{"id":518,"date":"2012-07-24T20:49:12","date_gmt":"2012-07-25T00:49:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/?p=518"},"modified":"2012-07-24T20:49:12","modified_gmt":"2012-07-25T00:49:12","slug":"why-would-anyone-choose-this-batman-film-to-murder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/attheintersectionoffaithandculture\/2012\/07\/why-would-anyone-choose-this-batman-film-to-murder.html","title":{"rendered":"Why Would Anyone Choose This Batman Film to Murder?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I write this, the news is a buzz with the massacre that occurred in Colorado during the midnight opening show of The Dark Knight Rises\u2014<\/em>the third and (allegedly) final installment of Christopher Nolan\u2019s Batman trilogy.<\/p>\n

Reportedly, approximately twenty minutes into the film, a man who, donned as he was with a gas mask, was eerily reminiscent of the film\u2019s arch villain, entered the theatre and began to wreak unimaginable havoc with explosives and a gun.<\/p>\n

When it was all said and done, twelve innocent people had been murdered and dozens more injured.<\/p>\n

Already, just hours after this chaos erupted, \u201cexperts\u201d of one sort or the other were making their rounds on the television circuit offering their insights into how and why the mass murderer did what he did. \u00a0The usual suspects on the political left wasted not a second to exploit this horror to advance their agenda of erasing out ofAmerica\u2019s DNA the Second Amendment as well as to discredit the Tea Party.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, I don\u2019t proclaim to be an expert on anything, much less psychology. And, frankly, I don\u2019t care in the least to know the causes<\/em> that may or may not have lurked in the deep, dark recesses of this killer\u2019s psyche. For that matter, I don\u2019t even care to know the reasons<\/em> that he<\/em> may give for his actions. <\/em><\/p>\n

I am, however, interested in supplying an account of why anyone <\/em>may think to unleash an orgy of violence at the opening of this <\/em>film.<\/p>\n

Anyone who pays any attention to contemporary politics knows that this movie has assumed some measure of political significance this past week as some, like Rush Limbaugh, have contended that inasmuch as the main villain is named Bane, <\/em>it is an instrument that President Obama and his supporters will use to further demonize Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney\u2014i.e. former director of Bain <\/em>Capital.<\/p>\n

Rush is mistaken.<\/p>\n

First, it isn\u2019t just that Bane is a fiend with whom Batman has had to contend for nearly twenty years; Bane is arguably the most fearsome of such fiends. Though he hasn\u2019t been around for nearly as long as some other villains have been, Bane is the one\u2014and only\u2014evil doer in Batman\u2019s universe that can claim credit for having forced the Dark Knight into sabbatical when the former broke the latter\u2019s back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That is to say, he is an especially distinguished bad guy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Second, most of the stock of Batman villains, unfortunately, simply would not have been a good fit with the darker and more somber tone of Nolan\u2019s reboot of the Dark Knight. \u00a0The last franchise of the \u201890\u2019s could afford to have its Batman battle \u201cthe Riddler,\u201d \u201cMr. Freeze,\u201d \u201cThe Penguin,\u201d etc.\u00a0 Not this Batman. Bane is the perfect choice for the climactic finale of this series.<\/p>\n

There is yet another reason why Rush is wrong about his assessment of the political significance of this film.<\/p>\n

Other Republicans have retorted that, if anything, The Dark Knight Rises <\/em>can be read as legitimizing<\/em>\u2014not demonizing\u2014Romney.\u00a0 After all, the reasoning went, insofar as Batman\u2019s <\/em>alter ego is multi-billionaire Bruce Wayne, it is the hero, <\/em>not the villain, <\/em>who is not all that different, in this respect, from Romney.\u00a0 Rush read these remarks on the air but, apparently, remained unconvinced.<\/p>\n

This line of reasoning misses the point.\u00a0 What is crucial to recognize is not which politician may or may not be portrayed in the characters of the villains and heroes. Rather, as far as understanding why someone would choose the occasion of the grand opening of this particular film to go on a killing spree, we should bear in mind that Bane represents, and is intended to represent, \u201cthe 99 percent.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

More accurately, Bane is symbolic of the Occupy Wall Street movement.\u00a0 He gives expression to the rage that ostensibly motivated the \u201coccupiers\u201d as well as the destruction to which the logic of that rage can all too easily lead.<\/p>\n

This <\/em>is why the film cannot credibly be used to the advantage of Obama and his ilk.<\/p>\n

It was during the OWS demonstrations, recall, that the class envy rhetoric of \u201cthe one percent\u201d and \u201cthe 99 percent\u201d reached a fever pitch and become the stuff of bumper sticker slogans.\u00a0 It was during these events that violence in the form of physical confrontations with police and blatant violations of private property were on full display.<\/p>\n

May not this killer in Colorado who, like Bane, unleashed terror upon crowds of innocents, had been influenced by the constant barrage of class envy rhetoric with which this President and his party constantly bombard us?\u00a0 Is it possible that he believes, as do \u201cthe occupiers\u201d of Wall Street and cities throughout the country\u2014and, of course, President Obama himself\u2014that \u201cthe one percent\u201d is exploitative, oppressive, greedy, and, thus, deserving of harsh treatment?<\/p>\n

Is this hypothesis of mine all that hard to buy?<\/p>\n

A correspondent of mine remarked that in writing this, I render myself vulnerable to \u201cpoliticizing\u201d this tragedy.\u00a0 An otherwise reasonably intelligent individual, not unlike most of us, he has fallen into the trap of speaking nonsense just because it has become enshrined as the conventional wisdom.<\/p>\n

In other words, he is guilty of sloppy thinking\u2014or, rather, refusing to think.<\/p>\n

There is nothing in the least bit illegitimate or morally dubious about the enterprise of exploring local events\u2014particularly exceptional events, like this shooting\u2014against a larger\u2014i.e. less local\u2014political or cultural backdrop.\u00a0 This is a matter of striving to avoid missing the proverbial forest for the trees.\u00a0 It is the mark of an inquisitive mind, a mind aching for understanding and, hence, some measure of consolation, to search for a framework or \u201cbigger picture\u201d within which to situate an apparently anomalous phenomenon.<\/p>\n

The typical\u2014and all too predictable\u2014left-wing framework of \u201cgun control\u201d isn\u2019t objectionable because it is \u201cpolitical;\u201d it is objectionable because it is stupid: criminals <\/em>like this mass murderer, terrorist <\/em>in Colorado are not going to be deterred by even more restrictions on the Second Amendment.\u00a0 If we weren\u2019t already so habituated to hearing this line about so-called \u201cgun control\u201d and if we didn\u2019t know that so many seemingly otherwise intelligent people subscribe to it, we would be shocked to learn that anyone with an IQ over two could possibly believe this drivel.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to \u201cpoliticize\u201d anything?\u00a0 Is there something intrinsically unseemly about political life?\u00a0 Is it is more noble, more in keeping with good taste, to talk about events of the sort under discussion in the light of \u201cculture\u201d rather than politics?\u00a0 If so, why is it so?\u00a0 Is there a hard and fast distinction between culture and politics and, if so, in what does that distinction consist?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thinking people will address questions of this kind before rule out of hand that it is immoral to \u201cpoliticize\u201d tragedies. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

*This article was published at The New American.\u00a0 Some of it was changed by the editor.\u00a0 This is the original–and uncensored–version.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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