Batman's Sing-Along Blog

[hth_the_first]

Are you spoiler-safe for Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and The Dark Knight? Did one or both of them make you angry with rage, even as you cooed and petted them? Did you notice how they're practically the same movie, except completely different?

Comments

[abigail_n]

I disagree about Dr. Horrible, in that I don't think the story was, as you say it, 5/6 siding with his social agenda and 1/6 slapping it in the face. I think the story was always opposed to him, and always viewed Penny's approach as the correct one. The fact is, Dr. Horrible talks a good line about wanting social change, but he tells the full truth in the musical's first scene - the world is horrible and he needs to rule it. I don't think Dr. Horrible is angry because corruption is rampant and good people are treating the symptom instead of the disease. I think he's angry because he doesn't get adulation and hot chicks. Much as he despises Captain Hammer, he'd leap at the chance to be him, and since he can't, he'll tear the world down instead.

That said, I'm in complete agreement about The Dark Knight (though I still liked it as a piece of storytelling). I walked away from the ending dissatisfied and perplexed, feeling that I'd just been told that what people need is a handsome white man to lead them, even if his perfection is a lie. And this just after we're shown ordinary, and decidedly imperfect, people, choosing not to play the Joker's game, no matter how scared and petty they are - the idea that these people need to believe in the lie of Harvey Dent is indeed offensive.

I did, however, feel that the fate of Brian the BatGroupy was treated with all due horror and grief, and that the narrative did respect him for his courage in the face of certain torture and death.

[very_improbable]

And this just after we're shown ordinary, and decidedly imperfect, people, choosing not to play the Joker's game, no matter how scared and petty they are - the idea that these people need to believe in the lie of Harvey Dent is indeed offensive.

Yes, this! And it's not the only place in the movie that we see Gothamites making that choice, on one scale or another. The narrative works as hard as I think it could to make Harvey as crucial as Batman & Gordon say he is--but in the end, it's still saying "The people deserve to be lied to." This is bad regardless of context, and after the movie we've just seen, it really doesn't fly.

And do the people deserve and/or need to be lied to because they're not strong enough to handle the truth, or because they're good and they need a beautiful lie as a reward for being good, or what? I've, um, seen it three times now and that final speech seems less coherent every time...

(I agree with you about the way the narrative treats Brian, too.)