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Has the new Batman plundered its plot from 9/11?
Jeff Dawson
London Times
Friday, July 18, 2008
New York’s alter ego, Gotham City, is under attack. Bombs kill civilians indiscriminately. Panic spreads like wildfire. The perpetrator, a mysterious self-styled “agent of chaos”, has no apparent motive. Holy terror! Has the new Batman flick plundered its plot from 9/11? The imagery here is blatant: firefighters framed in tableau against the smouldering rubble of Downtown; politicians cashing in on the paranoia; bound hostages used to relay demands on television; the extraordinary rendition of a foreign suspect; a crusade against an “evildoer” that turns more personal vendetta than reasoned response. Then there is the film’s poster, which shows a flaming, wing-shaped hole punched through a smoking office tower. You can’t disavow gratuity here — there is no such scene in the actual film.
When it comes to the movies, the attack on New York is hardly fresh inspiration. Until now, however, even feature films had retained a respectful feel: patriotic, conspiratorial or otherwise. Then, last year, came Cloverfield, a monsters-take-Manhattan movie that models its shaky handheld visuals on the video footage of Ground Zero witnesses. The Dark Knight, the second in the latest cycle of Batman films, is even less restrained.
“As we looked through the comics, there was this fascinating idea that Batman’s presence actually attracts criminals to Gotham, attracts lunacy,” the film’s director, Christopher Nolan, has said. If his new movie feels like a full-on action thriller rather than anything remotely cartoonish, then his antihero, the Joker, is a straight-up screen terrorist. “Some men can’t be negotiated with,” as one character puts it. “Some just want the whole world to burn.”
(Article continues below)
Perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised that it is a superhero who has swung cape first into the fray — and we don’t mean those Fathers for Justice protesters in Britain or Lucha Libre wrestlers. In times of crisis, these modern American demigods (and, by association, global ones) are the first to go sprinting for the phone booth.
In the 1940s, Marvel and DC Comics yanked Superman and Batman away from their quotidian baddie-bashing and retooled them as patriots sticking it to the Nazis. Their buddy, Captain America, even landed a punch on Hitler’s jaw, dragging the isolationist USA into the war several months ahead of Pearl Harbor. And so it continued through the cold war, with Stalin substituting in as the new bête noire.
Such is the supes’ tradition that, immediately post-9/11, some Americans wondered why their avengers had gone Awol. “There was that thing of ‘Why didn’t Superman save us? Why didn’t he come along and stop the planes?’,” says Paul Gravett, Britain’s leading comic-book expert, whose The Mammoth Book of Best Crime Comics is out this month. “There was a brief debate about whether superheroes were relevant any more. In a strange way, though, they’ve become more relevant.”
Yes, sir. After a mourning period for the leading comic-book publishers, who put out commemorative issues showing their principal players humbled by the ordinary-Joe heroism of the emergency services, came the full-on counter-offensive. These days, the silver screen has supplanted the printed page as the superheroes’ stamping ground, but just look at them go.
In recent months, we have had Iron Man and Hancock. In the past few years have swooped in Spider-Man, the X-Men, two Hulks, Superman, Daredevil, the Fantastic Four, the Incredibles and more. Hellboy II will be with us shortly, and two rival Superman sequels are shaping up, one penned by the Scottish graphic artist Mark Millar, whose vigilante yarn Wanted, starring Angelina Jolie, has made him hot property in Hollywood.
Such popularity has not been lost on the powers that be. In 2005, Marvel published salutatory editions of its superhero comics for the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, launched in a special ceremony by Donald Rumsfeld. The tendency for government rhetoric to be cloaked in the superhero argot has been noted by John Shelton Lawrence and Robert Jewett, co-authors of The Myth of the American Superhero, and of Captain America and the Crusade against Evil. “Bush is the first leader who has promised world transformation,” Lawrence says. Indeed, in 2002, when Der Spiegel ran a satirical cover portraying Bush, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell as Rambo, the Terminator, Xena and Batman, a visit from the US ambassador was not to protest, but to report that the president was “flattered”, Jewett says. “He ordered 33 poster-size renditions to be conveyed to the White House.”
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57 Responses to “Has the new Batman plundered its plot from 9/11?”
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July 20th, 2008 at 6:01 am
come on guys, that gash in the building is “bat-wing” shaped, like Batman’s insignia. it would take a bit of a stretch to say this is to represent the gash in WTC1. however, the plot is another story…too much similarity there.
July 20th, 2008 at 6:39 am
i’m gonna go see the movie next week. I usually notice what you’re talking about in the article there so i’ll keep my ears and eyes open whilst i’m watching it. It’s not just about that poster mythicshadow. that’s a superficial observation you make. no offense intended. What’s really annoying me in britain is this “stop knives, save lives” people are loving this campaign. i keep saying “it won’t work” the only people who will drop their knives are those who may have been carrying them for protection. The police will say phone us instead, that’s not pratical when you’ve got a split second to react, even speed dial wouldnt be quick enough. Which brings me to cctv cameras, all they do is record crime. they don’t as the authorities claim “prevent crime”
i’m off topic here this is about the batman movie. i’ll go see it next week and then come back and have alook at this article again.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:14 am
This movie has many subtle undertones to it. The entire concept of a “dark knight” to protect us from terrorists is a major theme. Notice the total surveillance network batman sets up to find the terrorists. The message here is that the dark knight” can be trusted with this power because he will give it up when the threat is over. like most good films the story here is multi-layered. Not sure if this is a matrix like revelation of the method or if instead these are questions the film maker is trying to get us to ask through batman. Either way this film has many ideas that are currently in the zeitgeist, one of the reasons it is so popular.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:36 am
The underlying or hidden goal of the movie is to show us that breaking laws (namely the bill of rights) is justified and that our rights are expendable when face with such things as terrorists.
Oh yeah, Morgan Freeman’s character’s name is Lucious Fox!
Lucious for Lucifer and Fox spells out 666 (F-6, O-15 (1+5), X-24 (2+4).
“Those who trade liberty for security deserve neither…” -Franklyn
July 20th, 2008 at 7:44 am
of course it has! they adapt the movie according to the actual events of the time. OF course they were going to bring elements of ‘terrorism’ into it.
They asked Silvester Stallone why he did not use Al qaeda terrorist in his plot for Rambo IV, he said it was not a real issue! See how hollywood wants a theme here?
Anyways Batman is awesome everyone needs to watch it, its so good! Heath ledger’s best performance yeT!
July 20th, 2008 at 8:02 am
The part that was really mindblowing was when Batman violated Gotham City’s civil liberties by spying on every cell phone in Gothham City. Is that art imitating life?
July 20th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Don’t worry. Maybe Batman gets reincarnated as a peeping tom.
July 20th, 2008 at 9:05 am
see they bring back the super hero just in time for another terrorist attack from our government
July 20th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Down with the Queen!
July 20th, 2008 at 9:58 am
the plot and of the movie has no connection with 9/11 there are no hidden symbolism in the move and you don’t take 24 and make 2 and 4 and equal 6 that’s not how math works,some people are over paranoid. the Lucius Fox character has been in the comics for a long time and is not a new character. If you payed attention to the story the cops and the mob are the real terrorist not the joker. the joker is no more than a really smart psychotic lair that hates the world he lives in because all authority and the money authority uses control the human world is corrupt (love the part where he burned all that cash) that’s why he did what he did to Harvey Dent and he lied to him when he said he doesn’t make plans, his plan was a to prove a point to batman the whole movie. what piss me off is that people keep using anarchy and chaos in the same sentence, Anarchy is a peaceful world with out a one huge suppressive government telling the people what there liberty’s are. chaos is the world we live in to day where people submit and sign there liberty to a faceless corporate god. and Batman was the hero in the movie not Dent.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:29 am
Cartoon hero and fantasy films like Batman, Superman, and Lord of the Rings are made for children and for adults who think like children, all of whom are easily fooled and manipulated by cheap theatrics and simple-minded messages.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:40 am
I definitely felt like their were major 911 references in the “The Dark Knight”. For instance, it took Batman’s mass “cell phone tapping” device to save us. Too similar to Bush’s “unwarranted wire tapping”. However, they recognized the device was evil and destroyed it though.
Another scary thing, is that the Joker seemed to be able to appear anywhere, at anytime. It was if the the message was, “terrorism can appear anywhere, at anytime”, thats why we need mass surveillance etc.
The movie also seemed to make a point of how vulnerable, and defenseless America is to terrorism, which I think it exaggerated. In reality, I belive the average person is much more vigilant, and suspicious of criminal activity than what was portrayed in the movie, and would quickly report anything that looked like terrorist activity to the authorities….which may have been one of “The Dark Knight’s” goals as well.
Furthermore, I agree that the movie was replete with 911 imagery, almost to a degree that you became desensitized to it.
Lastly, average people were portrayed as being kind of ignorant, mindless, helplessly dependent on the government etc. You know, like “sheeple” or “useless eaters”.
Despite all that, I still actually enjoyed the “The Dark Knight”, maybe because I am programmed too, but probably because I have always loved comics, and I have a wild imagination.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Well, in defence of the movie, I think it was actually more of an anti- “we need more of our rights infringed upon” tale. People want to give batman all these powers to do whatever he wants, but he doesn’t want that power, he wants it to be in the hands of public representatives. And with the all seeing monitoring system, he has it, but refuses to weild the power himself and entrusts his friend who then destroys the technology so it cannot be used again. Certainly not akin to any of the criminals in power today who relish the power and are in constant search of ways to gain more. But of course the reviewer fails to mention any of these points as it would shoot down the false picture he paints of the movie. Ultimately it is a scenario were the people are panicked and want to give all encompassing powers to one individual and that individual wants the power to be with the people and their elected officials.
July 20th, 2008 at 11:23 am
The Dark Knight has nothing to do with 911. Have any of you actually read any Batman comics? The Joker has been blowing people up and causing chaos for no reason for decades. Batman has always worked “outside the law” and had crazy electronic gizmos to help battle the evil doers.
To say that the movie reflected current situations makes no sense, since the stories from the movie are DECADES old.
You would be more correct in stating that life imitates art.
July 20th, 2008 at 11:34 am
A truly retarded thesis. Just because things blow up in the real world and also in a movie that doesn’t mean there is a connection.
You folks need to check out IdiotWars.com.
Dave
July 20th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Alex the Fear Mongler that he is like any corprate media spinning news get ratings and headlines. Has hit again, This movie like all hollywood depict current events and living so the viewer can connect to the film. My opion is that this film is one of the greatest action movies made so far. On Alex note he gets you to be alert on little things regular people wouldnt pick up on “Spidy Scense” well this power i directed on him and noticed he likes taking news and spining it so that it creats fear, some the stories are just fear developed when they should be harmless. Besides most his viewers are these dumb down americans who take his articals to seriously and dont figure out that most them are harmless. All all alex is getn parts of it right, and we are facing a enemy that is threatning the free minded persons on this planet. Good luck
July 20th, 2008 at 12:10 pm
I noticed that picture IMMEDIATELY after it was released. Without even taking time to think about what it meant, I thought “hmm that looks exactly like the WTC after the plane hit…even got some molten metal dripping out of the left side and the white smoke that Stephen Jones always talks about.”
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but I think its hard not to immediately make the connection to the images of the WTC towers on 9/11.
July 20th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
I saw this film and through the whole thing I was shocked by the underlying themes that went way over everyones head.
****spoiler alert****
Don’t read on if you don’t want it blown for you.
Ok so the premis is a terrorist who is running around blowing up Gotham (NY) hospitals and ferries. He uses the media to transmit his message. Batman taps into 30 million phones to locate the Joker (terrorist). At one point the police commish says “People don’t need to know the truth, they just need to be rewarded for their faith” which to me sums up everything in America today. The politician who represents the white knght of justice becomes two faced and ends up being a villan himself. Chineese power brokers empty a bank and transport all the money to Hong Kong. I can go on and on with this film.
I don’t want to take away from the great performances because this movie is extremely well done. However anyone who can watch this and not see the obvious messages is simply missing the point.
July 20th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
the time for peace is distance…there are NO solutions at this point other than a “revolution”! during revolutions, people die…then the peace can return! the corruption must be attacked, and this cannot continue forever.
-love my country, hate my government!
