Dark Knight, The Meanings

Submitted by: oxyvbverkle
Added: 2009-11-09 23:34:11     Rating:

In the Dark Knight; Batman, Harvey Dent, the police chief, the judge, the mayor, and Rachel are all persecuted in the movie for taking a stand against crime. Which proposes the idea that people will be ostricized for doing what is right. However, throughout the movie and especially at the end, the Joker threatens the town unless they turn over Batman. Rather than turn against the joker, everyone turns against Batman. If everyone would have chosen to stand against crime, Gotham would be cleaned of crime. Likewise, on the ferries, when neither boat chooses to press the detonator nothing bad happens, because they made the morally correct choice. Thus, the greater theme is united we stand, divided we fall.

The Dark Knight was largely based upon two of the Batman graphic novels. The main plot line was taken from "The Long Halloween" which in its barest form is the origin story for Harvey "Two-face" Dent.

It also chronicles Batman and the GPD's struggle against Organized Crime. It also where Bats goes from fighting the average mob enforcers and what not to full-fledged super-villians.

The other contributing factor was the graphic novel "The Killing Joke" in which the Joker sets about trying to illustrate his point that, after one bad day even the most upstanding citizen will snap and be just as crazy as he and the Batman. In it, it is theorized that both the Batman and the Joker are essentially the same, insofar that both of them had "one bad day" though they dealt with their tragedy differently. Batman took comfort and solace in order and justice, while the Joker sees it all as futile and chaotic.

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