Jul 20 2008
‘Batman: Dark Knight’ Review
On friday night I was lucky enough to get tickets to see the newest Batman film ‘Dark Knight’ which, I must say, was wonderful; if only for Heath Ledger’s brilliant portrayal of the Joker.
By my standards the movie is a must see because of Ledger. I was very suprised to see a Joker that I ended up believing in more than Jack Nicholson. What was most amazing is I couldn’t see Heath Ledger in the Joker, he plays such a strong role it is difficult to even recognize him. Although all id good in this movie I cannot emphasize enough how you should see it because of the Joker. It is a wonderful depiction.
So in short, it is definitely something you should see in the theaters, go check it out when you get the chance!
Now with my dry movie review aside, let us move onto the philosophical nature of the film. And as well what I found most interesting about it; the movie’s portrayal of morals.
Seemingly the Joker would have agreed with Nietzche’s following excerpt entitled ‘Morality makes stupid’:
Custom represents the experiences of men of earlier times as to what they supposed useful and harmful - but the sense for custom (morality) applies, not to these expereiences as such, but to the age, the sanctity, the indiscussability of the custom. And so this feeling is a hindrance to the aquisiton of new experiences and the correction of customs: that is to say, morality is a hindrance to the creation of new and better customs: morality makes stupid.
Found in Friedrick Nietzche’s ‘Daybreak’
Morality portrayed through the Jokers eyes is something that we hold onto for mere convience, and when it comes down to it morality means nothing. Through out the movie he tests his theory on society and is overall happy with the outcome I believe.
But is this really true? Is morality merely an endowment of the well off? Or does it as well extend to the less fortunate? These are questions I extend to you the reader.
For more information on ‘The Dark Knight’ you can find the official site here.
7 Responses to “‘Batman: Dark Knight’ Review”
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“Having said this, I think there are some universal moral truths, for want of a better word. The best known would be Confucius’ dictum: not do to others what you would not want done to yourself;”
I wouldn’t call that a truth…like all morality, it’s an agreement with others/society - don’t kill me and I won’t kill you. Morality is all about the consequences - you agree to live by society’s rules since the alternative is undesirable. If there are no consequences (total anarchy or fall of civilization) then there would be no morality, every man for himself. People abandon morals because they either think they won’t get caught or don’t care.
By the way Nate, if you want more of the Joker’s philosophy you should read “The Killing Joke” storyline - the Joker tries to prove a point, saying everyone is just “one bad day” away from becoming a villain.
Paul,
Why is empathy necessary? What about the moral code “might makes right”?
A moral code based on empathy might be “better” (more harmonious, less violent), but it doesn’t invalidate other codes. People (as a whole) will live how they want to live, and morals generally reflect that and change over time.
I think you may even be able to say empathy is necessary in terms of what the core definition of moral is. But perhaps that only adds to redundancy in the argument.
However empathy would in turn make morality true in terms of the consistency necessary for the belief.