The 9th film in my continuing analysis of The Films of Christopher Nolan is the out-of-this-world epic Interstellar. As expected, Christopher Nolan's newest film pushes the boundaries of both film-making and storytelling. Interstellar is grand in scope but rooted in human emotions and personal relationships. It asks questions about the nature of humanity and what our role is in the cosmos; both in where we have been and where we want to go. Yet, as with any Nolan film, there is both a lot to digest (in terms of spectacle) and mull over at film's end with little being explained. This is because Nolan treats his audience with respect, assuming we are as clever as he is, and expecting us to keep up without having to be spoon-fed. Thus, even though I believe it to be Nolan's best work thus far (and certainly the most ambitious), for some, the movie has fallen flat. Yet, the mixed reaction from critics and fans have yet to diminish its current box office success. Hopefully, the film's massive run time (a whopping 169 min) will not buck the current trend and others will see as I did, that this is Nolan's finest hour.
Spoilers Ahead!!!!
" The World didn't run out of televisions or radios; it ran out of food.
We don't NEED engineers, we need Farmers."
PLOT
In the near future, a plant disease known as "Blight" slowly kills all crops leaving only corn able to be produced. With food running scarce, the world disbands the army and decommissions all weapons to focus on food production. Yet, as the human race gets sick due to the dust storms, and "Blight" beginning to attack their last sustainable crop, NASA (now a secret, privately funded organization) sends a team of Scientists and Engineers ( Mathew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley and David Gyasi) along with the last of the Marine robots, to find a new home for the human race in another galaxy. Yet, as the dangers rise with betrayal at every turn and the human and ideological casualties mount, the remaining explorers have to decide if their mission to save humanity is worth risking the loss of their family (Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Casey Affleck, Mackenzie Foy, Timothee Chalamet, and John Lithgow) to time itself.
"We used to look up into the stars and wonder about our place in the Universe. Now, we look down and wonder about our place in the dirt." Cooper
THEMES Theme 1: Humanity, Ecology, and Survival. One of the first big themes in Interstellar is the notion of humanity and how we are supposed to or think about our the value of our lives. Nolan including the idea of famine and drought (going so far as to use stock footage of Ken Burn's Dust Bowl documentary to set the mood) pushes the notion of space exploration from excess to necessity. Yet, even though this is clear to the audience, Nolan still allows for the debate to take place between Donald (John Lithgow) and Cooper (Mathew McConaughey). One arguing to make the best of what we have on earth, the other striving to find something better in the stars.
One of the great aspects of this film, is that it is subtle while seeming overt. Nolan distracts you with the spectacle of the films scale and scope, meanwhile through dialogue he touches on deeper themes. In the film, it is not explicitly stated where "Blight" came from. It is not implausible to think that it had its origins as a highly resistant pesticide that got out of control. Here then this could be a commentary on GMO's and the Monopoly of companies like Monsanto. Yet, Nolan is never definitive in this regard because he wants each viewer to have their own experience, thus maintaining wide appeal. Other subtleties in the dialogue point to the extent of the ecological problem. Due to a lack of and reallocation of resources, the world's armies have been disbanded and all weapons decommissioned. In addition, federally imposed educational programs not only determine placement and assign future careers, but have altered history books to quell any dreams that reach beyond the earthbound necessities.
The film also points to the vagaries of human survival. Interstellar gives us those who are willing to altruistically fight for the Survival of Humanity, while we are introduced to others who are selfish looking to their own survival. Yet, one of the most interesting commentaries in the film is the motivation for altruism is rooted in selfishness. One character in the film expresses as much, identifying that the reason the Explorers are willing to be altruistic and save humanity is because they have individuals and personal relationships that they want to maintain. The idea here is that we do not have the ability to think about humanity as a whole, and to care about it. In order to get people to care about others, we need to personalize it with how it is going to affect them. In the film, it is stated that we "evolutionarily haven't moved passed that point." Sociologically, this altruism is achieved by adopting the Sociological Imagination (more on this in part II).
