Graduate 122: Batman: The Dark Knight and Revelation
"To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand." (Matthew 13:11-13)
I begin with this quotation from Jesus, not because it speaks of the kingdom of heaven but because it speaks of parables. Jesus speaks differently depending on his audience. And when he teaches the multitudes, he regularly uses parables. Stories and analogies engage the mind differently than do lectures and tell-it-like-it-is teaching. The latter sometimes has the unfortunate effect of shortchanging the learning process, but it is also less likely to lead to ambiguities and confusions--especially when one is as unskilled at the method as I am.
So here am I, telling it like it is--or at least as I see it. You may agree with me, or not. In either case, I would recommend reviewing the entry that preceded this one (Graduate 121: Batman: The Dark Knight and the Modern Apocalypse) and mulling over the questions that I raise. It would be easy to agree or disagree with what I say here. It would be much harder and more profitable to think about the questions I posed there.
--
I think that at least one of my readers is under the impression, based on my last blog entry, that I dislike the latest Batman movie. In fact, I would not say that I dislike the film; however, I would acknowledge being troubled by it. I am troubled because of the commentary it makes on our contemporary culture.
There are two main possibilities, as I see it. Either the screenwriters are posing a question and commenting on the inadequacy of the answers that are currently available in our culture, or they are posing a question to which they themselves do not have an adequate answer. The latter possibility is far more frightening and, I fear, far more likely. When the story-tellers lose sight of their roots the rest of the culture cannot be far behind.
What is the question being posed by Batman: The Dark Knight? What are we to do when faced with unrelenting evil? Of course, that question is a bit removed from the day-to-day lives of most movie-goers. So how about: What are we to do when life doesn't go our way? How do we deal with the 'curve-balls' that life throws at us? How do we cope when life spins out of our control? It might be a cancer diagnosis. It might be a house foreclosure. It might be a friend who betrays you. Or a business partner. It might be a spouse who leaves you. It might be something even more mundane--anything that is out of your control.
We don't like to be out of control. We don't like to be at the mercy of anyone or anything. We deliberately construct our lives in such a way that we are maximally in control. We set up barriers around us to protect us and develop contingency plans, backup plans, and insurance policies just in case. But what happens when our best isn't good enough and life comes at us full speed and bowls us over?
Gotham is in control. Or at least it's gaining control. The mob is on the run. The streets are getting safer. There's a new District Attorney. He's untainted by corruption, has the situation well in hand, and is promising to bring about still greater improvements. Everything is good.
And then the Joker comes. He's not like the other criminals. The usual strategies won't work against him. He can't be appeased. And he puts the challenge to the people: What will you do when your best isn't good enough?
We like to think of ourselves as good people, as law-abiding citizens, as decent human beings. That's, after all, how we get by. Don't bug me and I won't bug you. You stay on your side of the line and I'll stay on mine. And if you do cross that line, there are laws and police and rules that will put you back in your place. The laws are there to protect us. The laws allow us to live as good, law-abiding, decent human beings.
But what happens when those laws no longer protect us? What happens when they don't work? What happens when the system that I have set up to protect myself and to allow me to live as a civilized person breaks down? Do I abandon being a civilized person?
Everyone is at each others' throats. No one can trust anyone. It's each man for himself. And for a while the new DA stands strong. He's smart. He's clever. He's still got a few tricks up his sleeve. He's not a victim of the chaos that rages around him. He makes his own fate.
But eventually even his best proves inadequate. And he discovers that he cannot control his destiny. And he throws himself headlong--eyes wide open--into the chaos.
The problem is this. Most people will only play by the rules so long as the system works for them. Once the system fails, they'll abandon it. Aristotle, I believe, referred to this as 'incontinence.' And we keep on searching for the system that will keep us safe. We keep searching for the system that is so perfectly molded to our wants and desires that we will not even have to try in order to live successfully in it.
The problem is that no such system exists. As long as we live in a broken world, the very best that humankind can offer will always be inadequate to deal with the very worst that life can throw at us.
That's what we see in the DA. We see the very best that humanity can offer. The highest, noblest, most capable, most virtuous; and it is still inadequate to stand before the relentless force of evil. It is still corruptible.
How can we survive in a world where our very best is not good enough? How can society endure? How can trust? How can love?
What will keep the company of two ships from blowing one another up? On this point the screenwriters give us nothing. They give us no answer.
