With all the DKR info coming in lately, I took the opportunity to watch TDK again. The movie just gets better and better with each viewing.
My wife and I got into a discussion about who "won" - the Batman, the Joker, or the City of Gotham.
At face value, it would appear that Batman won. Bus hostages and ferry passengers saved, and the Joker captured. In the big picture, even with Rachel and Harvey dead, still a net win.
But did the Joker really "lose"? Even though his bus/ferry plan failed, he still successfully corrupted Harvey, "the best of us". Batman and Gordon had no recourse but to lie to the public about Harvey because they knew that the Joker's success would push the city over the edge. That doesn't negate the Joker's underlying success in turning "Gotham's white knight" into a murderer?
Or can you say that Gotham won, with its faith rewarded and its white knight fallen but uncorrupted, proving there are still ordinary heroes to be had in the city? Then again, given that this belief is all based on a lie, is it more accurate to say that Gotham only thinks it won?
And that brings me back full circle. With all that having been said, did Batman nonetheless win, given that his city is, for now, still in one piece? Isn't that all that really matters (to him, at least)?
My wife and I got into a discussion about who "won" - the Batman, the Joker, or the City of Gotham.
At face value, it would appear that Batman won. Bus hostages and ferry passengers saved, and the Joker captured. In the big picture, even with Rachel and Harvey dead, still a net win.
But did the Joker really "lose"? Even though his bus/ferry plan failed, he still successfully corrupted Harvey, "the best of us". Batman and Gordon had no recourse but to lie to the public about Harvey because they knew that the Joker's success would push the city over the edge. That doesn't negate the Joker's underlying success in turning "Gotham's white knight" into a murderer?
Or can you say that Gotham won, with its faith rewarded and its white knight fallen but uncorrupted, proving there are still ordinary heroes to be had in the city? Then again, given that this belief is all based on a lie, is it more accurate to say that Gotham only thinks it won?
And that brings me back full circle. With all that having been said, did Batman nonetheless win, given that his city is, for now, still in one piece? Isn't that all that really matters (to him, at least)?
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