Posted by: ultraguy | July 28, 2008

Batman is Bush (WITH SPOILERS)

SPOILER ALERT…

 

 

 

 

OK, so I’m sitting here in a hotel room in Omaha, waiting to fly back home tomorrow after a whirlwind tour, the highlight of which was watching my kid compete against national-class athletes the same age, which I guess makes her one as well, ‘cuz she sure didn’t finish last (far from it). So, to celebrate, we went to see Dark Knight last night. (For those living in a cave the last few weeks that would be the latest Batman movie.)

I don’t normally go in for such things, being — mostly — a non-fiction kind of guy (though the novel still inches along, page by torturous page and I just ate up a signed copy of Andre Dubus III’s latest, The Garden of Last Days, an acquired taste but I loved it, but that’s a whole ‘nother story).

I was expecting to be totally underwhelmed by Dark Knight, given that all the critics and kids are saying it’s a phenomenal flick and that’s usually a good indicator I’ll hate it but, well…. I was absolutely blown away. The filmmakers deserve every last penny. They’ve captured the global zeitgeist without being heavy-handed or trite about it (no mean feat). AND it’s fun to watch. Triply difficult.

Now here comes the real spoiler.

Batman is George W. Bush. I really wish I could say I’d thought of this, say, last Friday before the Wall Street Journal went to press… but I didn’t and so anyone can accuse me of just riding their coattails, but then good ideas have a way of springing up in multiple places. Honestly, I was off-grid news-wise from Friday morning until today and my first thought, before the movie was even over (but not too many minutes before) was…

Could it be? Did they really intend that? But how can it not be? It’s so obvious!! It all fits together perfectly with that match-up.

And then, today, I turn on my rental car radio and they’re talking about the parallels even on the cheap, silly stations. Without the time to fully dissect it, all I can say is: there’s something remarkable going on when a movie grosses that much by making a hero out of a close-fit George Bush character that everyone loves to hate… but then, that’s how the movie ends too. (Hey, I warned you it was a spoiler.)

Hot tip: it’s worth seeing anyway. I’m already pining to see it a second time.

Posted in good writers, media, movies, people, personal, pop culture

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Responses

  1. [...] smiling; engaging; smooth; funny; the life of the party (until it ends); he’s a joker; he’s even been The Joker. Ever wonder why Heath Ledger couldn’t sleep after filming Dark Knight? Why he effectively ended [...]

    By: Ron Reese (17 July 2009) “Did the Revealing of the Antichrist take place in Ghana on July 11th???” « Twelve Books on July 17, 2009
    at 1:44 pm

  2. [...] smiling; engaging; smooth; funny; the life of the party (until it ends); he’s a joker; he’s even been The Joker. Ever wonder why Heath Ledger couldn’t sleep after filming Dark Knight? Why he effectively [...]

    By: It’s Him « New Wineskins on July 13, 2009
    at 10:25 am

  3. [...] levels of intensity and on wildly different scales), does bad things for purely selfish, even nihilistic reasons, sometimes even with a sick, entertainment-like component and furthermore that those bad things inevitably affect other people. We call it sin and it’s [...]

    By: The Root of Evil? How About… Evil? « New Wineskins on November 12, 2008
    at 9:36 am

  4. I loved Iron Man because Tony Stark was a geek in Hero’s clothes;
    I admire Batman because he stands strong, where he is needed, no matter what.

    By: Foxfier on July 28, 2008
    at 11:12 pm


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