Theme II Evolution The catalyst for the film's exquisite venture into space is the presence of a Wormhole that appeared 50 years prior to the start of the film. The explanation for this event was that it represented contact with alien life. Only referred to as "They", throughout most of the film's story it is assumed that benevolent aliens are assisting humanity, pulling it away from the brink of extinction. As the film reaches its climax with one of its characters passing through a "gentle singularity" into a space/place where time is physical, it is revealed that "they" are, in reality, us. A higher form of humanity that has mastered gravity and therefore able to manipulate and travel through time as a physical space. Here Nolan is not only making a commentary on the direction of Evolution but also invoking the notion of human self reliance. As if to say "Oh the things we can achieve if given the chance.".
Theme III: Love For all of this film's technical brilliance, rooted in the real science of Astro-physics (confirmed by Neal Degrasse Tyson) the film is about emotion, especially the driving power of love. This is interesting given Nolan's reputation of being "cold" or devoid of emotion. Anyone who believes Nolan to still be a "cold" filmmaker needs to see this film. This is a story about relationships and its power to motivate. While a number of realtionships are explored, the primary relationship between Cooper (Mathew McConaughey) and his daughter (Mackenzie Foy). We see their bond over all things "sciencey" especially the scientific method. This is illustrated when Cooper tells his daughter to think about her "poltergeist"rationally using observable data to come to a conclusion ( :) ). It is their bond and relationship that is integral to the mission that Cooper embarks on, and its success. Yet, nowhere is the focus and the power of love more apparent than in a speech by Brand (Anne Hathaway) that posits love as almost a cosmic force (like gravity) pulling people together, or driving people toward something.
PRODUCTION
The film that would be Interstellar began with a script written by Jonathon Nolan to be directed by Stephen Spielberg. When Spielberg dropped out, Christopher Nolan and his brother reworked the script and set Christopher Nolan to direct. With that, most of Team Nolan was reassembled for this latest venture. Noticeably absent was Cinematographer extraordinaire Wally Pfister who was busy working on (the disappointing) Transcendence. Enter Hoyte Van Hoytema of Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy. fame. His distinct visuals and earthy tones are felt throughout the film but no clearer than in the film's first act. He seems to add a feeling of grittiness to Nolan's pallet in a film that is as much about earth as it is about space.
Shot on 35mm film and 70 mm IMAX film the detail in every shot is so crisp that the visuals jump off the page. On film, we get to see all of the detail that is missed with a digital presentation and/or a digital intermediary (conversion done digitally as opposed to photo-chemically)This photo realism was so important to Team Nolan that one article detailing the films production shows what drastic measures they were willing to take. These risks included strapping a highly expensive IMAX camera to the nose of a Learjet in order to get a sweeping aerial shots and actors getting hypothermia due to shooting in Iceland. Hoyte Van Hoytema even retooled the IMAX camera, making it handheld to be used in tight corners when they were filming on sound stages and other close quarters.
Nolan's technique and technical prowess are in full form here. Not since Inception have we been treated to Nolan's complete freedom in production. It was this freedom that allowed Nolan to ground this Sci-Fi epic in realism he hired Astrophysicist Kip Thorne to work with the visual effects team to make sure they were as scientifically accurate as possible. In fact, the work that Kip Thorne did with the FX team actually lead to new scientific discoveries about Black Holes. Also, this experience has prompted Kip Thorne to write a book detailing the science we see in the film.
Since this is not only a Sci-Fi epic but a Christopher Nolan Sci-fi film. There are some "Nolanism" that were present in Interstellar that I hunted down like a scavenger though my initial viewings of the film:
1) The opening titles or title sequence has different meaning for the audience at the begining than it
does at the end...usually a deeper, richer meaning.
2) The Film's plot is based on a lie.
3) There is a lot of planning and build up in the film that all gets turned on its head.
4) Character's trust, and misjudge other characters, usually with disastrous results.
5) Non-linear storytelling (in this film even that gets folded in on itself)
6) The inclusion of Michael Caine
INITIAL THOUGHTS AND CONCLUSION I am blown away by this film. It was the most epic and exhilarating time at the movies I have had in recent memory...but that should come at no surprise to anyone who reads this blog, least of all myself. In the aftermath of such a transcendental experience, I do not know where this film goes in the pantheon of Nolan films. As I have mentioned before, The Dark Knight Trilogy is in a class by itself. Therefore the question I have been wrestling with is whether Interstellar is better thanInception? I have heard a quote from Nolan saying that Interstellar is a "sister piece" to Inception (in that was one goes deep to explore the mind the other reaches far beyond to explore space). Right now at the time of this writing I would have to say yes. With Interstellar, I believe Nolan has summarily topped himself, and every other Sci- fi epic past Gravity andon the level with 2001: A Space Odessey...though I did like Interstellar better.
