____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
| Concealing Darkness What Beijing had in common with The Dark Knight |
| By Brett McCracken |
Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight has been the movie event of the summer—
the biggest economic and cultural event since, well, maybe since the last Harry
Potter book came out. It was also the perfect companion to this summer’s other
big event: the Beijing-hosted Summer Olympics. But what, you might wonder, does
Batman have to do with Beijing? And you might think I’m referencing the stunning
Hong Kong scene, or the importance of Chinese gangsters to the plot, but
unfortunately my comparisons are a little more of a stretch. Not too much of a
stretch, I hope…
the biggest economic and cultural event since, well, maybe since the last Harry
Potter book came out. It was also the perfect companion to this summer’s other
big event: the Beijing-hosted Summer Olympics. But what, you might wonder, does
Batman have to do with Beijing? And you might think I’m referencing the stunning
Hong Kong scene, or the importance of Chinese gangsters to the plot, but
unfortunately my comparisons are a little more of a stretch. Not too much of a
stretch, I hope…
The Dark Knight, as many of you know, is a stunning film from start to finish, aided in
no small part by the shocking performance of Heath Ledger as Joker. But as good as its
first 130 minutes are, The Dark Knight becomes something altogether more provocative
when it wraps things up and makes some conclusions in its final fifteen minutes.
For much of the film, the Joker seems to be committed to nothing but chaos and
mayhem, with little rhyme or reason to his violent terrorist acts. But by the end we see
that Joker’s madness is driven by a method, a particularly devilish method: take down
the good and make it evil, whenever and wherever possible. His raison d’être, it seems,
is to destroy the best humanity has to offer—and in Gotham that means Harvey Dent,
the “white knight” district attorney who could finally make Batman a moot point.
Joker works hard to push Dent to the dark side, to make Gotham see that even its most
“moral” hope is ultimately subject to the collapse of his unsupportable dogmas of
“justice” and “good.” When Dent transforms into the psychotic Two Face, it looks like
Joker’s mission is accomplished. But Batman will not let this happen, and herein the
film’s most incisive commentaries come to fruition. Batman orchestrates a cover-up so
that the public will not see Harvey Dent’s moral collapse. Taking on the mantle of the
“Dark Knight,” Batman becomes public enemy No. 1 so as to maintain order and hope
in a “for the greater good” sort of way. In the film’s beautiful (and tragic) final scenes,
Nolan’s point is hammered home: in a world as crazy as this one, sometimes deception
is necessary to protect the world from itself. If the true ugliness of everything were
revealed, perhaps chaos would reign supreme. We need examples, figureheads,
Aristotelian moral guidance—otherwise we might give in to the worst within ourselves.
This is a stark and disturbing conclusion, and it bothers me in many ways. I’m not sure
if Nolan is arguing that this is how it should be (lying for the greater good) or this is
how it is, but either way it is frightening. It is immensely dangerous, I think, to protect
our heroes from fallibility. The end of Knight suggests that letting the public see a
flawed, morally (and physically) disfigured Dent would cause irreparable damage to the
fight against crime. But isn’t it true that things would be even worse if later on people
found out that Gotham authorities had covered up Dent’s failings, holding the wool over
the public’s eyes to keep them gleefully ignorant?
And this is where Knight finds correlation with Beijing’s handling of the Olympics. As
we’ve seen, China—in efforts to put its best foot forward in the global spotlight—has
taken extreme measures to cover up any blip of unpredictability, inkling of protest, or
otherwise unseemly occurrence. In order to protect the public from dark truths (such
as the fact that China’s most famous dancer was paralyzed during a rehearsal for the
opening ceremonies) or chubbiness (such as poor Yang Peiyi, who was not pretty
enough to lend anything but her voice to the opening ceremonies), China has been more
than willing to be a tad bit deceitful. The problem is, many of their covert cover-up
schemes have been uncovered, resulting in a public view of China that is somewhat less
idyllic than they’d hoped.
This China, which is presenting itself as a 21st century leader in culture, economics,
and athletics, is turning out to be far less ideal than it says it is. It’s a place where
protesters aren’t allowed to be seen and journalists covering dissent are silenced. It’s a
place where individual passports can be forged to make athletes conveniently old
enough to win gold for the motherland (as in the underage gymnastics scandal), where
nothing is allowed which is not under the strict control of the powers that be. In trying
to position these games (and indeed, China itself) as pristine and perfect, China has done
more harm than good to itself.
The lesson from all this is clear: even though it might seem like we should cover up our
faults and present ourselves as blameless heroes “for the greater good,” the risk is too
great that our deception will be uncovered and our legitimacy undermined more than it
would have been had we been honest from the start.
The danger of PR deception is also a problem for the Christian church today. Time and
time again the church is made to look foolish because of fallen leaders (Catholic priests,
Ted Haggard, etc.) who—because they have been painted as incorruptible moral
exemplars—do immense damage to the overall legitimacy of Christianity. How many
young Christians have been turned away from the faith because of pastors who’ve been
caught in an illicit scandal, even while they are presented as blameless role models? If
we are known more for hiding sin than dealing with it, why would anyone look to our
gospel for any sort of relevant, reconciliatory truth? Similarly, if China is known more
for hiding its pollution problems, its human rights ambivalence, and general authoritarian
tendencies than it is for trying to cooperate with the world in reform, who outside of
China will ever take them seriously?
