There is plenty of garbage out there. Then there is your average, and finally there is the gems – the real quality stuff. C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Stephen Lawhead, George MacDonald, John Piper, Kyle Strobel – these men are [...]]]> Image via Wikipedia

There is plenty of garbage out there. Then there is your average, and finally there is the gems – the real quality stuff. C.S. Lewis, Philip Pullman, Stephen Lawhead, George MacDonald, John Piper, Kyle Strobel – these men are authors who exemplify this sort of quality. But what about in film? One name that turns my head every time he associated with a project is Christopher Nolan (another is M. Night Shymalan, though The Happening was a complete disappointment). Nolan appeared out of nowhere in 1996 with the Following, built on a $6,000 budget. This was followed by Memento in 2000, a cult hit that secured him a Academy Award for best screenplay. He secured Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank to star in his Insomnia, a remake of a European film released in 2002. It wasn’t until he released Batman Begins that his name became one common for table banter. He followed this up with The Prestige and then most recently The Dark Knight – continuing the Batman saga[1. I have not seen all of Nolan's films, as such I cannot recommend all of them. Additionally, his films are generally dark and some of his films (e.g. Memento) are gruesome and profane.].

Today I’d like to talk about some of my interpretations of his most recent film – The Dark Knight. I think it has an amazing number of subtexts which are worth analysis. I’ll warn right off the get-go that I’ll be offering spoilers throughout in giving my analysis.

• The Joker (played amazingly by Heath Ledger) and his minions represent terrorists and radical islam[2. I am not suggesting that all or even the majority of Muslims are extremists, rather this is a minority - but a deadly minority nonetheless. It is worth reminding ourselves of the spotted histories of our own cultures and religious beliefs.]. Alfred Pennyworth (Bruce Wayne‘s butler) warns that some, for ideological reasons, simply cannot be reasoned with stating of an enemy he had once fought, “…he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.”
• Harvey Dent represents good men who have gone bad fighting unbelievable evil. How often do we hear of the soldier who kills innocent civilians after watching a fellow soldier mercilessly murdered or a woman ravaged? The point is that even good men can be tempted and fall when confronted with insurmountable evils. Not that this excuses the behavior, it simply helps us make sense of the unfathomable – how good people do such bad things.
• Batman – James Gordon, the Police Commissioner tells his son, “…he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now…and so we’ll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he’s not a hero. He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector…a dark knight.” In this Gordon recognizes the need for operations which are generally considered unethical and illegal in times of extreme distress. In this way Batman/Bruce Wayne represents some of our CIA/FBI/SpecOps who take the fall for necessary but illegitimate operations of our government[3. I am not defending all the actions perpetrated by our government, nor even potentially the majority of them. Our government has performed a disturbing number of atrocities and acts driven only by selfishness and greed throughout its history.]. Again Alfred tells Batman that he must, “Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They’ll hate you for it. But that’s the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.”
• The Mob – Representative of traditional opposition. The criminals themselves recognize that there is a difference in motivation between themselves and the terrorists. This is not to suggest that their deeds are less evil but that there motivation is less ideologically driven allowing for more compromise and reasoning.

• Rachel Dawes – The death of Rachel reminds us of the loss of our soldiers overseas – and sometimes of the loss of innocent lives. At some point, Alfred again as the voice of wisdom asks, “Didn’t you think before starting this some people might die?” We know the right path of action and yet oftentimes when we embark on this path we lose our resolve as the losses mount. What is right is determined no longer right when the cost mounts too high.

There are so many interesting messages within both films (though Batman Begins is of an entirely different tenor). I’d recommend them both as entertaining, realistic, and with valuable subtexts to be mined. At the same time I would warn that true to Nolan’s style they do not hedge away from evil and while maintaining PG-13 ratings are dark films not only in places but in their entire tenor.

And, of course, while I am extremely sad over Ledger’s death his portrayal of Joker in this film makes a fitting culmination to an extremely talented and versatile actor’s career.

Bibliography:

• Wikipedia on Christopher Nolan.
• Wikipedia on The Dark Knight.
• IMDb Quotes from The Dark Knight.

Movies and television shows have allowed us to experience entertainment in ways never before possible. We can travel the world, experience adventure, discover ancient lands – such a multitude of experiences is laid out before our very eyes. Yet at the same time the advent of Image via Wikipedia

Movies and television shows have allowed us to experience entertainment in ways never before possible. We can travel the world, experience adventure, discover ancient lands – such a multitude of experiences is laid out before our very eyes. Yet at the same time the advent of movies and television has brought much that we would rather not interact with on a personal or family basis. Depending on your individual and family beliefs you may have issues with extreme violence, drug or alcohol abuse, strong language, or explicitly sexual content.

This left many in a bind. Oftentimes the only movies that didn’t contain at least some of these elements where boring or childish. Great for when you have children – not so great when you get together as a family to watch a film or want something with more mature topical material for yourself. Even many great movies contained stunning – if brief – moments where they shot out some unexpected content. Ned Kelly starring Heath Ledger comes to mind with its unexplained and brief nudity. Awakenings starring Robin Williams, a moving film about disease and a courageous medical doctor contains a brief outburst of strong profanity.

An entire industry rose up to combat these issues. Edited DVD‘s became very popular but were eventually outlawed by the courts as infringing upon the rights of the artist – manipulating the artist’s original intent. One vendor was found innocent of these accusations and continues to operate successfully to this day – ClearPlay.

How does it work? The ClearPlay DVD player doesn’t require special edited DVD’s, rather it has a small storage space inside the DVD player on which filters reside. These filters contain logic that says “skip time 01:15:33 to 01:15:35.” Thus the DVD player seamlessly skips over objectionable content – or mutes it. These filters aren’t blanket either. One can customize the filters according to one’s personal preferences. Don’t want to see explicit sexuality but drug and alcohol use doesn’t bother you? No problem, you can customize for that. Don’t want to see extremely gory violence but normal wartime or drama violence is acceptable? Can filter for that as well. ClearPlay offers extensive customizability on a per DVD basis.

Well, this DVD player must be exceptionally expensive to offer such advanced and useful technologies, right? No! The device is right around the same price as competitive DVD players that don’t offer the ClearPlay technology (every device should utilize this technology!). Right now ClearPlay has two models available, one priced at around $70 and the other around $80.

This is because ClearPlay doesn’t really care about the cost of the hardware – it makes its money from

the filters. A subscription is $8/mo. with discounts available for annual, bi-annual, etc. purchases. These subscriptions allow you to download and install all the latest filters onto your DVD player. ClearPlay is constantly adding additional films to its list of filters. Or, if you don’t watch many movies you can purchase filters individually – when you feel it is necessary for the film you are watching.

I can’t recommend ClearPlay enough. So go out and buy one today – or at the least, next time you need a DVD player, make it a ClearPlay DVD player. It doesn’t cost any more than your average DVD player and even if you don’t subscribe to their filter subscription – at least you will have the technology available should you decide you need it.

I’ve been using my DVD player for around four years now without a problem! Thats much more than I can say for some other DVD players I’ve utilized. Two thumbs up for ClearPlay!