"The Dark Knight" has brought in more money at the box office in its first eight days of release than its predecessor, "Batman Begins," did it its entire domestic run. Some point to actor Heath Ledger’s untimely death as a factor, others to his Oscar-nomination-worthy performance as The Joker. Both certainly play a role. Either might get fans into seats at least once, but neither can explain the multiple viewings that blockbuster films of this caliber must attract to post the kind of numbers that "The Dark Knight" boasts: top opening night of all time, top weekend of all time, top weekly box office of all time – which it accomplished in six, not seven, days, and fastest film to $300 million, cutting the time to the record from sixteen days to only ten.
So what drives audiences to repeat viewings of a film that is, by any standard, a dark film set in a dystopian world with, at best, an ambiguous ending? I would like to argue that "The Dark Knight" is resonating with film audiences because it has tapped into a collective moral angst about the condition of our culture, and the schizophrenic attitudes many have about what it takes to set things right. In line with our culture of narcissism, regardless of what the mirror shows, we enjoy looking at ourselves. "The Dark Knight" reflects our culture’s troubling truths: our downward slide into nihilism, the impossibility of continuing to draw from a moral well without replenishing it, and the difficulty of wanting heroes while inhabiting a post-heroic age. The world of "The Dark Knight" looks both grim and familiar – it is our own, writ large.
Sliding Toward Nihilism
Gotham City has never been the poster child for the model American metropolis. There are good reasons why Batman operates there instead of, say, Des Moines. But even in its underworld there was always an odd sense of orderliness. The job of the crooks was to commit crime. The police had a duty to catch them. There was planning and execution. Even among thieves there was occasionally muted cooperation and a warped code of “honor.” This was a world, for better or worse, that operated under rules.
"The Dark Knight" introduces The Joker as the harbinger of a new immoral order. He describes himself to District Attorney Harvey Dent as a kind of force of nature: “Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I am a dog chasing cars. I wouldn’t know what to do with one if I caught it. I just do things.” But moments later, he reveals his true identity, “Introduce a little anarchy, upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? It’s fear.”
The crimes committed in "The Dark Knight" - murder, kidnapping, bank robbery, and terrorism - are not otherworldly; they are the evening news. "The Dark Knight" merely consolidates them in a single city; creating a recognizable microcosm of crime. But unlike crimes of the past, where someone might do something evil to obtain something good – for example, rob someone to get money – The Joker simply revels in lawlessness. He is an icon for the random attacks against innocents by strangers and the senseless drive-by shootings that have recently plagued our nation. We live in a world that no longer makes sense. We see in "The Dark Knight" a fictional expression of our own world gone mad.
Under interrogation, The Joker rejects the idea that his is some alien ideology. Providing his analysis of the bastions of rules and laws – the police department – The Joker explains, “You see, 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 civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster...I'm just ahead of the curve.” Continue >>
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Minor note of correction: the quote is "I am an agent of chaos. Oh, and you know the thing about chaos? Itâ