The Dark Knight was the major sequel to Batman Begins. Aside
from being a box office hit and my personal favorite of the two films, it also
unintentionally (i.e. I don't actually think the writers had these ideas in
mind) raises the most important ethical questions of the postmodern world. With
the Batman already established as the "dark knight" of Gotham city,
he represents the reasonless a la carte deontology that so many in our
world believe in. As his foil we are presented with the Joker, a villain whose
only goal is to "just DO things."
For me, the most memorable moment of the film is in the hospital when he
lays out his thought or lack thereof:
"I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if a caught it. I just DO things. I'm just the wrench in the gears. I hate plans ... So when I say that you and your girlfriend was nothing personal, you know I'm telling the truth ... I just did what I do best. I took your little plan and I turned it on itself ... You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan". But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds!"
But the closest equivalent we have from Batman is essentially, "This
city just showed you that it's full of people ready to believe in good."
The Batman spends a long time professing the goodness of good, but never defines
his terms. Ordinarily, there is a general standard the vast majority of people
hold to that is sufficient for superheroes to adhere to and defend. Lex Luther
wants to overthrow life and liberty, Superman wants to stop this, and no one
questions who's on the right side. The problem that Bruce Wayne runs into in
the Dark Knight is that the Joker is not presenting himself as evil.
Most villains have no reservations as to the moral character of their actions,
but the Joker is questioning the existence of good itself. He puts himself beyond
good and evil (This is me using extremely subtle foreshadowing). This
characterizes the natural end of the post-enlightenment discussion on ethics as
laid out by Alasdair MacIntyre in After Virtue. Gordon and Harvey Dent
both work for justice deliberately within the established legal system. Batman
is said to have only one rule: He will not kill anyone. The Joker only asks
why. From a Catholic perspective we can answer these questions from a
teleological perspective, but the modern and postmodern world has lost the
ability to see this.
More importantly, the postmodern man has no way to respond to the Joker's
"argument." Because they have lost the idea of teleology and reduce morality to a question of pure rationality, such as Kant's categorical imperative, modern attempts to define right and wrong actually become
arbitrary likes and dislikes. MacIntyre refers to this as emotivism. Morality coming only
from within ourselves based on emotional responses to actions. Try as he might,
the postmodern man cannot say any particular action is good or bad, and if he
does he is only expressing that the actions make him feel positive or negative
emotions. It is the Joker who recognizes the Nietzchien end of the destruction
of classical ethics. Walking away from The
Dark Knight should leave you unsatisfied. (intellectually, that is) Yes, we know the Joker is evil
and it was right for Batman to stop him, but the Batman the movie portrays is
philosophically weak.
Moral arguments must always come down to some unprovable presupposition. For
Batman, it is simply that good is good because it is good (I am not claiming
this is circular). If we are to believe MacIntyre, we can test these
presuppositions by seeing how they rationally handle different moral
situations. As Catholics, we say that the teleological approach is best, but
that is for a different post. Batman's approach only comes off as arbitrary
when broken down. His presuppositions don't allow us to extrapolate any
universal moral oughts. Even though Batman wins and
"evil" is punished, we are left wondering if Batman wins for the sake
of the Good or for the sake of arbitrary control. As Catholics, we are left with
a way out of the real slippery slope toward the ethic-less Joker, but what of
the postmodern world that has lost the ideas of teleology?
Realistically, I believe that natural law is written on the hearts of men
and that we will never see a truly morally bankrupt society, but I can't help
but be bothered by the implications of relativistic ethics. It's not so much
that people hold ideas contrary to mine; it's that they either won't admit it
or they are internally consistent. I love The Dark Knight because I think it's the closest
we'll get to a simple demonstration of the conflict presented by After Virtue.
Also I just realized in writing this post that "Dark Knight" is a
pun. I'm quick on the uptake.
