The Dark Knight Rises, or: This Is What Liberalism Gets You, Hippies

[starlingthefool]

Here is my two-line, spoiler-free synopsis of The Dark Knight Rises:

The 1%'s nightmarish vision of what would have happened if the Occupy Wall Street movement had succeeded. Big Daddy Batman must save them all.

Comments

[tellthemyes]

So many problematic politics -- it's like they didn't even try.

[starlingthefool]

See, I was thinking that they did try. It takes effort to make a city's police force the victims, especially after things like the Pepper Spray Cop meme.

But yeah, it really seemed like nobody on the production team had ever actually met a poor person or a leftie, or (gasp!) someone who was both.

[tellthemyes]

True, they did try, but I found their path really inconsistent and confusing. Like, with the Harvey Dent law. Between that gala scene at the beginning and Bane's speech to the media, I thought we were suppose to see that as a corrupt law passed through on a lie that isn't actually doing any good (see: a majority of laws in the name of 9/11 and the War on Drugs), but then, nope, all the criminals are actually ~evil~ and will lose to the honorable GCPD in some epic showdown.

Obviously the League of Shadows couldn't win, but I expected some sort of nod to the continued failure of the establishment. And that scene where Gordon, with a band of GCPD behind him, has the balls to call out the Scarecrow on issues of due process -- argh.

CUT TO BATMAN IN A CAVE!

[starlingthefool]

I KNOW, RIGHT? I'm wondering if there's a director's cut around somewhere where all these weird inconsistencies are actually dealt with. Like, are the cops corrupt? Or are they just misled? Where are the actual gray areas?

I gotta say that I'm also disappointed that Nolan couldn't come up with a better motivation for DESTROYING AN ENTIRE CITY than "I have Daddy Issues" and "It Was For My Girl" respectively.

[tellthemyes]

OMG YES! I was a little more than disappointed (maybe outright offended?) because it would have been so easy to establish better motivation, and I think this goes for the entire movie. People love to hate decadence and greed -- especially today's audiences -- so, really, how hard would it be to suggest that this city is corrupt even with the guise of police-enforced peace, if perhaps not more corrupt for that reason? NOT HARD! And who would feel that rage more deeply than people born in a motherfucking pit in the Middle East!

/feelings

Though I have to admit that one of the few scenes I did like was the Talia and Bane scene. It was one of the few times I was like, punching the air and feeling... anything.

[starlingthefool]

See, this is why they should have their own movie. I am so much more interested in why this massive mildly sociopathic dude saved this teeny tiny girl at the expense of himself, and then decided to follow her forever. MUCH BETTER MOVIE SETUP, imo, than "Batman saves the 1% from OWS people."

[tellthemyes]

Bonus points if they make it an Inception origins story ;).

[starlingthefool]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH YES PLEASE. Someone should really get on that.