July 20th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Surely you jest!? Is that a white knight or Pontius Pilate exclaiming, “What is truth?”
July 20th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Love the people(most) that reside in the 50,hate the District of Columbia(in Virginia and declared not part of the 50 just like London and just like the Vatican in Rome)where(our?)goverment resides and where.. as we know, you are taxed and have no real right to vote.
They have declared that:
1.The District of Columbia(Washinton) is technically another country.
2.London is technically another country.
3.The Vatican is another country.
The problem is that the people(GOVERNMENTS) that run these countries and their peoples don’t seem to care that their property has been declared otherwise. I would love to see any of the 50 tell the District of Columbia(Washington)that they will secede(break away)from the union. I am sure that their right under the CONSTITUTION will be met with force.
To be honest i am tired of tyranny under the excuse of security for us. Who the hell told these people we needed them? Government these days is exactly what the founders wanted to prevent when they created THE LAW OF THE LAND!
I leave you with some homework: WHY ARE WE UNDER THE LAW OF THE SEA(ADMIRALTY LAW)? WHEN YOU GO TO GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS WHY DOES THE FLAG HAVE THAT YELLOW CRAP AROUND IT? WHY WHEN YOU GO TO COURT YOU HAVE TO SWEAR TO GOD? WHY IS GOD IN THE COURT? WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE?
OPEN YOUR EYES!!
July 20th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
33 degrees… I mean posters?
July 20th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
KILL OFF BATMAN ALREADY, ENOUGH WITH THESE 75 YR OLD COMIC BOOK HERO’S.
DOESNT HOLLYWOOD HAVE ANY CREATIVITY ANYMORE.
GEEEZE.
July 20th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
Well, this is a plausible argument, considering I doubt that building behind batman collapsed from the fire..
July 20th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
Superman = ubermensch = Nietsche = the philosophical basis for fascism. There is nothing new here – many superhero characters have long expressed the concept that an exceptional man is needed to take control of the situation.
July 20th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
If you want to see some NWO film efforts lately, take a look at the Mutant Chronicles and Starship Troopers 3.
July 20th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Want to see some REAL propaganda in a movie, go watch the recent film ‘Doomsday’. Here, the zionists of Hollywood create a sick, racist metaphor where plague ridden Scotland, contained behind a ’security’ wall is used to represent Gaza in Palestine. Nazi style storm-troopers (in black ‘death armour’ of course) are free to enter this enclave and use whatever hi-tech weapons they can to exterminate the Human ‘animals’ that remain alive there. The people of Scotland, imprisoned, denied any contact with the world, left to die, are condemned by the movie simply for doing what they can to stay alive.
The horrific lifestyle inflicted on these people is all the justification needed to allow nazi-style mass slaughter of these people by our ‘heroes’. The life of one ‘israeli’ (whoops, I mean fascist trooper) is worth the lives of any numbers of palestinian (whoops, I mean scottish) survivors.
At one point, our nazi-stormtrooper ‘heroine’, upon finding an innocent young woman prisoner, promises to horrifically torture her to death if she fails to be of use.
When zionist Hollywood stuffs a movie full of subliminal messages this evil, the audience usually rejects the movie, as they did in this case. Even if the audience can’t quite name the problem, they find themselves poisoned by the content.
It should come as no surprise that ‘Doomsday’ did not end with the promise of salvation for the Scottish survivors (as the audience would have expected), since the producers of the movie seek nothing but extermination for the people of the real-world parallel, Gaza.
‘Escape from New York’ was a fun tale of cynicism, and dark humour. ‘Mad Max 2 and 3″ tales of good vs evil. ‘Doomsday’ was a sick racist cheer for police state fascism, brutality, and mass murder.
July 20th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
From what I’ve heard in addition to this, the film definately symbolizes our current political scene, but just listing the connections without understanding where they’re all pointing in the context of the story is kind of misleading. From some reviews I’ve read, the characters of Batman and the Joker are set up to heavily symbolize the eastern philosophy of the yin and yang, the idea that good cannot exist without evil, and neither seems to know which is which. It’s actually one of the few religious philosophies I hold to be absolute truth.