Final Note: SEE THIS FILM IN 70MM IMAX FILM. The color is richer (the blacks are blacker) and the sheer quality of the presentation will blow you away. Buy Tickets NOW!!!
The 8th film in my
continuing analysis of The Films of Christopher Nolan is the final chapter in The Dark Knight Trilogy: The Dark KnightRises. Like its predecessor, Rises, (or
TDKR) is a genre bending masterpiece; seamlessly weaving together a
disaster picture, and a war movie into a Batman film. This eclectic mix of
genres, score, cinematography, writing and direction along with the conclusion
of Batman/Bruce Wayne’s story (started in BatmanBegins) elevates this film into the stratosphere. Additionally, the technical craftsmanship,
superb acting, and multi-layered plot make Rises
a rare commodity: a satisfying third film of a trilogy that is so emotionally
gripping and powerful, that it enriches the overall experience of the entire
trilogy itself.
HISTORICAL
CONTEXT
Even before production began on TDKR, the film was marred by controversy
and unrealistic expectations. First, the death of Heath Ledger in January of
2008 fundamentally reshaped the tone and plot of any potential third film.
Originally, before Ledger’s passing, it was widely assumed that he (as The
Joker) would return in the third film.
After Leger died, Team Nolan took an extra year (The Dark Knight Rises coming out 4 years after The Dark Knight instead of the typical three years) to break the
story and write the screenplay. From outside interviews, Nolan has said that it
was the inclusion of the 8 year gap (time laps between The Dark Knight and The Dark
Knight Rises) that was the catalyst for the story. This would allow Nolan to create a story
about the end of Batman and Bruce Wayne’s career, something that has never been
put on screen, thereby completing Bruce Wayne’s journey and the trilogy itself.
Secondly, the film had to complete
with the expectations set by the critically acclaimed, award winning, and
immensely popular The Dark Knight. A
movie that has become more than just a product of our culture; but a part of
it. Even in the few years since its release, The Dark Knight has completely changed the superhero genre, giving
it more legitimacy and validity as a respected medium of filmmaking. This was a
once in a lifetime experience of a film that cinematically captured the social
issues of domestic terrorism and surveillance illustrating, albeit
dramatically, with a “taste for the theatrical, the fears that we live with in
modern society. Add to that the film
being punctuated by the death of Heath Ledger and you get a recipe for
greatness that is hard, if not impossible to replicate.
With such lofty expectations coming off
of a successful and culturally impactful film that The Dark Knight (TDK) became, two things happened:
1) Nolan’s third film was never (at
least in the eyes of the public, and maybe a lot of fans) going to live up to
its predecessor. This was, in part, due
to the longer four year gap between the second and third films in the trilogy.
During that time, fans were able to speculate and create hypothesis on how the
next film was going to continue the Batman story[1].
The long production schedule involved in filmmaking allowed many fans, and the
public, to become married to their version of what the third film would be.
This inevitably would leave them dissatisfied, annoyed and even a bit angry
that they didn’t get the film that they wanted, one that they built up in their
heads for years. Thus for many a Batman fan, they were setting themselves up
for disappointment years before they even stepped into the theatre to watch the
completed film.
2)
The Cultural Capital garnered by The Dark
Knight could not be repeated for TDKR.
As I mentioned in my review for The
Dark Knight, much of the film’s gargantuan success was due to the character
of The Joker, Heath Ledger’s performance, and his death; the studio cashing in
(quite unintentionally) on the public’s morbid curiosity; causing them to flock
to the theatres to see Ledger’s final fully completed performance. Through the tragedy that was Ledger’s death
lead to the Dark Knight receiving
even more positive buzz and good word of mouth; and while The Dark Knight Rises did have its share of tragedy surrounding it,
it was one that hurt the overall domestic box office rather than help it.
