As my colleague Christian Toto points out in his superb “Dark Knight Rises” review, as he did with “The Dark Knight,” Christopher Nolan has created another super super-hero saga using the kind of conservative themes that most of artistically bankrupt Hollywood refuses to go near anymore.
“The Dark Knight” was an obvious thank you to George W. Bush for agreeing to take the slings and arrows required to fight against an evil that “just wants to watch the world burn,” and according to Toto, “Rises” is another soon-to-be monster hit that will make the left, the media, Barack Obama and the cretins of Occupy Wall Street squirm:
“The Dark Knight Rises,” the third and final installment in director Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, pushes the ideological envelope even further that before. It’s impossible not to feel Nolan’s disgust at Occupy Wall Street, a movement the film paints as both incoherent and violent courtesy of a class warfare villain armed with nuclear weaponry. …
“Rises” never mentions the 99 percent or other overt Occupy Wall Street slogans. But Nolan clearly summons the spirit of the ragtag movement with a propensity for violence. Bane’s henchmen literally attack Wall Street, savagely beat the rich and promise the good people of Gotham that “tomorrow, you claim what is rightfully yours.” The Catwoman’s gal pal (Juno Temple) assures her at one point, when they enter a swanky abode, that “this is everyone’s home” now, in perfect Communist fashion.
We haven’t even mentioned how Bruce loses a good chunk of his fortune by investing in a failed clean energy program.
In response to what will surely be the biggest pop culture event of the year, the disgraced Occupy Wall Street crowd is already attempting damage control:
“I’m glad that themes about wealth inequality and class conflict have entered into the zeitgeist of popular culture,” he writes. “In this case, however, I would rather see that these themes in The Dark Knight Rises remain free of any association with the Occupy Movement … They in no way resemble the comparatively impoverished, peace-seeking protesters who armed themselves with signs, sleeping bags, tents, and iPhones at best in their attempts to fight for social justice.”
The Huffington Post is pushing this narrative, as well.
This approach from the left is completely different from what we saw with 2008’s “The Dark Knight,” when a number of knee-jerk critics claimed at first that the film was actually liberal — a criticism of Bush. But after it became obvious it was just the opposite, suddenly all the Oscar/masterpiece talk stopped, and what we all knew as the best picture of that year didn’t even win a Best Picture nomination — though a lot of crap did.
This time, it seems, the left is going to attempt damage control by hollering to the Heavens, “No, no, we’re not the villains!”
Except you are the villains and you’ve always been the villains, and when a film like “The Dark Knight” or “the Dark Knight Rises” or “Iron Man” points to you and calls you by name, the money rolls in and the artistry stops being bankrupt.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC