Batman... comparable to George Bush?

During the past week or so, I've been telling my boss at work that he needs to see The Dark Knight due to how good it is. He finally saw it, and he asked me "Did you catch the main theme of the movie?" I told him, "Well, yeah, a lot of it dealt with the corruption of man as a whole, etc." And he said "No, no, no."

At this point he explained to me how the whole movie paralleled our current war on terrorism (Batman being the Bush Administration, The Joker representing the terrorists in the Middle East). He supported this using the example about how Batman uses the sonar/wire-tapping technique to spy on people in order to catch The Joker, etc. He also used the more general example of how Batman is hated by the public, yet he's doing what he has to (similar to how he views George Bush).

Now my question is: Do you agree that the film was a parallel to the current Bush Administration/the War on Terror, and if so, do you think this was an intentional and/or prominent theme in the movie?

I'd very much appreciate any feedback on this, thanks.

Why to people always gotta pick out political meanings in movies? Why can't they just watch and enjoy it....

Originally posted by SnakeEyes
During the past week or so, I've been telling my boss at work that he needs to see The Dark Knight due to how good it is. He finally saw it, and he asked me "Did you catch the main theme of the movie?" I told him, "Well, yeah, a lot of it dealt with the corruption of man as a whole, etc." And he said "No, no, no."

At this point he explained to me how the whole movie paralleled our current war on terrorism (Batman being the Bush Administration, The Joker representing the terrorists in the Middle East). He supported this using the example about how Batman uses the sonar/wire-tapping technique to spy on people in order to catch The Joker, etc. He also used the more general example of how Batman is hated by the public, yet he's doing what he has to (similar to how he views George Bush).

Now my question is: Do you agree that the film was a parallel to the current Bush Administration/the War on Terror, and if so, do you think this was an intentional and/or prominent theme in the movie?

I'd very much appreciate any feedback on this, thanks.

i do not agree.

Although i can see how someone could get the idea, but Bush's administration's actions are more questonable than Batman's motives.

There is the whole, Bush's election was rigged and this is a war to seize oil in the middle east. There was that whole deal in fahrenheit 9-11, how Bush catered the arabs, and actually had no proof to go to war and that his administration didnt even know they had evidence. What is the truth? im not sure what to believe. It's not like Batman has his own agenda behind his message of hope and justice. He is not as questionable as Bush, and Batman got Falcone and his men behind bars, with all the evidence there. Bush however, where are the WMDs? It has gone from stopping terrorism and finding osama, to stopping saddam cuz he helped some al queda fugitives, when Bush did the same thing just prior to 9/11!!

the only thing similar to Bush, is Batman is hated by some and liked by few, it's kind of like nascar. I can see how a person can try and relate these things but it just doesnt work out, Batman is a vigilante but still a hero. Bush? idk, usa needs some change, change that we can believe in

Originally posted by Endrict Nuul
Why to people always gotta pick out political meanings in movies? Why can't they just watch and enjoy it....

Um, no... Just, no...

Originally posted by Endrict Nuul
Why to people always gotta pick out political meanings in movies? Why can't they just watch and enjoy it....

There was an article in the New Yorker, I think it was, that discussed this. What I find mockingly intertesting about the Republicans trying to cash in on the publicity and success of this film in an election season is that (A) no one involved in the making of this film was trying to compare or contrast any of the characters in it to anyone in the real world (B) that they're desperately clinging to George W. Bush who is serving the last few months of his dismally failed 2 term presidency and can not be re-elected (C) that none of the people making this claim seemed to have found any reference to John McCain in this movie.

I listened to Rush Limbaugh babble for an hour over this article and the apparently blatant comparrison to Dubya doing what was right in the face of a world that hates him for it and I kept thinking to myself what it was about the world that just didn't click for the man. Bush is over. And I'm fairly certain that Batman wouldn't have started a 6 year war for no good reason, let the economy crash or looted the treasury and left it in trillions of dollars worth of debt. Baman could find Osama bin Laden.

In other words, I think this thread should be closed.

I see no reason at all why this topic should be closed. It pertains to the film completely and it is something I'm genuinely interested in.

As for the rest of your post, thanks for the contribution, I'd like to hear more opinions.

Originally posted by SnakeEyes
During the past week or so, I've been telling my boss at work that he needs to see The Dark Knight due to how good it is. He finally saw it, and he asked me "Did you catch the main theme of the movie?" I told him, "Well, yeah, a lot of it dealt with the corruption of man as a whole, etc." And he said "No, no, no."

At this point he explained to me how the whole movie paralleled our current war on terrorism (Batman being the Bush Administration, The Joker representing the terrorists in the Middle East). He supported this using the example about how Batman uses the sonar/wire-tapping technique to spy on people in order to catch The Joker, etc. He also used the more general example of how Batman is hated by the public, yet he's doing what he has to (similar to how he views George Bush).

Now my question is: Do you agree that the film was a parallel to the current Bush Administration/the War on Terror, and if so, do you think this was an intentional and/or prominent theme in the movie?

I'd very much appreciate any feedback on this, thanks.

There are an obvious number of references to current events in the film - Wire Tapping, the treatment of criminals, a villain who simply wants to create chaos for no good reason (like terrorists), video tapes of people being forced to say things, then promptly murdered, paralleling some of the death videos that the terrorists make, and others . But I gotta reject the idea that Batman is supposed to represent Bush. The fact that Batman is simply covering up for someone ELSES vile deeds and allowing the public to hate him in order for Dent's character status to stay glowing and positive really has no parallels to Bush.

It's an interesting theory, though.

Thanks Backfire, I think that was the most intelligent post yet in this topic. I talked it over a bit more with him, and it sounds as though he thinks Batman represents the U.S. as a whole and not necessarily Bush himself.

That makes a bit more sense, but seeing as it's made by a brit, I doubt that.

I think it's more a glorified employment of steady and heroic ideals, than any specific person or country or anything like that.

batman is a hero, bush admin. not so much.

why's batman meddlin in the affairs of gotham, he lives there, the streets need to be clean

whats bush admin'/usa doin in iraq? liberating the country? freeing them? etc.

its not quite the same. Batman has all the business in the world to stop terror and criminals in his own town. how would we feel in foreign soldiers patrolled our streets, and they didnt know who the enemy was cuz of a language barrier. well idk im canadian

I can see the parallels of your bosses opinion. Although, I'm sure it wasn't the movie makers intentions.

Originally posted by SnakeEyes
During the past week or so, I've been telling my boss at work that he needs to see The Dark Knight due to how good it is. He finally saw it, and he asked me "Did you catch the main theme of the movie?" I told him, "Well, yeah, a lot of it dealt with the corruption of man as a whole, etc." And he said "No, no, no."

At this point he explained to me how the whole movie paralleled our current war on terrorism (Batman being the Bush Administration, The Joker representing the terrorists in the Middle East). He supported this using the example about how Batman uses the sonar/wire-tapping technique to spy on people in order to catch The Joker, etc. He also used the more general example of how Batman is hated by the public, yet he's doing what he has to (similar to how he views George Bush).

Now my question is: Do you agree that the film was a parallel to the current Bush Administration/the War on Terror, and if so, do you think this was an intentional and/or prominent theme in the movie?

I'd very much appreciate any feedback on this, thanks.

I think your boss took this film waaaaay too seriously. Rather than enjoy the story and entertain himself...he try to find connections with the film and current political events.

This has happen before with other films. Land of the Dead is such case, there was also the same theory with Episode III. Heck! Even M. Night's The Village was consider some sorta of a metaphor for modern day america.

I can't change your opinion nor your boss opinion. But I think is time people need to start learning to have some fun.

Stop looking for signs of things everywhere. Connecting 2+2 will give you 4....it will never give you a 8...never...no matter how much philosophy thinking you can come up....

Sure, I'll give you the fact that Harvey Dent say the word "terrorist" but life is always been like that...terrorism didn't begin with 9/11 and it certainly will not end there...

Basically and to the core not directly at you....Stop over analyzing everything and watch the movie.

the only things that should be analyzed in this film are the themes (& or symbols) in the film, such as morality, the defined line between chaos & order, themes beyond good vs evil, human logic, or duality for example

I think there are some similarities and yes they were put there on purpose but I actually think Batman is doing is the right way (as in he only gave one man control over the surveillance equipment and didn't oversee it himself and he had it destroyed immediately) and that the Bush administration is doing it the wrong way. That's how I took it anyway. *shrugs*. But I did think they were purposely using language like terrorism etc to draw comparisons at certain points of the movie but you also have to consider the fact that American super heroes have kind of always been paralleled to American politics in some shape or form. When you think about it there really aren't very man non American produced super heroes because the super heroes usually reflect how we view ourselves and what we believe people should do in general as an American culture so you will often find mini political implications IMO in comic book movies etc because that's how our culture is. Just my two cents.

Seemed like a batman movie to me

Thread doesn't need to be closed; it's a worthwhile discussion, even if some people are reaching with the parallels. The word terrorist will continue to be associated with 9/11, the Bush presidency & the War in Iraq for a long time to come. Any film that uses the term will have to deal with the scrutiny. Hell, I remember when New Line Cinema was concerned with the upcoming release of LOTR:The Two Towers - a year after 9/11 - just because of the name.

Originally posted by roughrider
Hell, I remember when New Line Cinema was concerned with the upcoming release of LOTR:The Two Towers - a year after 9/11 - just because of the name.

That is because there are some really illiterate morons in this country that read far too much into things like this and they're spending too much time listening to Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh.