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More on the destruction of a once powerful & useful symbol, or another good Dark Knight article

In a conversation I was having with someone yesterday, they said that I am the only person that they know who does not like The Dark Knight. I thought about that later, and, I think one of the main reasons for me not liking the movie is that TDK has taken an old symbol for justice and muddled it up, bled all the useful vitality out of it - thus I no longer respond positively to the symbol. Batman, in TDK, is no longer someone to admire for his service to society, but rather a vigilante to keep an eye on/check/stop because he tortures suspects, uses illegal/total wiretapping, and is used as a tool for rendition/kidnapping by the police. More on the destruction of a once positive symbol by another person who does not dig TDK; David Cox at the Guardian:

"All of which would doubtless be explained away easily enough by the scholars of Bat-philosophy. The ambiguity of it all is the point, see. We live in times when the distinction between good and evil has evaporated. That's why The Joker is good fun and Batman is a bore. Our fates depend on the flip of a coin, like those of the lawman's victims, not on what is right. Cool, man!

Whatever. Certainly, Hollywood's other superheroes also seem to be losing their moorings. Yet if they can offer us no succour, then their time has passed. The dark knight's ethical indigestion will be the death of him. For, without morality, there can be no saviours. Once you've arrived in Mad Max land, you don't need another hero."

Read the rest of Cox's article here.

- Sujewa

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