solve our own problems and failing. And when a person follows and submits themselves to God, lets him change and sanctify them, a sort of miracle happens, a miracle that shames the devil, that keeps evil from winning. Batman acted as a savior for Gotham city, taking the blame, in the end, for crimes Harvey Dent committed, to keep the citizens from losing heart. We, too, have a savior, but one that isn’t fallen or limited. There is such a thing as good, as redemption and hope, because God has been faithful, and hasn’t abandoned us. In The Dark Knight, no one could stop or contain the Joker, as though he was somehow transcendent, but in reality, God is larger and more powerful than anything. There’s no “force of evil” that is stronger than him. This means that, despite what we do or don’t see, good is in fact the most powerful thing in the universe. It says in the Psalms, “There are many who say, ‘Who will show us some good? Lift up the light of your face upon us, O Lord!” In reality, evil and pain is a passing thing. In heaven, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” That is why his kingdom on earth is so important, because Satan wasn’t able to win, to steal his creation from him. It’s a miracle. It’s beautiful. And this world, this universe, is far from hopeless.

In chapter 10 of Blue Like Jazz, Don Miller wrote, “I was wondering the other day, the way it is that we turn pop figures into idols? I have a theory, of course. I think we have this need to be cool, that there is this undercurrent in society that says some people are cool and some people aren’t. And it is very, very important that we are cool.” I would say that we are not only preoccupied with being cool, but are fascinated with things that are “cool.” For example, fashion, gossip magazines, soap operas…or even deeper obsessions, such as pornography, or the power that comes with more and more material possessions. People have this hunger, this need, and they can become obsessed. Things seem so bright, so beautiful, so flashy, and we indulge ourselves once, then again, and again, until we are enslaved.

For instance, when my mom took a flight down to Florida, and she sat next to a teen girl who was obsessed with her pile of gossip magazines. She talked to my mom about celebrities, without relent, for the entire flight. She was a sweet girl, but all she was capable of thinking or talking about was Brad Pitt, Katie Holms, Taylor Swift... Mom isn’t interested in gossip magazines, but she was intrigued and sobered by this girl sitting next to her. What she came to realize by the end of the flight was that this girl was lonely, extremely lonely, and she was using gossip magazines and TV to cover it.

We all do this. It may not be gossip magazines, but we have this potential to so quickly absorb ourselves into something worthless, in order to receive the temporary pleasure or comfort it provides. We sell ourselves. In the Bible, they call this idolatry. This is a temptation to everyone, but in America, with opportunities for obsession around every corner, it is especially dangerous. The more a person gives themselves to something shallow (or sinful), the more of themselves they lose. We are so, so distracted that we forget to stop and think. A person can move through their entire life always under the thumb of one obsession or another, until they reach the end of it, and find they’ve missed it.

Don Miller wrote, “Satan, who I believe exists as much as I believe Jesus exists, wants us to believe meaningless things for meaningless reasons.” Unfortunately, it is easy for Christians to give themselves to worthless things. We must watch ourselves. We must keep our eyes on Christ, keep him at the center of our hearts and lives. We must “live for what we believe,” as Don Miller put it, and fight against becoming absorbed in distractions that can lull the soul to sleep. He wrote, “The problem with Christian belief – I mean the real Christian belief, that there is a God and a devil and a heaven and a hell – is that it is not a fashionable thing to believe.” We must remember the truth, regardless of whether or not it is fashionable. And we must live for it. Miller insightfully noted that, “the problem with deep beliefs is that it costs us something. And there is something inside me, some selfish beasts of a subtle thing that doesn’t like the truth at all because it carries responsibility, and if I actually believe these things I have to do something about them. It is so, so cumbersome to believe anything. And it isn’t cool.” We must resist this, take up our cross, and follow Jesus, for if we give ourselves to worthless things, we will be spiritually crippled.