Batman the Neocon

Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight Rises is a flawed masterpiece in which the talented director is able to complete the vision of his Batman trilogy even with the tragic absence of the late Heath Ledger. However, The Dark Knight Rises is also a dark and cynical Neoconservative propaganda piece. In some ways, this should come as no surprise. The second installment of Nolan’s trilogy – The Dark Knight – had many Neoconservative elements including a technologically advanced device for invading the privacy of each and every resident of Gotham City and an “enhanced interrogation” scene. The Dark Knight Rises takes the Neoconservatism of the first two films to a whole new level.

Perhaps the politics of The Dark Knight Rises should not be surprising. Christopher Nolan’s co-writers have both openly displayed Neoconservative tendencies. Nolan’s brother Jonathan is the creator of the CBS drama “Person of Interest,” a sci fi drama in which the protagonists use a Minority Report type of computer to predict and prevent future crimes. Nolan’s other co-writer David S. Goyer is one of the co-writers of two of the Neoconservative Call of Duty video games. In fairness, Nolan does not seem to be as politically motivated as his co-writers. He appears to wish to present a French Revolution homage – which he ham-fistedly pounds home with the Bastille-like Blackgate and the way too obvious use of a passage from A Tale of Two Cities. Unfortunately, he fails to see how odd this homage is. The failure of the French Revolution led to the rise of Napoleon, which was not a good thing for the French people.  

The following are a few of the many Neoconservative tenets that are portrayed in this superhero blockbuster.

1. Human beings only possess value as part of a collective.

Neoconservatism is a radical form of collectivism in which the mass of humanity are not viewed as individuals but only seen as having value as part of society as a whole. During the course of the film, the residents of Gotham City are almost never featured as individuals. Nolan mostly films them as part of a large crowd. They are nameless and faceless. Only Gotham City as a whole matters.

2. Human beings are wicked and weak

Neoconservatism sees human beings as inherently wicked and views strong leadership as necessary to prevent them from acting on their dark impulses. The Dark Knight Rises presents the working class of Gotham City as a weak mass of thieves who are only prevented from committing crimes by the presence of a militarized police force and a vigilante in a funny suit. As soon as Bane gains control of Gotham City, the wicked residents begin to loot the homes of the wealthy.

Batman as the heroic embodiment of Neoconservatism is extremely mistrusting of the people. Rather than give the world the new nuclear fusion technology that could provide cheap energy, he fears that the device could be made into a weapon. Ironically, the beautiful Miranda Tate, who chides Bruce Wayne for not trusting the people, turns out to be a terrorist who seeks to use the technology as a nuclear weapon. In this way, the film portrays someone with humanistic impulses as a wicked villain who has a wicked ulterior motive.

The residents of Gotham City are quickly swayed by Bane’s bizarre Occupy Wall Street style social justice sloganeering. Instead of resisting him, they seem quite pleased to be led by another strong leader. Given that Gotham City is an analog of New York City, the people are not armed. They are likely too wicked to be trusted with firearms anyway.

3. Pragmatic Machiavellian leadership is necessary to govern the wicked masses.

Neoconservatism views Machiavelli as its paradigm for great leadership. Strong leaders must control the wicked masses by employing a combination of heavy-handed tactics and subtle propaganda. Fear of the government must be instilled in them to keep them in line.

Gotham City’s police force appears outfitted in SWAT team armor and with heavy weaponry more often than not. An unarmed populace would clearly be terrified of such a militarized police force.

Neoconservatives are fond of Plato’s notion of the Noble Lie – the idea that leaders must tell beautiful lies to the people in the manner that parents tell fairytales to their children. The late Harvey Dent is portrayed as the paragon of virtue although he was in fact a crazed murderer. Alas, the weak and wicked masses would not be able to deal with this truth, so the true nature of the deceased district attorney can never be revealed. The state – in the symbolic form of Harvey Dent – must be worshipped despite not being worthy of such worship. Batman knows the truth about Dent but convinces Commissioner Gordon to perpetuate the Noble Lie. Batman possesses Platonic esoteric wisdom that enables him to decide what the people can and cannot deal with. The people cannot handle the truth. 

Batman also convinces the leadership of Gotham City to exploit the false icon of Dent as a way to take away Fourth Amendment protections. This is made clear by how many crooks are locked up at Blackgate Prison and how they would not be in prison were it not for the “Dent Act.” With all of the police powers already in place, what more could the police possibly get unless it is some kind of violation of the Fourth Amendment?

But at least the masses have their bread and circuses to occupy their little minds. The nameless faceless masses get to enjoy a football game. Until the terrorist blows the game up.

