The Dark Knight Rises

[AFlickering]

call it reductive, populist, broad-brush, self-important, pretentious, naive, absurd if you must, but its entire point is that your idealism, your whole civilisation is inextricably founded on those very traits. it points out that, unless you're the most nihilistic of nihilists (a real-life joker), then holding others in scorn for being taken in by this trilogy's melodrama (and its ludicrously, knowingly idyllic ending) is, well, hypocritical. it slips away from the obvious criticisms by anticipating them; without telling ourselves a few lies now and then, without holding up a few masks as sacred, we'd truly be beyond saving. and though few of us will admit it, we envy those who are most capable of such self-deception. film criticism, of the scornful variety and perhaps of any variety, is a release of jealousy towards every single person who walks through life more undiscerning than we, capable of convincing themselves of the reality of things that we see right through.

i wrote a few years back about how 'the dark knight' seemed afraid of its own truths; afraid of the fact that the joker felt like the most vital, the most real part of that film. i meant this as a compliment; the hysterical fear that accompanied its own cynicism was what made it a classic. i wonder now if bruce wayne was a surrogate for chris nolan all along; whether he has written this trilogy of films to be our equivalent of gotham's batman; he never took the leaps of faith that he asks his audience to take, and he may well be sitting in his house bearded and alone and wallowing in despair, but none of that matters so long as WE believe, so long as OUR moral outrage, our hope, is reaffirmed. i wonder if nolan, much like many of my friends who pour their vitriol all over this trilogy and comic book movies in general, is constantly struggling with the popularity of his work, itching to reveal the despairing truth (life, well.... it just ain't a comic book, my friends, and no superhero is coming to save us) just as commissioner gordon itched to read out his speech to the masses. hell, it might explain why inception felt so devoid of heart and soul...

[theficionado]

very nice