{"id":2170,"date":"2012-07-20T13:03:19","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T17:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/?p=2170"},"modified":"2012-07-20T13:03:19","modified_gmt":"2012-07-20T17:03:19","slug":"is-batman-to-blame-for-the-colorado-cinema-slaying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2012\/07\/20\/is-batman-to-blame-for-the-colorado-cinema-slaying\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Batman to Blame for the Colorado Cinema Slaying?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You\u2019ve probably heard by now of the mass murder at a Colorado cinema showing \u201cThe Dark Knight Rises\u201d that has left at least 13 people dead and 38 injured. \u00a0The gunman, reportedly clad in a black flak jacket and gas mask, entered the theater through the exit door, tossed out one or two canisters that exploded and emitted some kind of gas, and opened fire on the moviegoers. \u00a0Twenty-five miles from Columbine, the moral monster (I will not use his name) gunned down those who tried to flee, and after police apprehended him in the parking lot he revealed that he had thoroughly booby trapped<\/a> his apartment with explosives.<\/p>\n

The madman staged a movie scene and cast himself in the role of super-villain. \u00a0Like several of the villains in the Batman franchise \u2014 The Joker and Bain immediately come to mind \u2014 he created havoc for the hell of it, chaos for its own sake. \u00a0Local news stories<\/a> are reporting that he is a drop-out former medical school student. \u00a0Some media entities are already dropping their coverage of The Dark Knight Rises, and Warner Brothers canceled<\/a> tonight\u2019s Paris premiere. \u00a0So what do you think? \u00a0Are the filmmakers in any way responsible for this? \u00a0Is Batman to blame for the killings in Colorado?<\/strong><\/p>\n

First, before we go any further, we should note that this is not merely more grist for the mill of blogging and commentary. \u00a0Lives have been lost, and we mourn with the families, we pray for those who are clinging to life, and we are thankful for policeman and firemen and doctors and everyone who responded with bravery and service. \u00a0More details will emerge that will shape how this conversation unfolds, but it\u2019s an important conversation. \u00a0In many ways, from the best reviews I have read (here<\/a> and here<\/a>), this film, like others in Christopher Nolan\u2019s hugely successful but ill-fated (remember Heath Ledger?) Dark Knight trilogy, raises potent questions about violence, class envy, the struggle to see order prevail over chaos, and the danger of giving violent outlet to our resentments and jealousies and hatreds as old as time.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The Dark Knight<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So this is not a theoretical question. \u00a0The sources of violence, the whence of the forces of evil and destruction and social disintegration, are not questions the Dark Knight series takes lightly. \u00a0Christopher Nolan has long been one of my favorite directors in the industry today because he creates movies on a vast and epic canvas, movies that are entertaining and engaging and awe-inspiring, and yet movies that deal with enormous questions. \u00a0Yet there\u2019s also no question that the villains, though presented as evil, are highly stylized. \u00a0What Heath Ledger\u2019s Joker did with a pencil in the second movie in the trilogy was meant to be impressive, even \u201ccool\u201d in a sense.<\/p>\n

For too long, we\u2019ve been dismissive of the notion that entertainment shapes attitudes and attitudes shape behavior. \u00a0Even as news broke of the slaying in Colorado, I was preparing to write about a recently-released study<\/a> on how watching sexual promiscuity on television leads teens to greater sexual promiscuity in real life. \u00a0Conducted by researchers from Dartmouth College, the study found, in the words of Dr Ross O\u2019Hara, that \u201cAdolescents who are exposed to sexual content in movies start having sex at younger ages, have more sexual partners, and are less likely to use condoms with sexual partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

To which I must add:\u00a0<\/em>OF COURSE. \u00a0Of course\u00a0<\/em>they do. \u00a0Anyone who refuses to acknowledge that constant bombardment with sexual imagery will shape your actual behavior is in deep denial. \u00a0Anyone who refuses to acknowledge that constant exposure to forms of entertainment that glorify violence and glorify the people who commit violence will tend to produce more violence is, again, in deep denial.<\/p>\n

