Over at CatholicVote, a writer recently criticized the Dark Knight films for glamorizing evil and thereby animating such lunatics as James Holmes. In essence, evil is insipid, and should be portrayed as such. Portrayals of evil should be chaste... Or so the argument goes. Unfortunately, such reasoning is why many Christian films are so often colorless. We must admit: evil is alluring and glamarous (albeit on a superficial level). If it weren't, men would quickly become saints, which is obviously not the case. Yes, we must assiduously avoid evil. However, there is a yearning in us to confront and overcome evil, and this is the service of great art. In a darkened theater, we can confront evil. We can have a reckoning, because evil allures art's hero and not us. Most of all, though, we can exorcize our own demons. These demons take the form of vivacous villians such as the Joker, who are then overcome by heros such as the Batman. Those who imitate such evil instead - men like James Holmes - do so not because of its glamarous display in film. Rather, they made their choice long ago, and simply use a film's trappings as their excuse.Tuesday, July 24, 2012
The Glamour of Evil
Over at CatholicVote, a writer recently criticized the Dark Knight films for glamorizing evil and thereby animating such lunatics as James Holmes. In essence, evil is insipid, and should be portrayed as such. Portrayals of evil should be chaste... Or so the argument goes. Unfortunately, such reasoning is why many Christian films are so often colorless. We must admit: evil is alluring and glamarous (albeit on a superficial level). If it weren't, men would quickly become saints, which is obviously not the case. Yes, we must assiduously avoid evil. However, there is a yearning in us to confront and overcome evil, and this is the service of great art. In a darkened theater, we can confront evil. We can have a reckoning, because evil allures art's hero and not us. Most of all, though, we can exorcize our own demons. These demons take the form of vivacous villians such as the Joker, who are then overcome by heros such as the Batman. Those who imitate such evil instead - men like James Holmes - do so not because of its glamarous display in film. Rather, they made their choice long ago, and simply use a film's trappings as their excuse.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
A Redemption From Lying
Walking out of the movie theater in 2008, having just seen Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, I felt uneasy. I knew I had just seen an astounding accomplishment for cinema. However, I also knew that there was something morally troubling about the film's ending. As you may recall, at the end of The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne decides to take the blame for Harvey Dent's wicked conduct. Wayne does so in order that Gotham might keep its White Knight - Harvey Dent - as its hero. Thus, a lie is born.
The Dark Knight presented Bruce Wayne's decision as an admirable, even heroic, decision. And yet, I cannot accept that promulgating a lie is ever admirable or heroic. How satisfied I was, then, leaving the theater in 2012, to have witnessed a redemption from lying. The Dark Knight Rises shows how Bruce Wayne's lie has now been used against him. Bane, the new villain, riles up Gotham's populace by telling them that Gotham's Government has used the lie of Harvey Dent as an excuse to repress the people. Thus, Wayne's lie has failed, and he must repair the damage it so grievously caused. Gotham needs a dark knight, not a white knight. While The Dark Knight Rises may lack the pitch-perfect precision of The Dark Knight, it is nevertheless a marvellous ending to an epic saga. Thematically and morally, the film brought the series to a moral and thematic fulfillment.
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