Whether it is a letter that we burn to protect someone from the truth (as Alfred does
with Rachel’s letter to Bruce), or a surveillance technology we use in secret “for the
greater good,” we must sacrifice full disclosure—The Dark Knight and China seem to
suggest—for the sake of order rather than chaos. Though I agree that things are
complicated (morality especially), I’m not sure that protecting people from the dark
truths in the world is the best course of action. We need heroes, yes, but not heroes
that are too perfect. In this ever more globalized and gray world, people (younger
people especially) are highly suspicious of anything reductive, black and white, or
inauthentic. We’d much rather get the truth—the dirty, broken, corrupt truth; only then
can we start to trust each other and work together for a better world.
no small part by the shocking performance of Heath Ledger as Joker. But as good as its
first 130 minutes are, The Dark Knight becomes something altogether more provocative
when it wraps things up and makes some conclusions in its final fifteen minutes.
For much of the film, the Joker seems to be committed to nothing but chaos and
mayhem, with little rhyme or reason to his violent terrorist acts. But by the end we see
that Joker’s madness is driven by a method, a particularly devilish method: take down
the good and make it evil, whenever and wherever possible. His raison d’être, it seems,
is to destroy the best humanity has to offer—and in Gotham that means Harvey Dent,
the “white knight” district attorney who could finally make Batman a moot point.
Joker works hard to push Dent to the dark side, to make Gotham see that even its most
“moral” hope is ultimately subject to the collapse of his unsupportable dogmas of
“justice” and “good.” When Dent transforms into the psychotic Two Face, it looks like
Joker’s mission is accomplished. But Batman will not let this happen, and herein the
film’s most incisive commentaries come to fruition. Batman orchestrates a cover-up so
that the public will not see Harvey Dent’s moral collapse. Taking on the mantle of the
“Dark Knight,” Batman becomes public enemy No. 1 so as to maintain order and hope
in a “for the greater good” sort of way. In the film’s beautiful (and tragic) final scenes,
Nolan’s point is hammered home: in a world as crazy as this one, sometimes deception
is necessary to protect the world from itself. If the true ugliness of everything were
revealed, perhaps chaos would reign supreme. We need examples, figureheads,
Aristotelian moral guidance—otherwise we might give in to the worst within ourselves.
This is a stark and disturbing conclusion, and it bothers me in many ways. I’m not sure
if Nolan is arguing that this is how it should be (lying for the greater good) or this is
how it is, but either way it is frightening. It is immensely dangerous, I think, to protect
our heroes from fallibility. The end of Knight suggests that letting the public see a
flawed, morally (and physically) disfigured Dent would cause irreparable damage to the
fight against crime. But isn’t it true that things would be even worse if later on people
found out that Gotham authorities had covered up Dent’s failings, holding the wool over
the public’s eyes to keep them gleefully ignorant?
And this is where Knight finds correlation with Beijing’s handling of the Olympics. As
we’ve seen, China—in efforts to put its best foot forward in the global spotlight—has
taken extreme measures to cover up any blip of unpredictability, inkling of protest, or
otherwise unseemly occurrence. In order to protect the public from dark truths (such
as the fact that China’s most famous dancer was paralyzed during a rehearsal for the
opening ceremonies) or chubbiness (such as poor Yang Peiyi, who was not pretty
enough to lend anything but her voice to the opening ceremonies), China has been more
than willing to be a tad bit deceitful. The problem is, many of their covert cover-up
schemes have been uncovered, resulting in a public view of China that is somewhat less
idyllic than they’d hoped.
This China, which is presenting itself as a 21st century leader in culture, economics,
and athletics, is turning out to be far less ideal than it says it is. It’s a place where
protesters aren’t allowed to be seen and journalists covering dissent are silenced. It’s a
place where individual passports can be forged to make athletes conveniently old
enough to win gold for the motherland (as in the underage gymnastics scandal), where
nothing is allowed which is not under the strict control of the powers that be. In trying
to position these games (and indeed, China itself) as pristine and perfect, China has done
more harm than good to itself.
The lesson from all this is clear: even though it might seem like we should cover up our
faults and present ourselves as blameless heroes “for the greater good,” the risk is too
great that our deception will be uncovered and our legitimacy undermined more than it
would have been had we been honest from the start.
The danger of PR deception is also a problem for the Christian church today. Time and
time again the church is made to look foolish because of fallen leaders (Catholic priests,
Ted Haggard, etc.) who—because they have been painted as incorruptible moral
exemplars—do immense damage to the overall legitimacy of Christianity. How many
young Christians have been turned away from the faith because of pastors who’ve been
caught in an illicit scandal, even while they are presented as blameless role models? If
we are known more for hiding sin than dealing with it, why would anyone look to our
gospel for any sort of relevant, reconciliatory truth? Similarly, if China is known more
for hiding its pollution problems, its human rights ambivalence, and general authoritarian
tendencies than it is for trying to cooperate with the world in reform, who outside of
China will ever take them seriously?
Whether it is a letter that we burn to protect someone from the truth (as Alfred does
with Rachel’s letter to Bruce), or a surveillance technology we use in secret “for the
greater good,” we must sacrifice full disclosure—The Dark Knight and China seem to
suggest—for the sake of order rather than chaos. Though I agree that things are
complicated (morality especially), I’m not sure that protecting people from the dark
truths in the world is the best course of action. We need heroes, yes, but not heroes
that are too perfect. In this ever more globalized and gray world, people (younger
people especially) are highly suspicious of anything reductive, black and white, or
inauthentic. We’d much rather get the truth—the dirty, broken, corrupt truth; only then
can we start to trust each other and work together for a better world.
Brett McCracken is a freelance writer and film critic, and a full-time graduate
student in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of California. His work has
appeared in Christianity Today, Relevant, Faith Visuals, and
LookingCloser.org. Check out his blog here.
student in Cinema and Media Studies at the University of California. His work has
appeared in Christianity Today, Relevant, Faith Visuals, and
LookingCloser.org. Check out his blog here.
