Comments on: Friday Blogging - 7/25/08 http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/2008/07/25/friday-blogging-72508/ Enjoy worrying in the new year Tue, 06 Jan 2009 05:10:38 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Chris http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/2008/07/25/friday-blogging-72508/comment-page-1/#comment-942 Chris Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:38:47 +0000 http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/?p=297#comment-942 Excellent comment. Very thorough. Excellent comment. Very thorough.

]]> By: Ian http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/2008/07/25/friday-blogging-72508/comment-page-1/#comment-941 Ian Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:27:25 +0000 http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/?p=297#comment-941 Possible Dark Knight SPOILERS following: I have thought about what the movie tries to imply. There is the scene where Dent is interrogating the guy to try to find out about what the Joker is up to when it comes to Rachel. He acts like he is going to shoot him, gives him the whole coin bit ("Heads you live, tails you die"), except the coin is double-sided heads. He never intends to kill the guy, just to scare the crap out of him (possible waterboarding/torture corollary). Batman comes to stop him and tells him not to do such things, that it could jeopardize everything Dent has accomplished. There is the part where Batman savagely beats Joker in the interrogation cell. Gordon doesn't beat the Joker (although he does look the other way and does try and stop Batman before he bars the door). The cop who does try to beat up the Joker ends up failing and letting him free. Cut to the part with the cell phone surveillance. Fox tells Wayne that every day the machine is present at Wayne Enterprises, he won't be. Also, Batman ends up becoming a villain of sorts to the police at the end of the movie and having to run. You get the big speech about how Batman is a guy who does whats right and accepts the consequences for his actions because he can handle it. Add those things together. The point of the movie is that Batman isn't the ideal hero for the city, and that Dent was. Dent was elected by society to do what he is doing, which is working the justice system legally to clean up the city. Dent shouldn't be a vigilante and act on his own because that isn't his role. Batman was not elected by the people, he is a vigilante, who Gotham is lucky, has a set of principles that help keep himself under control. The movie doesn't shy away from calling Batman a criminal and it doesn't have a problem suggesting that he should go to jail for what he does. Being a vigilante thus means having to accept the consequences of your actions. The cell phone bit was unethical, as Fox, the voice of wisdom in the scene, points out. The movie isn't saying that sometimes it is required to break the rules. Its saying that a vigilante can break the rules, but they have to be willing to accept the consequences. Government officials CANNOT break the rules, since it is their charge to uphold those rules. Possible Dark Knight SPOILERS following:

I have thought about what the movie tries to imply. There is the scene where Dent is interrogating the guy to try to find out about what the Joker is up to when it comes to Rachel. He acts like he is going to shoot him, gives him the whole coin bit (”Heads you live, tails you die”), except the coin is double-sided heads. He never intends to kill the guy, just to scare the crap out of him (possible waterboarding/torture corollary). Batman comes to stop him and tells him not to do such things, that it could jeopardize everything Dent has accomplished.

There is the part where Batman savagely beats Joker in the interrogation cell. Gordon doesn’t beat the Joker (although he does look the other way and does try and stop Batman before he bars the door). The cop who does try to beat up the Joker ends up failing and letting him free.

Cut to the part with the cell phone surveillance. Fox tells Wayne that every day the machine is present at Wayne Enterprises, he won’t be. Also, Batman ends up becoming a villain of sorts to the police at the end of the movie and having to run. You get the big speech about how Batman is a guy who does whats right and accepts the consequences for his actions because he can handle it.

Add those things together. The point of the movie is that Batman isn’t the ideal hero for the city, and that Dent was. Dent was elected by society to do what he is doing, which is working the justice system legally to clean up the city. Dent shouldn’t be a vigilante and act on his own because that isn’t his role. Batman was not elected by the people, he is a vigilante, who Gotham is lucky, has a set of principles that help keep himself under control. The movie doesn’t shy away from calling Batman a criminal and it doesn’t have a problem suggesting that he should go to jail for what he does. Being a vigilante thus means having to accept the consequences of your actions. The cell phone bit was unethical, as Fox, the voice of wisdom in the scene, points out. The movie isn’t saying that sometimes it is required to break the rules. Its saying that a vigilante can break the rules, but they have to be willing to accept the consequences. Government officials CANNOT break the rules, since it is their charge to uphold those rules.

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