Hypothetically, let’s say the citizens all finally wake up, get together, kick the elites to the curb, and go back to sound constitutional policies and “free market”. Who’s going to take the elite’s place? Another megalomaniac, that’s who. Another Batman or a Joker, both are completely out of balance and one exists only to feed off the other. One characterizes the other as evil when both are completely screwed.
I loved comic books when I was a kid, and still love drawing them to this day, and I’m sure I saw plenty of propaganda in my time, but I developed the ability to think critically. I began to read regular old books, and I took in new/old philosophies. I learned history, and I also learned that history is written by men and is subject to the same propaganda and confabulation as even the greatest science fiction writer could dream up, and with enough information and understanding about what drives human beings, you can begin to form an accurate picture of why and how the events that shape our history occurr.
I like to think that anyone capable of reading a comic book isn’t automatically going to back World War III because Captain America punches Mahamoud Ahmadenijad, but then again this is a medium I’ve loved for the majority of my life, and even when I see blatant propaganda, I don’t think of it in the same way that I think of Fox News doing it, because from them it seems more deceptive. Perhaps I’m naive or just biased, but I don’t form any opinions based solely around comic book or movie subtext… Sadly, I guess there are some who might, but if you encourage literature of any sort rather than discourage it, you’ll find that people become more learned, and more capable of recognizing and analyzing subtext of any sort when they see it. To the end of influencing people with blatant propaganda, religion has done far worse.
July 20th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Ah….the sound of squirming conspiracy theorists trying to keep their feeble 9/11 theory afloat…
pretty sad and pathetic…
really…
July 20th, 2008 at 7:06 pm
@ FK
You are sad and pathetic for not having a brain larger than a pea to realize the obviousness of the 911 inside job.
Go vote for your next God McCain you sycophantic neocon slime.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
@dkfgasdkfh
Buy some more alex jones koolaid you brainwashed, easily swayed, prison planet sheeple…he is not rich enough yet…but with more and more of you tards who are easliy seperated from their money showing up day in and day out…it is only a matter of time…
July 20th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
@FK
“FK” must stand for “F@#%ed a Kangaroo”, because you have the brains of an inbred, beast screwing redneck.
July 20th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Its time that we take a look at everything to have some type of spiritual or social significance when it is obvious!! I went to the movies for a night out with my wife and they had 12 theatres that were sold out of Batman movies!! These young people are looking for excitement from their bored lives and we should be capitalizing on this!!
July 20th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
What is the point of this story?
New York has been a theme for attacks…..forever. Hello King Kong?
July 20th, 2008 at 8:57 pm
i had similar thoughts myself as i watched the film
one point where it occurred to me was when the Joker blows up a hospital.first, half the building doesn’t blow and he shrugs a couple of times and then pushes a button and it blows up with a lot of flame and eruption followed by a grim reaper 911 style dust cloud followed by gray dust all over everything.
so the question becomes… is it a good or a bad thing that there is so much related to 911 in this film?
the pivotal point is desensitization vs restimulation.
if seeing these images only makes people more scared by restimulating their images of 911 then that is a bad thing.
but if seeing these images in different ways in different contexts, etc, actually helps people move forward then maybe it will help them wake up, too.
what i am saying is this…
for many, many people, a major portion of their conciousness is still stuck and they are still sitting in front of their TVs, fixated and horrified and wondering when we are going to get hit next and what else is going to blow up and when someone is still in that trauma they are still on a stuck inflow and they can’t view the facts rationally.
and that is the problem that 911 truthers have in getting the truth to many, many people.
so if this kind of art helps “jar something loose” so that people can move forward then it is a positive thing
GARKO
http://fightbackforfreedom.com
July 20th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
despite the evil everyone is mentioning here just wanted to point out that I completely enjoyed the movie as entertainment. Best movie i have seen this summer…and this article is the dumbest thing i have read…what is the point of it?
as for all you people who are calling Gotham NY…it is actually Chicago.
July 20th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
the answer is no!….it has nothing to do with 9/11…….you can basically relate movies to anything in the world. Reality is stranger than fiction.
July 21st, 2008 at 12:02 am
Ok, watch the movie “The 300, this is sparta” To learn everything you need to know about superhero’s” Take two and call me in the morning.
