Occupy Gotham City

What the Dark Night Rises says about violence, morality and people's power

By Slavoj Žižek

The Dark Knight Rises attests yet again to how Hollywood blockbusters are precise indicators of the ideological predicament of our society. Though Rush Limbaugh and other right-wing commentators have criticized the film for naming its villain Bane&mdash [RETURN TO ARTICLE]

  • Reader Comments

    Uh . .who actually wrote this? Because it wasn’t Zizek a couple months ago, and it still isn’t.

    Posted by Ron Spencer on Sep 18, 2012 at 4:37 PM

    Seriously, how many times will someone try to pass this off as Zizek?

    Posted by Ron Spencer on Sep 18, 2012 at 4:40 PM

    http://boitempoeditorial.wordp…

    Posted by Ron Spencer on Sep 18, 2012 at 5:11 PM

    does it really matter? at this point, zizek is just another replicable brand

    Posted by pincer on Sep 18, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    Here’s something I think a lot of people have ignored about the Dark Knight Rises. The movie was already filming by the time Occupy started, so any comparison is coincidental.

    But look at the story a little closer: an invading army takes over the city with extreme violence and firepower, presenting themselves as liberators. That’s not Occupy; thats the invasion of Iraq.

    Posted by D on Sep 22, 2012 at 11:11 PM

    Another difference between the dark knight and the dark knight rises is that in the former the trouble is brewing from within - the Achilles heel of a capitalist democracy is corruption, its everywhere and the Joker, who is incorruptible having no capitalist pursuits, or moral standpoint, is the perfect vector for this. The fear of capitalism become taken over like a parasite from within.
    In the next film, the threat is clearly from without - Bane is a figurehead for those who have been left out of the capitalist system, and who will enact a bloody revolution. Ra is the extreme endpoint of this - the no-one is innocent scenario where everyone is killed for being part of a corrupt system. Selina, who is a counter-signifier to a capitalist system that throws people on the human scrap-heap if they cannot follow the order-word of the system, becomes heroic only when she rejoins with the order-word of the good and joins batman. I would suggest that Selina is initially on the side of Bane’s view of overhauling the system, but when it tilts to all out destruction - Ra is the extremist, masquerading as part of the social order - that she must chose side, and the Law is the only thing that is left - Either that of total annihilation. Isn’t this the capitalism democratic system all over - Benjamin Netanyahu and his strike now on Iran is the only option we have sums up the choice between heads or heads…........

    Posted by kim carson on Sep 27, 2012 at 9:31 PM