We want to think that people are capable of distinguishing between the gleaming world of entertainment and the gritty world of our everyday reality, between a fantasy world where we can imagine and explore vicariously our sexual and violent impulses, and a real world where we will keep those impulses firmly in check. \u00a0The truth is, the celluloid membrane between these worlds is porous, perhaps increasingly so. \u00a0The more we reside in virtual worlds, the more constantly we are enveloped in worlds thrust forcefully upon our imagination and our sensibilities, the more difficult it may become to distinguish between what is appropriate in the world of pixels and what is appropriate in the world of flesh and bone.<\/p>\n

That our forms of entertainment can shape our behavior should be obvious \u2014 and yet this general principle does not mean in this specific case\u00a0<\/em>that Christopher Nolan or the Dark Knight series are guilty. \u00a0Here are several questions to ask:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Does the film keep a firm grasp on right and wrong, good versus evil, hero versus villain?<\/em><\/strong> \u00a0In this case, the answer is yes. \u00a0The Joker tells Batman that they are eternally linked, but only as opposites. \u00a0Batman stands for order and noble self-sacrifice, while the Joker stands for disorder, murder and theft. \u00a0While the films are willing to explore the complexities in these areas, Batman\u2019s actions, and the actions of Joker or Bane, are not made into moral equivalents. \u00a0There are countless movies out there with a much more questionable moral compass.<\/li>\n
  2. Does the film promote a morally indiscriminate violence?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>I say \u201cmorally indiscriminate\u201d here because not all violence is equal. \u00a0It\u2019s one thing to promote or glorify violence against children, or innocent bystanders, or against anyone and everyone \u2014 and another to glorify violence performed in defense of the innocent. \u00a0Again, the answer here for the Dark Knight trilogy is no. \u00a0Batman himself is a vigilante, but he goes to great lengths to protect the innocent, to do violence only to those in the commission of evil acts, and for the most part he does not kill them but disables them and leaves them for the police. \u00a0That\u2019s pretty tame.<\/li>\n
  3. <\/strong>Does the film glorify those who commit morally indiscriminate violence? \u00a0<\/strong><\/em>This is a tougher question to answer. \u00a0We want cooler and cooler villains, people who are more impressive and more inventive in the terrible things they do. \u00a0Ra\u2019s al Ghul in the first film (played by Liam Neeson) was slick and intelligent, filled with a kind of Taoist \u201cwisdom\u201d and mystery. \u00a0The Joker was an awesome villain. \u00a0Bane is profoundly impressive in his own way. \u00a0In the end, however, I would again answer no, because all three were thoroughly repudiated. \u00a0They are not only defeated, but they were shown to be animated by a false vision, false \u201ctruths\u201d and false values.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I admit that I still struggle with the answer to #3. \u00a0When we make wreaking havoc \u2014 even murderous havoc \u2014 such fun to watch, is that a problem? \u00a0When we show a rock-em, sock-em shoot-up on Wall Street, will someone out there be inspired to give it a shot? \u00a0And are the makers of such entertainment responsible if they do?<\/p>\n

    If they were actively promoting violence, then I would say yes. \u00a0Not because the madman is not fully responsible for his actions, but because we are\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>responsible for our<\/em> actions and if we promote violence then we bear some responsibility for the result. \u00a0But if the filmmaker takes a clear stance against evil and against the kind of violence that tears a society asunder \u2014 and the Dark Knight trilogy inspires me\u00a0<\/em>to stand against injustice and for<\/em> the good of my fellow man \u2014 yet someone out there is still inspired to do precisely what is condemned, then the responsibility rests entirely on the madman.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    You\u2019ve probably heard by now of the mass murder at a Colorado cinema showing \u201cThe Dark Knight Rises\u201d that has left at least 13 people dead and 38 injured. \u00a0The gunman, reportedly clad in a black flak jacket and gas mask, entered the theater through the exit door, tossed out one or two canisters that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movies"],"yoast_head":"\nIs Batman to Blame for the Colorado Cinema Slaying? - Philosophical Fragments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You've probably heard by now of the mass murder at a Colorado cinema showing "The Dark Knight Rises" that has left at least 13 people dead and 38 injured.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/philosophicalfragments\/2012\/07\/20\/is-batman-to-blame-for-the-colorado-cinema-slaying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is Batman to Blame for the Colorado Cinema Slaying? 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