Your tired of all the backstabbing, friend
Michael Archangel
July 21st, 2008 at 12:07 am
There was an obvious connotation to terrorism but to say that this movie was simply an action movie makes me wonder why it was so long and yet almost no one left to even go to the bathroom. What I mean is there was a great story told here about human nature and the yin and yang of each our natures. There were great elements of the heist film with in. The bottom line is that Christopher Nolan’s visions of Batman are apparently deeply rooted in pondering what it is to be human in an almost a Greek sense with the constant questioning of what it is to be a hero. Are there aspects of current events? Yes. How else do you tell a modern vision of man that is not a period piece?
And the city that many of the shots were of obviously was Chicago.
July 21st, 2008 at 1:41 am
The Batman comic book on sale on 9/11/2001 had Batman crash his Batjet into a Gotham skyscraper, which collapsed (just like in a controlled demolition), killing Lois Lane (if I recall). Jew Frank Miller had inside knowledge for that script of THE DARK KNIGHT (like selling short, Odio warnings, etc). History Channel interviewed Miller about that issue of Batman being identical to 9/11, and how comix have been used by the govt for 100 years for propaganda to sell war to the masses. Part of the plot is Batman killing Robin, who went insane. President Lex Luthor is compared to George Bush Jr, as seen on History Channel. Evil President Lex Luthor is also killed in that 9/11/2001 issue.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.....ikes_Again
July 21st, 2008 at 1:58 am
IN BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT STRIKES BACK, FRANK MILLER SAYS “FUK YOU USA”, BATMAN FLIPS BIRD, BOMBS METROPOLIS GOTHAM CITY:
REVIEW: At first glance, “DK2″ is an odd candidate for joy. Set three years after the events in “The Dark Knight Returns,” America is now a police state where the Bill of Rights has been repealed, people are powerless and a holographic president is controlled by business tycoon Lex Luthor. Worse, most citizens don’t worry about the freedoms they’ve lost — they’re too busy watching sex shows and holding candle-light vigils when pop music groups break up. By asking if it is better to be happy and enslaved, or hurting but free, “DK2″ takes on some thematic weight. But while most writers would plumb the depths of human despair with this storyline, Miller’s approach is to make serious points while having fun. Yes, horrible things happen in “DK2″ (such as the destruction of half of Metropolis, the aftermath of which Miller showcases in several spreads that hauntingly recall Sept. 11).
http://www.flakmag.com/books/darkknight.html
July 21st, 2008 at 4:45 am
personally i don’t think the new batman flick resembles
9/11.Yes the joker is more of a mad terrorist with apparentley
no motive other than chaos but he DID hav a motive that he claerly
explains right at the end of the film which was to test if all
those that beleve they are doing good can be currupted,to show
their true colours.The joker manages it with harvey dent(2face)by
manipulaing him to beleve batman & Gordon are to blame for harveys’ girlfriends death.The joker,though sick in the head
speaks truth in parts of the movie,that the people that run
every thing are control freaks highly currupted hypocrites.Despite
what batman beleves to be right at the end of the film,he and
commissioner Gordon lie and cover up harvey dents actions at the
end of the film to make him appear a hero in the eyes of the people which is not the truth although harvey did indeed start out with good intentions.Through out the film batmans actions
are called into question,there is even one scene where he uses
a big brother surveillance machine which morgan freemans character is clearly against,saying it is too much power for one
person to have and he quits wayne enterprises.The film is clever,
it reflects our imagintions of what we beleve is good vs evil,superheroes,and shows how actions we beleve are right &
justified actualy attract unwanted negativity which is what just gotham and our whole world is all about.
July 21st, 2008 at 4:48 am
Come on everyone. It’s a movie, and a damn good one at that. There are no links to anything devious. I’ve been coming to this site for the past three years now and I listen to Alex’s program every day at work. I can see certain hints and such in some things, but not everything that is mentioned or written about. Sometimes you just have to sit down and relax. Not everything hints to some evil plan. Most writers write what they know. Life, love, heartbreak, anger, jokes, etc. The writers just took the Batman material and crossed it with what’s going on right now in the world in order to made the movie more real and believable for the audience. That is one of the MANY reasons why Batman Forever & Batman & Robin failed. They took a dark brooding anti-hero and gave him super nipples on his costume and turned the movies into blacklit discos with bad writing and bad jokes to sell toys. The Dark Knight is a well written and well told story of Batman, The Joker & Harvey Dent / Two-Face. It is not some NWO propaganda.
