The Dark Knight Rises

Ever see a movie and have it stick with you for a while? Forcing you to think about things that are so deep it freaks you out?


Well, a lot of movies do that too me.

For example, The Dark Knight Rises did that to me most recently. Especially in light of the horrific events that occurred in Aurora, Colorado at the midnight showing.

But the movie itself... it really stuck with me... is still with me, really, even a week after seeing it, I keep just thinking.


I keep thinking about how some people out there, I'm sure more than I think exist, just want to cause chaos, hurt others, and are essentially just not good people. It's truly terrifying. Why wouldn't someone just want peace and happiness for everyone in the world? In the second film, Alfred said "some people just want to watch the world burn," and I wanted so badly not to believe it.


But there truly are people like that. People who want to get rid of the order and go with chaos. It's hard to comprehend why, a bitter pill that's hard to swallow. And I think the question we all ask is: WHY? 


Rarely are we ever given an answer from people like this that satisfy us.


This also brings up the point of the shooter in Colorado, James Holmes. He called himself the Joker, an agent of chaos, and if you saw him in court yesterday, you saw his orange hair and detachment to the events around him. I think he is one of those people, the one's that want to watch it burn. What other explanation does he have for his actions? Why did he choose the Joker as his moniker? Again, WHY WHY WHY. 


While watching the Dark Knight Rises, I also realized my own sensitivity to violence and others' desensitization to it. When Batman and Bane get into the battle when Catwoman sets him up in the tunnels, I actually had to look away from the screen. I actually could not stomach watching someone get so viciously beaten.

I always thought I was rather desensitized; I generally had no problem with gun or sword fights, but I just could not watch this scene. It was so brutal, so unapologetic in its manifestation of violence, that I could not handle it. But my friends, the four other people that I saw the movie with, all seemed fine. As I cringed and turned away, they laughed at my discomfort and watched the entire scene without flinching. I still don't understand how people watched that scene completely. Perhaps they lack empathy? Or perhaps I just have too much? Or maybe they just really are desensitized to violence that when they see true brutality, they don't even flinch away from it.


I don't know. This is very rambley, but the beauty of film as is the beauty with literature is that it gets you thinking.


I loved the Dark Knight Rises. I thought it was absolutely brilliant, beautiful, interesting, and fitting for the ending of such a fantastic trilogy, and I wish its memory wasn't marred by the horrific events that occurred in Colorado. 


However, its memory is marred. It will be remembered for its greatness just as much as it will be remembered for the horror. But I hope people still see it; I know they will, who can stay away? I hope they think about what they're watching as more than just entertainment. I hope they see the messages of John Blake and Batman and Alfred and Commissioner Gordon just as much as I hope they see the folly in Miranda Tate and Bane. I hope people think about it just as much as I have and remember it because it truly is great.


Thanks Christopher Nolan for making something that portrayed as much of the good in the world as it did the bad.