Dark Thoughts from The Dark Knight

Posted on July 27, 2008

My first thoughts walking away from Dark Knight were dark thoughts. This film was, at times, too believable for a comic book hero. Yes, I realize that the Nolan brothers intentionally recast Batman out of the traditional hero role; however, in doing so they changed the comic book appeal, lost the frivolity and unbelievability of fictional heroes who save the day. The Joker was brilliant, disturbing, soul-punching, landing blows awfully close to home, but even closer to hell. Nicholson never came this close to “dancing with the devil in the pale moonlight.” *Note: there are spoilers below.

Probing Dualisms

The film is rife with philosophical dualisms–chance and free will, good and evil, hero and villain, justice and chaos, sacrifice and suffering. And then there’s the maxim of the movie: “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to become a villain.” Unlike many films that flirt with such dualisms, Dark Knight probes into their depths. For instance, Two-Face would rather put his faith in “unbiased chance” than in the wavering free-will of humans, but in so doing, flips a coin with two heads on it. Which is more consistent? Chance or Justice? Two-Face argues for chance: “You thought we could be decent men in an indecent world. But you were wrong; the world is cruel, and the only morality in a cruel world is chance.”

Or consider the social experiment rigged by the Joker. Two ferry boats loaded with explosives and remote detonators left on board. One boat filled with convicts, the other with civilians. Each boat has the detonator to the other boat in their hands, with the promise of safety to the one who pushes the button first. They are given 20 minutes to decide what action to take. The Joker banks on the depravity of humanity to lead to self-destruction, but alas, each boat refuses to detonate. Is humanity essentially good or essentially bad?

More Than the Truth?

Some have questioned why a brilliant writer and director like Christopher Nolan would go from Memento to Batman, but clearly he brought his philosophical depth and knack for the darkside of humanity with him. Personally, I prefer a more tame delivery of such deeply disturbing themes as evil, depravity, injustice, chance, free-will, and so on. Nolan followed up Batman Begins with his post-modern take on the hero. As I have discussed elsewhere, Batman transcends the superhero to become an everyman, conflicted and troubled by the difficulty, pain, and the brokenness of life. Much like us, he is groping for identity while also trying to maintain a groundless morality. The postmodern hero has very little to stand on to support his actions.

In the end, the bat signal is broken signifying the bat’s rejection by Gotham. Why? Because as he states: “Sometimes, truth isn’t good enough, sometimes people deserve more. Sometimes people deserve to have their faith rewarded.” People deserve more than the truth? There’s a quandary for you! In one sense, this is how many of us live. Many of us prefer to build our lives, our significance on things that are not true; we place our faith in the goodness of humanity (when humanity has not been good to us). We insist on believing that being successful and family-oriented will bring us true happiness (while money corrupts and families divorce). We place our faith in a lie, a lie that temporarily rewards our faith, only to crumble seconds later under the weight of truth-sized hope. The truth isn’t good enough because we have grasped at lies.

Less Than a Savior

Though the postmodern Batman depicts our struggle, he offers very little to give us a way out of our predicament. In the end, he tells us that we deserve more than the truth. He absorbs the rejection of Gotham with the strength of sentiment, that Rachel would have married him, if she had lived. However, this is not true. Batman is motivated by hope in a lie. He embodies our need for hope and our proclivity to place it in hopelessness.

The bat becomes scapegoat for Gotham, a “dark” knight, not the one in shining armor. Yet, this act holds out a shadow of truth, the truth of our need for one man to take on our sin, our refusal to stand on the truth and insistence to believe in something “more” than the truth. The need for a savior, not who is postmodern, but who is supra-postmodern, a hero who can identify with the plight of humanity and bear its burden, but also rise above our predicament to speak life into it. There is a hero who does this, by taking depravity to the grave while also lifting our infinite desires for hope, justice, acceptance, and meaning into heaven itself, where they alone can be met by an infinite God. Contrary to the Dark Knight, we need more than what we deserve. We need a faith greater than what we can manufacture, to find a God greater than a man-made philosophical structure. We need a god-man.

From movie gods to imperfect actors, Ledger and Bale were convincing and human, perhaps too convincing given the tragic death and curious London arrest. Is this film Drama, Action, Thriller or Comic book philosophy? One thing is for sure—it is unlike any other Marvel/DC hero film ever made. It has set the bar high, perhaps as high as it can go.

Austin Award-winning Short film

Posted on July 25, 2008

Here’s an award-winning short done by a friend, David Avila. It was winner of “Audience Favorite” at the 2008 Austin 48hr. Film Festival, and also received Best Graphics & Editing awards. They were given 48 hours to script, shoot, act, edit, write music, do sound effects and edit.

The film is about a former Cold War agent who’s stuck in the 70’s, reminisces about some ‘bad’ Cold War agent chicks. His memory is a little shaky, probably due to too much drug use.

Andy Widman's Funeral

Posted on July 24, 2008

FORT MYERS, Fla.- “If you knew Andy, you knew he was a dreamer, he dreamed of changing the world,” these were the emotional words of Officer Andrew “Andy” Widman’s wife, Susanna.

She was lead up to the podium at the side of her brother, to tell the more than 2,500 people attending her husband’s funeral, about the life he lived”…I so wish I could have been there, but even better, I will be with him in the new creation!

Here is the stirring story of Andy’s funeral, which took place yesterday.

Sign the online guestbook here.

Learning from the Demon-possessed

Posted on July 23, 2008

Jesus was radical, a spiritual Van Helsing, if you will. But instead of vanquishing only evil and preserving good, Jesus vanquished evil and restored the broken. When arriving on the shores of the Gerasenes, Jesus was immediately welcomed by a zombie-like, demon-possessed, Houdini kind of being who lived among the graves. His name was Legion because he was filled with many demons (perhaps 2000). The kind of creature that anyone in their right mind would want to lock up. But he couldn’t be contained. Having the strength of two thousand men, Legion shattered shackles and snapped chains. He was an otherworldly creature who cried aloud in torment from the graves, day and night, cutting himself with stones in an attempt to release demon from human.

Can you imagine encountering such a creature? At the sight of Legion most of us would run the other way or, perhaps some, in a rush of adrenaline, would find the closest weapon and vanquish this evil with our gamer passion and skill. But remember, nothing could hold this thing; the strength of two thousand men. Enter Jesus, the demon-slayer. Well, not exactly.

Here are a few lessons I learned from this story in Mark 5:

  • The Masculinity of Jesus: Jesus was radical but not because he was Van Helsing–vanquishing only evil and preserving good. Jesus conquered evil through counter-cultural redemption. In an age of emasculated, Fight Club, Ultimate Fighting voyerism, men do well to learn from the actions of Jesus. His masculinity was shaped, not by violent outbursts or the destruction of weird and wicked foes, but by mercy and redemption. He encountered the evil and suffering of this world with otherworldly wisdom and bold compassion. Is your Jesus this kind of manly?
  • The Cultural Wisdom of Jesus: Jesus did not immediately banish the demons from the countryside. Why? Was he just a softy, caving into the pleading of demons? Not at all. Instead of just glorifying his power over the demonic, Jesus also glorified his wisdom. He sent them to the pigs. Unclean spirits to to unclean animals. In doing this Jesus passed cultural judgment on evil, while preserving the good creature he had made. Contrary to Jewish practice, Jesus did not exile the man but only the demon. As pastors and disciples we do well to learn from Jesus’ cultural savvy, exegeting evil in our culture and banishing it in cultural stereo, but discerning that which can and should be redeemed and restoring that which is broken. Is your Jesus that wise?
  • The Sensitivity of Jesus: Not only did Jesus restore and renew his mind and heart, but he also clothed the man. Jesus also addressed his social needs. Instead of bringing the former demoniac with him on the preaching tour, Jesus sent him home, to his friends, where he could celebrate and enjoy social restoration and the love and acceptance of his family. Jesus was preaching and living the whole gospel in the whole culture. Is your Jesus that holistic, that compassionate?
  • The Mission of Jesus: Instead of passing judgment on the poor nameless demon-possessed, Jesus showed him mercy. The demon-possessed man wasn’t simply an innocent host for misery-hungry demons. He was a sinner, unclean on account of breaking Jewish law, but more importantly, under judgment for his personal sin. Jesus did not write him off, culturally or personally, but had mercy on him. How? He restored his mind, gave him some clothes, renewing him spiritually and materially. Not only that, Jesus gave him a new purpose. Instead of crying out in pain day and night, the former demoniac began to preach in cities concerning the mercy and person of Jesus, to extol the Lordship of Christ. Jesus made a demon-possessed man a missional disciple. Is your Jesus that powerful, that missional?