What will prevent one neighbor from betraying another in an act of desperation? Fear? Possibly. Guilt? Maybe. Sentimentality? Sometimes. But these are not solid foundations on which one can build a social edifice that will stand strong in the midst of storms. Things may work out this time, but what about next time? And what about the time after that? As evil and chaos beat relentlessly against the gates and walls, will they stand?
But the screenwriters have nothing else to give us. They offer us no hope. They give us no reason to remain faithful to our deepest convictions about the value of humanity and goodness and truth and beauty.
How can we survive? How can we hope to live normal lives? Only by hiding our inadequacy. Only by lying about the downfall of the DA. Because if anyone found out that the very best that humanity has to offer was not good enough, then all hope would be lost. We must continue to pretend that the system works.
Of course, it will be the batman that does all the real work. It is his strength that we are really relying on. (And that's still, ultimately, a mere mortal's strength.) And if he were ever to fall then chaos really would break lose. But as long as he is there people can pretend that it's really the system that keeps them safe and they can continue to live normal lives, imagining themselves to be decent human beings and quietly ignoring the truth about who they really are.
What if, instead of trying to pretend that the system is adequate and that we can handle things, we were to acknowledge that our best isn't good enough? What if we were to acknowledge that our fate and destiny are not in our control? What reason would we have to continue to pursue lives of virtue? What reason would we have to continue to do good?
One thing is for sure--our reason would have nothing to do with improving or maintaining the quality of our external circumstances. If you're only good because of the pay-off; then when that pay-off is no longer there, your goodness will disappear right along with it. But if you're good because you know that being good is really the best way to live well--irrespective of situation--then you will continue to hold to that even in the worst of circumstances.
It is here that we do turn to contemplate the kingdom of heaven--a kingdom not of this world, a kingdom that does not promise success in this life, but a kingdom that is the source of the deepest and most abiding wholeness and wellness. And those who belong to this kingdom can (and have) stood against the very greatest evils of this world. They have done so knowing that their very best was not good enough to meet the challenge; but they have endured nonetheless because their hope was not in their own strength and ability but in the God who saves. They are the one's who could truthfully say, "It's going to be alright." "Even if it ends in torture and death, it's going to be alright, because it won't really be the end. There is a hereafter."
--
This is the question posed to us by the latest Batman movie: In a world that is out of our control, in which evil is ever growing in power and strength, how can we continue to live decent lives? And the answer: The only way to cope and live a decent life is to pretend that our system really works, while hoping that the day of evil never comes. Again, is that the screenwriters commenting on what they see in our culture? Or is that the screenwriters' best answer?
--
What does it take to make you compromise your principles? It need not be something as serious as cancer or a job loss. In our society, it doesn't take nearly that much. Just cut a man off on the freeway, and he may try to kill you. Are you living your life based on principle? Or are you just going with whatever's convenient? What will you do when life inconveniences you?
--
I recently read Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. (Garden City: The Literary Guild of America, Inc., 1954.) At one point in the story Jane is forced to choose between remaining with the man that she dearly loves in an illicit relationship and abandoning that man to journey in destitution and desolation. This is what she decides:
"I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot." (p. 283)
--
Some might see a picture of redemption, absolution, and sacrifice in the way that the batman assumes responsibility for the sins of the defunct DA. This thought has occurred to me. But even if this image in isolation is Christian, in the larger context of the picture, I think that it is not because there is no reconciliation. The people of Gotham will continue to put their faith and confidence in a system that does not work. They will continue to live unprincipled lives. So I am, at least, inclined to resist that interpretation.
--
Of course some may perceive what I have said about the themes of Batman: The Dark Knight as reactionary and alarmist. I hope that they will not. I try very hard not to be either reactionary or alarmist. Moreover, interpreting my words in that way will likely prompt the reader to dismiss my opinions outright without really thinking about them. That is, as I said at the beginning, the danger of "telling-it-like-it-is." So I will, again, recommend that you read the blog entry that preceded this and mull over the questions and think about the movie. Realize, too, that I am writing this after only seeing the movie once. There's a lot that I could have missed or misconstrued. But that's okay. My desire is not, primarily, to make you think the way that I think, but my desire is that you would think.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
I begin with this quotation from Jesus, not because it speaks of the kingdom of heaven but because it speaks of parables. Jesus speaks differently depending on his audience. And when he teaches the multitudes, he regularly uses parables. Stories and analogies engage the mind differently than do lectures and tell-it-like-it-is teaching. The latter sometimes has the unfortunate effect of shortchanging the learning process, but it is also less likely to lead to ambiguities and confusions--especially when one is as unskilled at the method as I am.