On July, 20th 2012 at a
12am screening[2] of
The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, CO;
James Holmes (wearing tactical military gear and brandishing an arsenal of
weaponry that included a shot gun, a semi-automatic rifle, a handgun, and smoke
and tear gas canisters) entered the theater through an emergency exit and began
firing into the crowd. The crowd was
slow to react to Holmes, as many of them believed that he was in costume for
the event (much like many other patrons) or was part of the Theatre’s publicity
stunt to promote the film. It was only
when the tear gas canisters went off did people begin to panic. In the ensuing mayhem 12 people were murdered
and another 82 people were injured.
This tragedy left a taint on the
film that kept the film from surpassing The
Dark Knight in terms of both popularity and domestic box office numbers.
Additionally, it all but killed the positive word of mouth, I believe the film
would have received (in fact you could assume that the film’s ability to do so
well despite this tragedy is a testament to just how good Rises actually is). Many people were afraid to go to the movies at
all after the shooting let alone The Dark
Knight Rises. This was exacerbated by Holmes dying his hair orange and
calling himself “The Joker” and the news media initially labeling the shooting
“The Batman Massacre”. Also, one of the film industry’s (many and rightful)
responses to the shooting was to pull its advertising of the film (trailers and
TV spots) and canceling premieres; limiting the film’s exposure. This resulted in The Dark Knight Rises to make around 86 Mil less than TDK domestically, andonly 166,000,000 more internationally
(and adjusting for the 65 million dollar increase in the production budget for Rises) equating to the film only
surpassing The Dark Knight by 14
Million dollars much of that due to inflation and the overseas market. Yet,
regardless of its lackluster success by comparison. The Dark Knight Rises is still a film worthy of social analysis and
a much deserved ‘feather in the cap’ of Christopher Nolan and his team
(especially Wally Pfister).
PLOT
The sacrifices made by Jim Gordon (Gary
Oldman) and Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) at the end of The Dark Knight have bought Gotham City 8 years of peace and prosperity;
but not without great personal cost. Bruce Wayne was scarred and crippled (both
physically and emotionally) in his battles with The Joker and Harvey Two-face.
Also, by taking responsibility for the latter’s crimes and death, his persona
of Batman became the subject of a city wide manhunt that caused him to retire
immediately. Three years prior to the start of the film, Bruce was continuing
to improve Gotham through a clean energy project with Miranda Tate (Marion
Cotillard) until it was revealed that the device could be turned into a weapon.
Bruce decided to shut down the program (at great financial cost) and became a
recluse.
Meanwhile,
Gordon was left alone to maintain the lie that he and Batman concocted in order
to save the city. Because of the lie the
Gotham City passed “The Dent Act” which eradicated organized crime and
warehoused over 1,000 inmates. Every year the city celebrates “Harvey Dent Day”
where Gordon has to sing the praises of a man who tried to murder his family,
while vilifying his friend. The result
of which caused his wife to leave Gotham with their children.
A suspicious encounter with a jewel
thief (Anne Hathaway) and the arrival of mercenary known only as Bane (Tom
Hardy) leads Bruce to don the cape and cowl again. Aided by Gordon, Lucius Fox (Morgan Freeman),
and a rookie beat cop (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) Bruce challenges Bane (and his
army) much to the protests of Alfred (Michael Caine).
Left to die in “the worst hell on
earth” after his crushing defeat at the hands of Bane, Bruce watches as his
city is burned, broken and terrorized; forcing its citizens to compromise their
morality. Determined to save the city, Bruce heals and rebuilds his body, and
by escaping captivity becomes “The Batman” once again ready to challenge Bane
(and his compatriots) in a final battle for the soul of Gotham.
GENERAL ANALYIS
This is the most ambitious Nolan
film to date (notice this review was written before the release of Nolan’s 2014
space epic Interstellar). The scope
and the grand scale of the story is remarkable. As stated in the introduction,
this film is a genre bending amalgamation of pure cinematic brilliance and
technical mastery. It dares the audience to throw away the conventional
attitudes of filmmaking and storytelling and is bold enough to complete a story
in a culture of filmmaking that is always looking for the next franchise. To this end the film has general themes that
need to be discussed before a deeper, more Sociological analysis can be given.