Also, mythicshadow. I don’t mean any harm in calling you out. I just want to clear something up. Starship Troopers is a satire of fascist propaganda. It is to show that a society like the one portrayed in those films only exist to fight the “bugs”. It also shows how youth and innocence are lost due to assimilation into the system. A perfect example would be to look at the evolution of Neil Patrick Harris’ character in the first movie. A lot of people mistake it as a propaganda piece because the filmmakers did not do the best job on the satire end of the film. If you ever watch it again, and know that it was meant to be a satire, you will definitely see what I mean.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:31 am
This article is nonsense and pointless. It’s the epitome of why i check out prisonplanet.com less and less. Some articles are nothing more than rubbish speculation that grasp at tenuous links. I remember when i used to check to site out and every story was relevant and researched where as this is little more than a poor attempt to stir up some weak minded people into a paranoid frenzy.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:49 am
Suche nie nach einer Verschwörung,Du könntest auf Eine Andere treffen!
July 21st, 2008 at 7:51 am
Suche nie nach einer Verschwörung,Du könnest auf Eine treffen!
July 21st, 2008 at 10:19 am
having trouble sending an email re this
so hey could be related ?
bbc [europe report?] just reported a french father on pills bashed his daughers head repeatedly on a famouse colum in rome, she is in coma ,when a police female stopped him from doing it he began bashing his own head on the colum.
he was doped up on phyc pills [reportedly] just seeing the link with bohemia grove? and the phalic pillor symbolism [plus it being young female child
it was only just 15 minutes ago on bbc [europe report on bbc
July 21st, 2008 at 10:40 am
@martin
you said;
” this is little more than a poor attempt to stir up some weak minded people into a paranoid frenzy.”
I disagree.
I believe prisonplanet is a forum for the expression of free thought and speech.
we are all discussing this movie and offering our thoughts on it.
Something you don’t see at FAUX News.
Calling us names like “weak minded” and “paranoid” only show that you are threatened by our freedom of thought and expression, and are trying to supress it by humiliating and demoralizing us.
The Neocons are looking to recruit a good man like you for their mind control propaganda. Who knows,maybe one day you will grow up to run of the American death camps. I’m sure you will be proud of yourself as you sadistically toss all the “weak minded..paranoid” people into the furnaces.
I bet you are a rich kid.
July 21st, 2008 at 2:45 pm
Isnt that a bit much christar? I mean, think about it. We are discussing whether a movie about a fictional comic book character is a propaganda tool of the global elite to further their plot to subdue and and control the world’s masses. it’s a little silly. Just a little. Way I see it, the movie reflects the times, which makes it relevant to the viewer. And for someone who “defends” free speech, you sure are quick to try and stamp out Nemesis_Enforcer’s opinion.
July 21st, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Yeah I kinda noticed I was being a little hypocritical myself, but I couldn’t help it.
LOL.
July 21st, 2008 at 6:29 pm
No, the movie had nothing to do with 9/11, period! Not the imagery, not the plot, nothing. not once on the hour and a half that i was in the theater did i think of 9/11. Nope. Never crossed my mind. Oh and the fact that Cloverfield had anything to do with 9/11 is just retarded. Cloverfield was design ed to be a new take on a genre. Thats all.
July 21st, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Now it has gone too far. I believe something fishy about 9/11, but trying to connect everything in existence to 9/11 is crazy talk. Any of you people who actually believe this need to get out more. So what the writer of this article is saying is any movie with explosions and psycotic villains is connected with 9/11. ya, Jog on.
July 21st, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Honestly, I’m not even that prone to conspiracy crap but this is Warner Brothers and they’re being way too obvious….
Let’s review the facts. In the movie there are many terrorist references:
- Joker is literally described as a “terrorist” and blows up a hospital (the only possible 9-11 reference).
