My husband and I went out this weekend to catch Dark Knight, the latest Batman movie to hit the screens. In spite of the fact that it had, not only the typical suspend-your-disbelief fantasy movie moments, but also the oops-we-never-closed-that-loop sloppy production moments, the movie sucked me in and delivered on thrills like a good blockbuster action movie should.The movie was carried by Heath Ledger, whose performance as the Joker was terrifying. On the car ride home (where my husband and I deconstruct the movie) we talked about how comforting we both found routine, predictability and sameness in our lives and how terrifying unpredictability like the Joker's was. While we didn't encounter anyone in our own lives as dangerous and maniacal as the Joker, watching Heath Ledger somehow brought us both back to the powerlessness we felt in our lives as children: how we would try to find structure and rules for the craziness or rage we encountered, so that we could predict and avoid it. We cling to the structures we create to give us the illusion of control and avoid the terror of chaos, the terror of knowing that some people (people -- not machines or monsters or animals -- people) can and will hurt you and you may never understand why.
I also found a parallel in the movie between the pains of early recovery and the battles waged by District Attorney Harvey Dent and Police Commissioner Gordon resembled the pains of early recovery. Things, the movie kept telling you, get worse before they get better. Try to take down the mob bosses (or fight your personal demons or beat back the compulsions that have ruled your life) and those mob bosses (or demons) will fight back. They will not go quietly into that dark night. When you let them rule, there is a kind of peace. When you've found the tools to fight them and made some headway in restoring the rule of law, there is some peace. But in transition, in change, there is fear, violence and desperate struggle.
The thing that annoyed me most (that always annoys me) was the weak female protagonist. The character of Rachel Dawes was (presumably) the Assistant District Attorney of Gotham, but was defined throughout the movie by her relationship to Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne, and was referred to (even on the job, in court and by reporters) as "Harvey Dent's girlfriend." When Mark mused after the movie that he didn't understand her and that her role seemed dull and simplistic, I speculated that (like most female characters, in action movies or otherwise) she wasn't there to be an actual person, but was an object to move the plot forward: something for the men to fight over. Of course, the fact that she wasn't a fully fleshed out or real person made the actions she was supposed to forward nonsensical. (Note to writers: write your female characters as real, multi-faceted people, just like the men, and your work will benefit for it.)
And now I'll leave you with this: Dark Knight may have been a great adrenaline ride and given me lots (from childhood demons to portrayals of women) to think about, but Holy Recovery Nerddom, the Batman I love most will always be Adam West.
Now go pay the Discovering Alcoholic a visit and read his post mortem on the movie.
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