Theme
1: Pain.
“I was wondering what would break first…Your spirit, or your body!”- Bane
In doing press for the film
Christopher Nolan as well as many members of the cast mentioned that the main
theme in The Dark Knight Rises is Pain. Like the previous films in the
franchise, the theme is embodied by the film’s antagonist(s) of Bane and Talia
much in the same way The Scarecrow and Ra’s al Gul embodying the theme of Fear in Batman Begins and The Joker was the embodiment of Chaos’ Theme inThe Dark Knight. However, it cannot be overlooked that while there
are anthropomorphic representations of these thematic elements in each of the
films villains, these themes also mark the character development of Bruce Wayne
throughout the series. While on the surface, you could see that the physical
confrontations between Batman and the film series’ rouges gallery is an
external representation of Bruce’s internal conflict to overcome Fear, Chaos
and Pain respectively. Yet, it is also from each of these conflicts that Bruce
grows and is able to deal with all the tragedy he has experienced in his life.[3]
In TDKR,
Bane and Talia inflict their pain on the entire city, but their focal point is Bruce
Wayne/Batman. The pain that each of them
wrought is experienced in different ways by Bruce Wayne. Bane provides Bruce with physical and
psychological pain, by breaking his body and terrorizing all that he cares
about. Talia provides Bruce with emotional and spiritual pain by offering him a
life after Batman and with (a quite literal) knife in the back, strips that
away tearing down all that he holds dear. Bruce’s triumph over pain is
cinematically symbolized in his escape from “The Pit”. Not only does he have to
remake his body in order to climb out of the prison, but in the process he
learns to let go of the anger and pain that he has been ruled by most of his
life. This epiphany allows him to be able to let Batman go by films end no
longer needing the persona, and able to live a healthy complete life.
Theme 2: Completing the Story
The other general theme that the
film focuses on besides pain is the completion of Bruce Wayne’s journey and the
end of the Legend of Batman. To do that The Dark Knight Rises harkens back to
what was initially set up in Batman
Begins. While the reintroduction of the character’s at the beginning of the
film is a result of the events of The
Dark Knight, the progression and conclusion of Rises comes from the seeds planted in Begins.
“I
AM the League of Shadows; here to fulfill Ra’s al Gul’s destiny!” – Bane
The first of those seeds is Bane himself
being a former member of the League of Shadows trained by Ra’s al Gul, and the
reveal of Ra’s daughter Talia. Their inclusion in the story represents a
complete story arc over the three films. There is a lot of parallels between
the stories and character arcs of Bruce, Bane and Talia because of their shared
history with Ra’s al Gul. All three of them are Ra’s children. Bruce being the
prodigal son and Ra’s greatest student that turns his back on him. Bane is the dutiful
son that is starved of his father’s attention, while Talia is the rebellious
daughter that challenges her father’s decisions. Aside from providing character
parallels, the return of the League of Shadows also allows for a symmetry in
storytelling, thereby setting the stage for a conclusion to Bruce’s story.
“Why
do we fall Bruce? So we can learn to pick ourselves up.”-Thomas Wayne
The other seed that is planted is the
thematic comparisons between “The Well” in Begins
and “The Pit” in Rises. “The
Well” in Batman Begins is the
catalyst to Bruce’s fear of bats. It is this fear that will lead to him using
it as a symbol/weapon against criminals. Yet, “The Well” also represents
Bruce’s guilt and shame over his parent’s murder. It was his fear caused by his
fall into “The Well” that made his parents leave the theatre which lead to
their deaths. And even though Thomas Wayne’s last words to his son were “…don’t
be afraid.” This lead to Bruce feeling that fear was a weakness that needed to
be overcome. He consciously buried his
fear with anger. Bruce believed that if he wasn’t afraid he wouldn’t have had
to be rescued from “The Well” by his father and by extension could have done something
to stop his parents from being murdered.