So here am I, telling it like it is--or at least as I see it. You may agree with me, or not. In either case, I would recommend reviewing the entry that preceded this one (Graduate 121: Batman: The Dark Knight and the Modern Apocalypse) and mulling over the questions that I raise. It would be easy to agree or disagree with what I say here. It would be much harder and more profitable to think about the questions I posed there.
--
I think that at least one of my readers is under the impression, based on my last blog entry, that I dislike the latest Batman movie. In fact, I would not say that I dislike the film; however, I would acknowledge being troubled by it. I am troubled because of the commentary it makes on our contemporary culture.
There are two main possibilities, as I see it. Either the screenwriters are posing a question and commenting on the inadequacy of the answers that are currently available in our culture, or they are posing a question to which they themselves do not have an adequate answer. The latter possibility is far more frightening and, I fear, far more likely. When the story-tellers lose sight of their roots the rest of the culture cannot be far behind.
What is the question being posed by Batman: The Dark Knight? What are we to do when faced with unrelenting evil? Of course, that question is a bit removed from the day-to-day lives of most movie-goers. So how about: What are we to do when life doesn't go our way? How do we deal with the 'curve-balls' that life throws at us? How do we cope when life spins out of our control? It might be a cancer diagnosis. It might be a house foreclosure. It might be a friend who betrays you. Or a business partner. It might be a spouse who leaves you. It might be something even more mundane--anything that is out of your control.
We don't like to be out of control. We don't like to be at the mercy of anyone or anything. We deliberately construct our lives in such a way that we are maximally in control. We set up barriers around us to protect us and develop contingency plans, backup plans, and insurance policies just in case. But what happens when our best isn't good enough and life comes at us full speed and bowls us over?
Gotham is in control. Or at least it's gaining control. The mob is on the run. The streets are getting safer. There's a new District Attorney. He's untainted by corruption, has the situation well in hand, and is promising to bring about still greater improvements. Everything is good.
And then the Joker comes. He's not like the other criminals. The usual strategies won't work against him. He can't be appeased. And he puts the challenge to the people: What will you do when your best isn't good enough?
We like to think of ourselves as good people, as law-abiding citizens, as decent human beings. That's, after all, how we get by. Don't bug me and I won't bug you. You stay on your side of the line and I'll stay on mine. And if you do cross that line, there are laws and police and rules that will put you back in your place. The laws are there to protect us. The laws allow us to live as good, law-abiding, decent human beings.
But what happens when those laws no longer protect us? What happens when they don't work? What happens when the system that I have set up to protect myself and to allow me to live as a civilized person breaks down? Do I abandon being a civilized person?
Everyone is at each others' throats. No one can trust anyone. It's each man for himself. And for a while the new DA stands strong. He's smart. He's clever. He's still got a few tricks up his sleeve. He's not a victim of the chaos that rages around him. He makes his own fate.
But eventually even his best proves inadequate. And he discovers that he cannot control his destiny. And he throws himself headlong--eyes wide open--into the chaos.
The problem is this. Most people will only play by the rules so long as the system works for them. Once the system fails, they'll abandon it. Aristotle, I believe, referred to this as 'incontinence.' And we keep on searching for the system that will keep us safe. We keep searching for the system that is so perfectly molded to our wants and desires that we will not even have to try in order to live successfully in it.
The problem is that no such system exists. As long as we live in a broken world, the very best that humankind can offer will always be inadequate to deal with the very worst that life can throw at us.
That's what we see in the DA. We see the very best that humanity can offer. The highest, noblest, most capable, most virtuous; and it is still inadequate to stand before the relentless force of evil. It is still corruptible.
How can we survive in a world where our very best is not good enough? How can society endure? How can trust? How can love?
What will keep the company of two ships from blowing one another up? On this point the screenwriters give us nothing. They give us no answer.
What will prevent one neighbor from betraying another in an act of desperation? Fear? Possibly. Guilt? Maybe. Sentimentality? Sometimes. But these are not solid foundations on which one can build a social edifice that will stand strong in the midst of storms. Things may work out this time, but what about next time? And what about the time after that? As evil and chaos beat relentlessly against the gates and walls, will they stand?
