The Dark Knight Rises

The city of Gotham needs a hero- someone to protect its citizens and thwart evil-doers’ plans. In Frank Miller’s comic novel The Dark Knight Returns, a common theme of internal struggle saturates the underlying story behind the masked vigilante as he fights with the dark entity clinging to his soul. Perhaps the Joker is not the only enemy that Bruce Wayne has- are his good intentions hindered by the demon inside? Proceeding the brutal murder of his parents, Bruce Wayne’s shadow no longer holds the shape of a man but that of a monstrous creature. It is the ongoing battle between Bruce and Batman that contributes to a tantalizing story about crime fighting, justice, and finding one’s identity.

The main conflicts in the world of The Dark Knight Returns revolve around escalating crime in Gotham city and forces of the authority attempting to control it. The authority should be a moral force and represent justice. The figures that represent the authority should be selfless and work only to promote the integrity of law and order. Authority proves to be contradictory in Miller’s novel as the authoritative figures express qualities of vigilantism and overall moral ambiguity.

According to www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/47667_ch_7_&_8.pdf in Batman Begins we learn the story of Gotham City’s origins. Once a prominent and thriving metropolis, Gotham has slowly fallen into massive urban decay and corruption such as Psychological where Batman and other villains show their id, ego and superego, there were also white collar crimes where Rutger Hauer who plays Earle the CEO of Wayne Enterprise were involve in cooperate crime and there were also organized crime by Carmine Falcone. Such events have brought Gotham to the attention of the League of Shadows, a group focused on restoring order and balance to a world with conflict and disharmony. The League is willing to use extreme, even violent, measures to destroy the forces of disharmony in order to restore social structure. As

From the beginning it is overt that everyone is knowledgeable of his presence and distinguishes who he is, the citizens of Gotham glory him with applauses and cheers when ever he talks or simply walks in the room. When the Joker threatens to kill the people of Gotham if Batman doesn’t turn himself in and reveals his identity, Dent knows the the city needs Batman because Dent can only do so much such that he stands up to the citizens and tells them he is Batman. He looks up to Batman and if Batman were to turn himself in, Dent would have to do all protecting he knows he can’t do. Dent is powerful during the day when he has police, government officials, and the support of the people by his side but when he goes to bed he knows Gotham is at stake for ludicrous, his corrupt leadership is shown because he can’t be there to protect the people 24/7. He is considered the “ White Night” who comes along to save Gotham in front of the people during the day but the anarchy that occurs overnight is left to Batman, the “ Dark

Throughout “The Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan crime and deviance is seen throughout the film. Crime and deviance in The Dark Knight has two faces as society accepts crime for those whose are helping them and at the same time punishes those who are punished. Society in Gotham accepts crime when the Batman commits it to help for the betterment of society; however, crime is not accepted when it is committed by mob bosses, gangs, criminal cops, and most importantly through the joker. The forms of deviancy/crime which are seen throughout the film is the Labeling Approach, Human Rights Approach, and Human Diversity Approach.

Gotham City is one of the most well-known cities to DC comic book readers and to any super hero enthusiast. It is the home of the eminent millionaire Bruce Wayne, otherwise known as his alter ego the Batman. His mission is to rid the many criminals that preside over Gotham and to bring these tyrants to justice. As he says in the Dark Knight film, “I’m going to show the people of Gotham that the city doesn’t belong to the criminals and the corrupt.” In one scene, Wayne speaks to a woman and she asks him how anyone could possibly want to raise children in this horrid city; he responds that he grew up in Gotham and he turned out alright.

Rising in the late 1980s the ‘vigilante spirit’ as explain by Justin Mann was brought upon by the regularity of “crime and unending hostility” (Mann) that plagued the streets on New York. It was in this time graphic novelist Frank Miller sought to captivate his audience in a “more realistic” (Miller) representation of New York which was the model for Batman’s ‘Gotham City’. The vigilante spirit presented during this time coincided with a sense of “color-blind racism” (Alexander 2012; Bonilla Silva 2014) that was built on the fear of ‘white-city dwellers’ being vulnerable to minority crime. Frank Millers

Batman: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan is non-stop action thriller that continually did the unexpected. The film is based off of the original Batman comic book but additionally changes the perception of the everyday world as good to naturally bad. Throughout the movie, Batman stands for honesty and goodness while the Joker is a symbolism of chaos and evil. Both sides are forced to make quick-witted decisions in order to stop the opposing vigilante from doing his desired work. The citizens of Gotham are put in the heart of this circumstance and feel obligated to go against their values to stop the chaos. Numerous people habitually pursue their dreams and values but often become blinded from their

Batman is a character in the fictional DC Universe, whom without his secret identity goes by Bruce Wayne. He is famous for fighting crime, his intelligence, mastery over various skills and being Gotham City’s superhero. However, Batman wears a mask that hides his secret identity. Without the mask, as Bruce Wayne, he is a wealthy business man with a multi-billion dollar business. An individual such as this can be viewed as a perfect being with no flaws. However, analyzing Batman’s history and actions reveal a different story.