4. Torture is good.

There is nothing that Neoconservatives love more than torture – except maybe oil, Strauss, and Trotsky. The Dark Knight features a scene where Batman employs “enhanced interrogation” on the Joker. Batman begins a police interrogation of the Joker by slamming his head against a table. The costumed “hero” then proceeds to slam the suspect against a wall, onto a table, and then punches him like an even more mentally deranged version of Jack Bauer.  

The Dark Knight Rises opens with a CIA goon torturing terrorist suspects on an airplane by holding a gun to their heads and threatening to shoot them and throw them out of the plane if they do not tell him what he wants to know. These acts of torture are not presented ambiguously. They are presented as if there is no question about whether or not they are appropriate. 

Batman also beats Bane mercilessly in order to try to find the trigger for the nuclear device. In the world of Neoconservatives, there is always some ticking time bomb somewhere and the only way to find it is to torture someone. Jack Bauer had “WHERE IS THE BOMB?” and Bruce Wayne has “WHERE IS THE TRIGGER?”

5. There are terrorists everywhere.

Neoconservatives see terrorists everywhere. Al Qaeda may be hiding in your closet or under your bed. They are more paranoid about terrorists than McCarthy was about Commies. Sure enough, in The Dark Knight Rises they are everywhere – even on Bruce Wayne’s board of directors! These terrorists must be feared or they will “follow you home” and take over your city. And they do. Bane quickly takes over Gotham City. These terrorists want to blow everything up. And they do. Bane blows up the field at a pro football game in Gotham City. The wicked and weak masses are simply never safe from terrorism. Neoconservatives have an unhealthy fetish with small portable nuclear devices. And what does Bane have? A portable nuclear device! At least Batman never utters “they hate us for our freedom” during the incredibly long running time of the film.

6. Folks from the Middle East are scary.

Where are the villains of The Dark Knight Rises from? Oh yes. The Middle East. Damned A-rabs! Racism much?

7. Oil is king.

Neoconservatives hate Arabs but love what is beneath Arab lands. They love oil so much that a video of Leo Strauss slathering oil over his naked body would be their favorite pornography. There could not possibly be any viable alternative to petroleum. Of course not. Nuclear fusion will get into the hands of terrorists, so we must continue to use oil.

On top of its Neoconservatism, The Dark Knight Rises also sprinkles on a layer of Economic Royalism – greed masquerading as Objectivism.

1. The wealthy are always good – especially when they have inherited that wealth and not created it.

Bruce Wayne/Batman was the first of many nepotite playboy superheroes. He is wealthy and inherited it, ergo he is good. Wealthy individuals who were born poor and created their wealth through hard work are always suspect. As with Lex Luthor in the Superman mythos or Justin Hammer in Iron Man 2, Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul is suspect for having been born into poverty and having worked her way to the top. The nouveau riche are evil!

2. The poor are envious of the wealthy and will eat them if given the chance.

As mentioned, the poor masses of Gotham City immediately begin to loot the homes of the wealthy when given the chance. They also seem to enjoy the Marxist-style “show trials” and executions of the upper class members of Gotham society.

3. Opposing coporatism = Marxism.

Bane’s pseudo Occupy Wall Street movement is presented as Marxist. He stokes the fires of “class warfare” by saying that the wealthy are “corrupt” and keep down the poor with “myths of opportunity.” He claims that he will give Gotham “back to you the people.” He promises that “the powerful will be ripped from their decadent nests and cast out into the cold world that we know and endure.” The truth is that if Gotham City is akin to New York City, then many of those who face trial in Jonathan Crane’s kangaroo court are probably bankers. Maybe they do deserve their fate more than Nolan will admit. Nevertheless, Nolan’s presentation of Bane’s message as a buffoonish caricature of Marxism is cynical. Also notice that the analogy he creates is that Occupy Wall Street and those like it are really just “astroturf” movements backed by evil terrorists. Apparently, the choice is either corporatism or Marxist terrorism. Free markets are not an option. 

 

4. Orphanages are good.

Economic Royalists love orphanages. They fetishize them almost as much as Neoconservatives fetishize oil and torture. Who can forget twerpy Newt Gingrich talking about orphanages in 1994? How fitting is it that the Wayne Manor becomes an orphanage at the end of the film? Hopefully none of those urchins will ever grow up to be self-made entrepreneurs. If they do, some nepotite playboy superhero will likely have to take him or her out.

In closing, I must wonder if America will ever produce and market a libertarian superhero like V from England’s V for Vendetta. Batman is a Neoconservative. Superman is a “traditionalist.” Iron Man is an Economic Royalist whose company is part of the Military-Industrial Complex. Spiderman is a guilty white liberal. When will someone bring Captain Liberty or Freedom-man to life in comics or on the silver screen?