But the screenwriters have nothing else to give us. They offer us no hope. They give us no reason to remain faithful to our deepest convictions about the value of humanity and goodness and truth and beauty.
How can we survive? How can we hope to live normal lives? Only by hiding our inadequacy. Only by lying about the downfall of the DA. Because if anyone found out that the very best that humanity has to offer was not good enough, then all hope would be lost. We must continue to pretend that the system works.
Of course, it will be the batman that does all the real work. It is his strength that we are really relying on. (And that's still, ultimately, a mere mortal's strength.) And if he were ever to fall then chaos really would break lose. But as long as he is there people can pretend that it's really the system that keeps them safe and they can continue to live normal lives, imagining themselves to be decent human beings and quietly ignoring the truth about who they really are.
What if, instead of trying to pretend that the system is adequate and that we can handle things, we were to acknowledge that our best isn't good enough? What if we were to acknowledge that our fate and destiny are not in our control? What reason would we have to continue to pursue lives of virtue? What reason would we have to continue to do good?
One thing is for sure--our reason would have nothing to do with improving or maintaining the quality of our external circumstances. If you're only good because of the pay-off; then when that pay-off is no longer there, your goodness will disappear right along with it. But if you're good because you know that being good is really the best way to live well--irrespective of situation--then you will continue to hold to that even in the worst of circumstances.
It is here that we do turn to contemplate the kingdom of heaven--a kingdom not of this world, a kingdom that does not promise success in this life, but a kingdom that is the source of the deepest and most abiding wholeness and wellness. And those who belong to this kingdom can (and have) stood against the very greatest evils of this world. They have done so knowing that their very best was not good enough to meet the challenge; but they have endured nonetheless because their hope was not in their own strength and ability but in the God who saves. They are the one's who could truthfully say, "It's going to be alright." "Even if it ends in torture and death, it's going to be alright, because it won't really be the end. There is a hereafter."
--
This is the question posed to us by the latest Batman movie: In a world that is out of our control, in which evil is ever growing in power and strength, how can we continue to live decent lives? And the answer: The only way to cope and live a decent life is to pretend that our system really works, while hoping that the day of evil never comes. Again, is that the screenwriters commenting on what they see in our culture? Or is that the screenwriters' best answer?
--
What does it take to make you compromise your principles? It need not be something as serious as cancer or a job loss. In our society, it doesn't take nearly that much. Just cut a man off on the freeway, and he may try to kill you. Are you living your life based on principle? Or are you just going with whatever's convenient? What will you do when life inconveniences you?
--
I recently read Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. (Garden City: The Literary Guild of America, Inc., 1954.) At one point in the story Jane is forced to choose between remaining with the man that she dearly loves in an illicit relationship and abandoning that man to journey in destitution and desolation. This is what she decides:
"I will hold to the principles received by me when I was sane, and not mad--as I am now. Laws and principles are not for the times when there is no temptation: they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise in mutiny against their rigor; stringent are they; inviolate they shall be. If at my individual convenience I might break them, what would be their worth? They have a worth--so I have always believed; and if I cannot believe it now, it is because I am insane--quite insane: with my veins running fire, and my heart beating faster than I can count its throbs. Preconceived opinions, foregone determinations, are all I have at this hour to stand by: there I plant my foot." (p. 283)
--
Some might see a picture of redemption, absolution, and sacrifice in the way that the batman assumes responsibility for the sins of the defunct DA. This thought has occurred to me. But even if this image in isolation is Christian, in the larger context of the picture, I think that it is not because there is no reconciliation. The people of Gotham will continue to put their faith and confidence in a system that does not work. They will continue to live unprincipled lives. So I am, at least, inclined to resist that interpretation.
--
Of course some may perceive what I have said about the themes of Batman: The Dark Knight as reactionary and alarmist. I hope that they will not. I try very hard not to be either reactionary or alarmist. Moreover, interpreting my words in that way will likely prompt the reader to dismiss my opinions outright without really thinking about them. That is, as I said at the beginning, the danger of "telling-it-like-it-is." So I will, again, recommend that you read the blog entry that preceded this and mull over the questions and think about the movie. Realize, too, that I am writing this after only seeing the movie once. There's a lot that I could have missed or misconstrued. But that's okay. My desire is not, primarily, to make you think the way that I think, but my desire is that you would think.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 7:50 PM
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