Over the years, Batman’s character had become a household name when discussing anti-heroes from the DC universe. Although not every comic book fan would consider him an anti-hero, people would still associate anger and broodiness when referring to the character of Bruce Wayne due to his apparent dark nature. Frank Miller’s the Dark Knight Returns had changed things; not just did it focus on Batman’s broody nature, but it had also expanded on the internal battles that had been the cause of the darkness and the reason for Batman’s questionable methods. Miller managed to bring needed humanity to Batman that had been missing in earlier ages. The qualities that made the Dark Knight more in touch with his humanity were; having his origin story trauma affect him until adulthood, experiencing internal psychological conflict, and possessing moral flaws.

In the film The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, he uses a philosophy or vision that is evident in not only this film, but in a multitude of his other films. Visual language features such as camera work and the concept of identity used in the Dark Knight to show this philosophy and his vision behind not only this film, but many of his other acclaimed film such as Memento, Batman Begins and Inception. When looking over Nolan’s films, one concept is prevalent throughout and that is the concept of identity. Whether it be Memento, Batman Begins or the Dark Knight, identity is at the forefront of Nolan’s philosophy and ideology, and he uses identity in many different ways to present a range of ideas to the audience. The identities of

Batman influences many people across the city. He is the icon for heroism and for protection. People want to be Batman. He inspires other vigilantes do fight their own battles in his name and image. Not one society and community can be pure when each man takes his own justice into their own hands. Batman has become a symbol of fraud, vigilance, and fear. The Joker doesn’t want to kill the Batman, because he will die as a martyr and his symbol will live on to be symbolize justice (Ledger and Bale). Joker wants to simply put an end to Batman and his overall influence and presence in Gotham City. On the other hand, Harvey Dent would serve as a more influential martyr for Gotham. He uses Dent as a representation of how quickly a hero can become a villain. Dent becomes scarred for life and loses Rachel in the explosion, to which Batman saved him, and not Rachel due to the Jokers information on their captivity locations. Joker makes Dent a villain, psychologically tearing him apart to the point he is mentally insane with hatred, vengeance, and punishment. The insanity of his actions leaves Batman no choice but to kill Harvey. Batman is pitted against his own code of the law he abides by. He abandons his own principles which leaves himself psychologically disoriented with his purpose (Bott). He becomes a villain. He kills Harvey Dent, the man with the future and vision of Gotham. Harvey dies a martyr, and leaves Batman as the vigilante he truly is. Batman is forced to flee Gotham and disappear (Chan) (Bott), leaving his legacy to fade across the city to become almost an urban legend for eight years of time till the time place of The Dark Knight Rises. Batman lived too long to die a hero, and became the villain

To take the initiative, as well as the motivation to pursue such an intense task to wipe a whole city from crime and corruption of higher power and authority is an extreme task to complete. For one man to carry such a burden and be able to accomplish such a task is impossible. In Gotham, the will to finish such a task rubs on to other law enforcers and civilians causing a positive chain reaction, the ripple gives more drive and increases the pride to strive on with the personal mission. Being put through the immense dangers, life threatening situations, and endangering love ones and still proceeding to cleanse such a corrupt system demonstrates the level of consistency men

On July 20, 2012 a few citizens of Aurora, Colorado were enjoying the midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” when eighteen minutes into the movie, twenty-four-year-old James Holmes came into the theater and started shooting people. He killed twelve people and wounded seventy. When the police arrived seven minutes later they arrested James, in the parking lot, who was heavily armed with guns, ammunition, and protective equipment. Police later went to James’s house and discovered his house was rigged with bombs. When James was brought to court he was charged with 24 counts of first degree murder, one hundred and forty counts of attempted first degree murder,

Weather it is how he is only needed when called upon or an emergency. Batman could be considered a terrorist in today’s society. However, there is a far cry from helping keep a group of citizens safe and putting their lives at risk on purpose. However, I do not believe that batman in this movie is considered by society definition today, a terrorist. Next, there is a quote from the moving stating, “Gotham needs a hero with a face” Although, batman does have a face it is just hid behind a mask. This quote relates to a specific individual in which the people see face to face they can consider as their hero. In this movie, I believe that Harvey Dent is considered the “hero with a face” after the situation in the movie where he took down the whole mob in Gotham. Money in the government does not always dictate power in this movie. However, Bruce Wayne is very wealthy but that does not affect his power with the city of Gotham. With this being said, if you have a lot of money you are entitled to power within a government because of how far one’s money can reach. Next, the question about batman is who or what group does batman represent today. I believe batman would represent the navy seals. For example, they are called up for missions around the world that police forces cannot handle. They are there in a moment’s notice when the government is failing, and the