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Conservative pop culture (posted 28 July 2008)
Well, we already knew that George W. Bush is Aragorn.
And we already knew that George W. Bush is Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
So, really, why the hell not? George W. Bush is Batman, too.
I’ll refrain from commentary at this point. Because, really, what is there to say?
Bob Kaercher replied:
Wow.
It is pretty interesting, though, how different people with completely different sets of values can see completely different or even contradictory things in the same film.
I feel like this guy didn’t even see the same movie as I did.
Laura J. replied:
“Left and right, all Americans know that freedom is better than slavery, that love is better than hate, kindness better than cruelty, tolerance better than bigotry. We don’t always know how we know these things, and yet mysteriously we know them nonetheless.”
… they do? We should be so lucky.
Sergio Méndez replied:
Bah, I liked it better when the identified with the Empire….sounded more real
Bob Kaercher replied:
Sergio: Double wow. In that article you linked, the neocon author at least admits by implication that Darth Vader is pretty much George W. Bush, and I’d say that’s an apt analogy. But for that idiot to try and spin it as though Vader and the Empire are the good guys??? That is some particularly impressive creative interpretation.
My favorite line in that piece: “Make no mistake, as emperor, Palpatine is a dictator—but a relatively benign one, like Pinochet. It’s a dictatorship people can do business with.”
“Benign”??? That moron should go tell that to all the friends and relatives of the thousands of people Pinochet had murdered, and the 30,000 or so that he tortured.
Anon73 replied:
the neocon author at least admits by implication that Darth Vader is pretty much George W. Bush
Unfortunately such blatant honesty is hard to come by these days…
Black Bloke replied:
After having seen the movie, I can see what they were talking about. But this only makes me think that Batman has become villainous, not that GWB is noble.
The neocons really, truly. do wish that they were facing off against an enemy that “just wants to watch the world burn”, i.e. the Joker. Seeing Batman wiretap the entire city of Gotham, perform an extraordinary rendition, torture suspects, and make life-or-death decisions for thousands, really strikes a chord with them. The civil libertarian objection, as characterized by Morgan Freeman’s character, is a pretty blatant reference to the knowledge of the actual wrongness (or perceived wrongness) of what Batman is doing.
I can easily see the movie as a paean to Bush, and Bush doctrines. Their beloved president GWB, the “dear leader”, is the man who will take the slings and arrows, who will take the hatred poured out on him, all for the safety and security and order of Gotham. Others can take the credit, others can pour scorn on him in public, but praise him in private for the rightful actions that he has taken.
It’s just that, the premise presented in the WSJ (i.e. that Batman can be viewed as Bush) is not ridiculous.