Re-Post: The Dark Knight: A Blockbuster For Our Times.

A few weeks ago I saw The Dark Knight for a second time (in Imax, no less -- and totally worth it). Though I didn’t think so highly of it at first, it has really grown on me, like no popular movie has in a long time. I realized that it really is an epic fantasy of heroism for a post 9-11 world and I’m inspired to write about it.

There is an inchoate, but pervasive fear right now that the country is spinning out of control… and that its just going to get worse. We live with war, terrorism, corruption, environmental and economic decay. We’ve lost faith in government’s ability to conduct war, rescue its citizens from natural disasters, and prevent financial failure. Every year there is some new moral line that we feel we had to cross, lines such as torture and illegal surveillance. We’ve lost faith that the world is going to get better. It might feel like the only sane thing to do is look out for just yourself. What other option is there when fundamental certainties in life no longer seem so certain? The people out in the world still fighting the good fight, selflessly attempting to bring order against all odds are few and far between, fighting a holding action at best, or doomed to total failure at worst. Even General Petraeus has succeeded in Iraq beyond everyone’s expectations, but says that the gains are reversible and that he himself will never claim to have achieved victory.

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