Sorry, i don't normally do this, you know.

[mrs_ajax]

I saw The Dark Knight recently, which i know does not seem like my type of movie, but i have a soft spot for Batman, and Batman Begins was my second favorite Batman movie after the 1989 one, although i never saw Batman and Robin, which i've heard is the best of them because of the blue glass schlongmobile that Batman low-rides around town in.

Comments

[mrs_ajax]

You make a valid point in that he has no legal right to do any of things that you mention (or pretty much anything else that he has done in (comic)book, film, television, etc.) and that therefore total surveillance is not excluded from his general tendency to overstep bounds.

However, i feel that what is missing from the film is a real critique of his self-imposed extra-legal status. The movie suggests that total surveillance without granted permission is (or at least can be) an ultimate good, if what you are suggesting is that Batman is the ethical core of the film (a matter i still think open to question). Whether or not we agree with any particular move of Batman's, by suggesting that he is the ethical center of this cinematic universe, specifically opposed to Dent and the Joker, total surveillance or whatever other means has been sanctioned as ethically legitimate "in the pursuit of good." That is what has always sanctioned Batman's actions, is the assumption that he is striving toward the good, that he is the ethical center of the world (which is why Batman vs. Superman match-ups are so popular, i think, because Superman represents a more simplistic, Dent-ified, if you will, world view). It is the sanctioning of specific actions that i had a problem with, in this case the sanctioning of the various ways that individuals or governments, the United States' among them, have chosen to monitor other individuals' actions and integrate them into a single system of surveillance without the latter individuals' knowledge or agreement.

This is not to say that i don't take issue with certain other actions of Batman in his various guises. Certainly the general violence i find troublesome. On the other hand, i also believe that it is a responsibility as a member of a community for individuals to work with their community to enforce community standards, and that is the aspect of the Batman on his better days that i enjoy. (Remember: I have real problems with mercenary policing as a theory and a practice.)