- terrorists are described as wanting to create chaos for no other reason than chaos itself. This is false, as terrorists are generally politically motivated. ie. due to our (or Israel’s) occupation of their land.
- Batman does his own illegal wiretaps on millions of people and says it’s worth it to catch Joker.
- Alfred desrcribes his own experience of hunting a thief hiding in a forset, saying that in order to catch him they: “burnt the whole forest down”. A metaphor for “collateral damage”.
- The whole movie involves both police and Batman “ruffing up” the “bad guys” in order to get information. The line between good cop/bad cop is crossed by Batman and goes into physical abuse/torture. This would be all fine and good, as the Batman from the graphic novel is more violent, however, the movie uses this as one of its major themes.
- Joker makes a tape similar to the reporter that was murdered by beheading by al qaeda and sends it to the news networks. The only difference being that the murder happens off camera.
…there are many more connections which the creators of “the Dark Knight” want us to make between the movie and our current situation but I’ll let you find them…
Let’s face it smart people made this movie, they didn’t conveniently forget the effect of their images and metaphors on the audience. Whether it be film, or tv, or books a mention of the word ‘terrorist’ will invoke certain ideas and images.
Basically this movie is saying that illegal spying is okay, that torture is okay, that collateral damage is okay and that the terrorists have no motive other than chaos. Oh, and that Batman says it’s okay, kiddies. It’s a thinly veiled attempt to promote a pro-administration stance from the governments’ friends at WB.
And for the record, I’m a huge Batman fan (the dark version too) and I hated this movie, aside from the Joker. The rubber bat suit has to go….watch “Batman Dead End” instead…much more accurate and better portrayal.
July 21st, 2008 at 10:40 pm
YEAH RIGHT, the comic book was written YEARS AGO, I am talking like 20-30 years before this movie, so there is where the plot is coming from, not from 911
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:54 am
try this one New York = New Amsterdam. Amsterdam is where Ann Frank was taken from her hiding spot.
http://www.google.com/search?c.....gle+Search
July 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 pm
@Brock
You hit it right on the nose Brock.
Your examples are excellent.
There is clearly numerous similarities and references to 911 in this movie, all dione intentionally.
I agree that it was an obviously “pro-administration” movie released in a time when Bush’s and the Republican’s approval ratings are at historical lows.
July 26th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
The movie poster from The Dark Knight is from a scene in Book 2 of The Dark Knight Strikes Back, where Batman flies his batjet into a skyscraper, to “terrorize” Lex Luthor, who was running the shadow govt behind his hologram president. The Dark Knight Strikes Back Book 2 was written just weeks before 9/11/2001, and turned in to publishers on 9/12/2001. Metropolis (NY City) was flattened by Lex Luthor’s govt bombers, to consolidate his control of the police state, which already passed the “Freedom FROM Information Act”, and to genocide 5-billion of the 6-billion humans on Earth (just liek the NWO program). Miller even includes caracatures of Donald Rumsfeld and Rabbi Ari Fleisher protecting Lex Luthor.
“It gets even weirder. I turned in the second book on Sept. 12. And there are events in it that people are going to think I did the whole thing after the attacks.”
-Frank Miller, NPR Fresh Air from WHYY, November 14, 2002
http://www.npr.org/templates/d.....diaPref=RM
http://www.npr.org/templates/s.....yId=841850
In “Comic Book Superheroes Unmasked”, on History Channel in 2003, NY City Jew Frank Miller confessed to prior knowledge of the 9/11 Massacres, and appeared genuinely afraid for his safety. HC reported that comic books have always sold war to the sheeple, to trick stupid kids into volunteering to kill and be killed.
http://video.google.com/videos.....mp;tab=wv#
http://store.aetv.com/html/pro.....l?id=73020
The media mafia is now trying to spin Dark Knight Strikes Back as being written AFTER 9/11. But even Book 3 was composed before 9/11/2001. The series was originally published in three 80 page issues. The first issue was released on December 5th, 2001 and the last two issues were supposed to come in six week intervals. The second issue was released in January of 2002. The third and last issue wasn’t released until July 31st, 2002.
http://everything2.com/e2node/.....%2520Again
Frank Miller’s new propaganda book has Batman, or another hero, attacking Bin Laden.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new.....Laden.html