![]() Pitted against Gotham’s Dark Knight are villains who not only take God’s place as judge and executioner, but who see themselves as agents of some ultimate reality or supreme principle - in effect, of whatever takes the place of God in their worldviews.įor Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight, chaos rules. Like Abraham, he knows the city’s corruptness, but wants to see the city saved and hopes there are enough good people to make it worth saving. The recurring question: Is there hope for Gotham City? Are its people worth saving? Is salvation even possible? Are there good people here, or is there only corruption and amoral self-interest destroying itself? Judgment on GothamĬarrying on in his own way the legacy of his philanthropic parents, Bruce seeks to save Gotham, to give it hope, to inspire its people. Nevertheless, the trilogy is linked by a unifying theme defining the conflict between Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne/Batman and the villains who oppose him. The Dark Knight is dominated by chaos and escalating conflict, while The Dark Knight Rises develops themes of pain and consequences, among others. Fear and responsibility are key motifs in Batman Begins. Nolan has said that each film of the Dark Knight trilogy was independently conceived rather than being planned as part of a trilogy, and each film has its own thematic scope. Yet I’m struck by the extent to which Christopher Nolan’s celebrated Dark Knight trilogy (of which the monumental second chapter, The Dark Knight, was released 10 years ago this week), watched back-to-back, can be fruitfully considered as an extended comic-book riff on the story of Abraham and God’s judgment on Sodom in the Book of Genesis. Such parallels are frequently strained and seldom illuminating. If one squints hard enough at almost any popular film, one can find biblical parallels of one sort or another, often Christological motifs (e.g., death and resurrection).
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