The Dark Knight: A Post-9/11 Tale (Part Three)

In my last semester of college, I completed a writing portfolio entitled "Exploring Modern American Culture through Contemporary Cinema." It contained four essays dissecting four recent films. I started with Christopher Nolan's dark epic The Dark Knight (2008). The third part of that essay is below. I will post a new portfolio excerpt every day. Previous posts: Part One, Part Two.
 

 The Dark Knight: A Post-9/11 Tale

Gotham: A City in Need

Long before the Joker’s ascension, Gotham was city notorious for its corruption. That corruption was what inspired Bruce Wayne to don the batsuit in the first place. In Batman Begins, the titular hero returns to his hometown after a long absence, a massive goal weighing on his mind: restore Gotham to decency. At the start of the second film, we learn he was largely successful; between Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, crime rates have gone down, the once unscrupulous police force has started to turn around, and Gothamites are slowly taking on the responsibility of keeping their city safe.

The Joker sees all of this, and he is not pleased. He doubts Gotham’s ability – and humanity’s, in general – to be truly good. In an attempt to break Batman’s spirit and turn him against the strict moral code he follows, the Joker condemns the city’s inhabitants, declaring: “their morals, their code – it’s a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you. When the chips are down, these – these civilized people, they’ll eat each other” (Nolan). He tests this hypothesis repeatedly, terrorizing citizens with a variety of horrific threats. For example, in his first threat, which is broadcast on the Gotham City News network, the Joker announces that for every day Batman does not reveal his true identity, someone will die. And just as he says, he’s a man of his word (Nolan). This threat alone sends the city into a frenzy. Even more warnings come later, each pushing the civilians a little closer to utter depravity. The Gothamites turn on their leaders and each other in their tense, frightened state. By the end of the film, however, the citizens’ goodness prevails over their crueler survival instincts, much to the Joker’s surprise and dismay.

Though the Joker’s radical philosophy does not triumph, he does, through his terrorist acts, coerce the citizens to do terrible things to each other. This can be seen when he demands the death of Coleman Reese (Joshua Harto), a Wayne Enterprises accountant who asserts he knows who Batman really is. Deciding his cat-and-mouse game with the Caped Crusader is too much fun to give up, the Joker gives the people of Gotham one hour to kill Reese, or else he will blow up a hospital. The Gothamites are so on edge, so fearful of the Joker, that they make several attempts on Reese’s life. This sequence displays the acute anxiety that inevitably arises when a community is struck with unexpected large-scale violence. Though magnified and dramatized, the emotions of Gotham’s citizens are not dissimilar to those experienced by Americans in the years after 9/11.

In the years after the attacks, there has been a “widespread sense of crisis” in the U.S. as people see few solutions to what seem like never-ending problems of political, social, and economic turmoil (Baum 267). Unlike in The Dark Knight, this apprehension has not caused constant fear of inter-citizen violence among all socioeconomic groups. In the film, Gotham’s entire population lives in daily fear of death, either by the Joker’s hands or those of their fellow citizens. Despite an atmosphere of unease, U.S. society has never faced the dire life-or-death situations seen in the movie, which lead to monstrous actions by everyday people. However, this does not mean the post-9/11 culture of fear and anxiety has not produced unethical behavior among citizens. For example, issues of xenophobia, particularly against those of Middle Eastern descent, plagued the nation for some time after 9/11. They even continue today, with several attacks on Muslim homes and mosques documented last year, all carried out by non-Muslims (Belnart). It seems that in real life, just as in The Dark Knight, the threat of terrorism has the power to lead to societal disunity. The everyday tensions and prejudices built up out of fear may not be as dramatic as the gunshots the Joker encourages, but they have just as much power to keep society from functioning as a united whole.

Sources

Baum, Bruce. "The Dark Knight (Warner Brothers Pictures, 2008)." New Political Science. 31.2 (2009): 267-69. Print.

Belnart, Peter. "A Quiet Campaign of Violence Against American Muslims." Newsweek. 20 Aug 2012: n. page. Web. 16 Nov. 2013. .

Nolan, Christopher, dir. Batman Begins. Writ. David S. Goyer, Christopher Nolan, Perf. Christian Bale, and Liam Neeson. Warner Bros., 2005. Film. 16 Nov 2013.

Nolan, Christopher, dir. The Dark Knight. Writ. Jonathan Nolan, Perf. Christian Bale, and Heath Ledger. Warner Bros., 2008. Film. 31 Oct 2013.