“The Dark Knight” and the Joker as religious metaphors. July 20, 2008.

7 Responses to ““The Dark Knight” and the Joker as religious metaphors. July 20, 2008.”

1. Ashton on July 20th, 2008 10:24 pm

   Hey J.R.,

   I read a lot of blogs, but don’t like commenting; but I find this an interesting thing. I would tell you first that I saw the Dark Knight at the Thursday night showing. The pastor appears to have an interesting point, but the purpose of the movie is the epic movie about good and evil. The Joker reflects the chaos can be caused and I don’t believe that the makers of the movie were trying to romanticize his actions. If you look at the 1989 movie, the Joker was a romantic figure that people loved. It is even difficult to write about here because the Joker, Batman and everyone are very complex characters in the movie.

   The Joker in this movie finds it funny to hurt people, ruin lives and finds humor in suffering. But it’s not so cut and dry as a biblical reference. I don’t think the people who like the Joker would have left the movie saying “yeah! I want to be the Joker”. Let us not confuse ourselves, he is a villain and people certainly love to hate him, as opposed to the Nicholson Joker (they are very different characters.

   I think a lot of the rave comes from the praise of Heath Ledger’s performance (I find it to be the best I’ve seen in a long, long time). To be sure, you’re rooting for Batman in the end. But if we were to accept the premise that the pastor states, then it would also reflect on the Norman Bates, Hannibal Lectures etc etc.. We must remember that The Dark Knight is fiction, and an adaptation from something written 50+ years ago. I don’t think it’s fair to try and compare it biblically (though I like his analogy).

   I would not call the Joker’s actions in this movie “meaningless”. There is definitely a goal the Joker is trying to reach (which I won’t reveal here), but it is very evident. If and when the good pastor would go see the movie, his sermon will be very different though.

   Great movie, I HIGHLY recommend going to see it. Great action, good meaning and will leave you wanting more.

   cheers!

2. The Squeaky Wheel on July 20th, 2008 11:22 pm

   Or it could just be a kick ass movie truer to the original Dark Knight comic… nah.

   

3. J.R. on July 21st, 2008 11:19 am

   Ashton,
   I appreciate your comment and wish you would more. There are some who comment here frequently who are not nearly as thoughtful and lend very little to the conversation.

   I would ask that you listen to the podcast again, because I think there were some misconceptions.

   First, pastor is comparing the Joker to the devil and how the devil effectively feels that human life is irrelevant or is here to serve his own purposes. I think that fits very nicely with how I have heard Ledger’s “Joker” being characterized.

   Second, pastor didn’t call the Joker’s actions meaningless, he said that the devil believes that human life is meaningless and attempts to deceive us into thinking that it is, when in fact, Jesus, has conquered that line of thinking through his death and resurrection.

   Jesus’ conquering of the devil was not a joke in the sense that it takes away any thoughts of our lives being meaningless and gives us a real sense of purpose.

   I plan on seeing the movie Tuesday and am really looking forward to it.

   I still think the metaphor works. Good v. Evil has been an on-going source for fiction, art, literature and the human experience since, well, the beginning! This is just another way it’s been depicted, and it offered an excellent avenue for pastor to preach the glory of Jesus Christ.

4. Duck on July 21st, 2008 1:05 pm

   Let me qualify my response. I am an avid comic collector, a Batman fanatic and a Christian. I believe as Stan Lee has said that comic books are our modern day myths.

   Batman is without a doubt a Jesus figure. He is greatly misunderstood, he values human life and he is willing to sacrifice his life for others. Bruce Wayne gave up a “normal life” to fight crime as the Batman. The tragedy of Bruce Wayne is he does not have a life, he plays at being a playboy billionaire to protect his real identify. And Batman risks his life every night to protect his people.

   The Joker is without a doubt a picture of Satan. He is a deceiver. He wins people to his cause through fear and psychological manipulation. He says whatever he needs to say to get someone to do what he wants.

   Joker, an agent of Chaos (not to be confused with KAOS, different movie), has a plan with is not immediately apparent, and all of his apparently random actions work toward implementing that plan. The Joker encourages us to be selfish and to give in to our baser desires. If that is not a picture of Satan, I don’t know what is.

   What is great about Ledger’s performance—while great, I don’t think it lives up to the hype—is he shows how stupid we are when we act selfishly. But like real life, we often don’t realize until it is too late what the consequences of our ill advised actions are.

   I believe comic book artists and now Hollywood did base Ledger’s Joker on Satan. The Bible and ancient myths are deep in meaning. Any writer who ignores the Bible and/or ancient myths is poorer for his/her refusal to mine these sources for great themes/ideas.

5. Dan on July 22nd, 2008 3:19 am

   I think Batman represents President Bush. The joker and his mob represent terrorists. The cast is full of dems and republicans. The world is full of tragedy and collateral damage. Though some people are inherantly bad, most are basically good, many or most dont understand or appreciate the war against terror. Consequently, the war on terror is going to last a long time

6. Duck on July 28th, 2008 12:39 pm

   J.R.

   Let us know what you thought of “Dark Knight.”

7. DCH on August 1st, 2008 10:31 am

   fascinating, JR — I am looking forward to seeing the movie myself. It’s getting great reviews from everyone - including my friends who have seen it.

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