When Bruce is placed in “The Pit” after
his defeat at the hands of Bane. Bruce believes that if he builds himself up
again and if he has no fear, relying again on anger that he will prevail. A
mindset that causes him to fail to climb out of “The Pit” on two separate
occasions. Each time he becomes more and more demoralized and despondent almost
residing himself to his fate until he gets a reeducation from a fellow inmate:
Here the inmate explains how fear
can be a powerful motivator. Before this
realization, Bruce was so angry at death for taking his parents that he
desired, protected and valued all life, even his own. But after Bruce’s
successful climb from “The Pit” which is a (not so) subtle proxy for “The Well”
he fell down as a child, Bruce’s respect for life no longer came from a place
of anger, it was from the fear of losing it. In this way, when Bruce stands up
after his successful climb, he is the most complete version of himself and the
strongest, driven, and determined Batman, because he is no longer using his persona as a source of self-medication or as
a cycle of self-destruction. In that moment, and for the rest of the film, he
is the purest embodiment of Will on screen[4].
Even overshadowing his comic book counterpart.
SOCIAL ANALYSIS
The
Dark Knight Rises is rich with sociological detail to analyze. All of Christopher Nolan’s films (especially
his Dark Knight Trilogy) while not
attempting to have specific social commentary about a particular issue, seem to
embody the current zeitgeist. Nolan is
able to do this completely that people are able to read in and interpret the
film in multiple way based upon individual experience and personal analysis.
What may be obvious and glaring to one person is more hidden and subsumed. Here
lies Nolan’s brilliance; being able to create something for mass consumption,
while still giving patrons their own individual experience. As a Sociologist, I
take the Critical, Power Conflict and Post-modern approach to almost anything
that I analyze. Because of this, it was easy to follow the breadcrumbs from
Marxism through the French Revolution.
Theme 3:
Marxism, and the French Revolution
“Each time a
city reaches the pinnacle of its decadence, we return to restore the balance.”
-Ra’s
Al Gul
As a Conflict Theorist, Marx
identified that the inevitable social conflict was going to eventually be
between “The Bourgeoisie” and the “Proletariat”. A class conflict which gives
The Bourgeoisie (who own the means and social relationships of production) wealth
that is not based in their own labor, but through stocks and other kinds of
equity and assets. The proletariat
however only have their labor to sell. One could make the analogy between
selling your body for a service job and prostitution. Yes, the exploited labor isn’t being overtly
sexualized but both industries thrive when bodies are being used in a
disposable fashion. Additionally, each
person in the analogy is selling some aspect of their body and the energy
exerted for compensation.
The Conflict stated above, along
with the hypocrisy of Capitalism through the internal contradiction of capital
accumulation leads to the inevitable result of the exploitation of the labor
market and the exploitation of consumers through the price of the product. This
is because the owners (bourgeoisie) can only maximize their profits (the
central theme of capitalism) by what they can completely control; namely the
cost of their labor force and the price of their product. The results of which are a series of social
problems: Sweatshops, price gouging, a multitude of human rights abuses and a
bifurcated class system of the haves and the have nots. The lie concocted by
Gordon and Batman bought Gotham 8 years of peace but in that time the social
class divisions have become so stratified (e.g. Marxism above) that the people
were primed for Bane to exploit their desire for revolution.
“There’s a storm
coming Mr. Wayne…when it hits you’re all going to wonder how you ever thought
you could live so large and leave so little for the rest of us.” - Selina Kyle
The following sequences in the film
illustrate the kind of Proletarian revolution that Marx believed was
inevitable. That the wealthy would be torn from their homes and put on
trial. While Marxism wasn’t a conscious
theme for Team Nolan, one can see its influences especially with the French
Revolutionary feel they were trying to create for Bane in his demeanor,
costuming (and the costuming of his men) speeches etc. (Even Blackgate prison
was a stand in for the French Bastille) regardless of the fact that it was a
ruse to hide his true motives.[5]
To that end, rather than be an actual
proletarian revolutionary, Bane represents (in these moments) embodies Gotham’s
Symbolic Violence a Bourdieuian term
meaning “the capacity to impose the means for comprehending and adapting the
social world by representing economic and political power in disguised taken
for granted forms…the dominated accept as legitimate their own condition of
domination.”[6]
Thus, many of the people accept Bane’s motivations are genuine when his true
purpose is to psychologically torture Bruce Wayne (through the “poisoning” and
destroying of the city) and the fulfillment of Ras’ Mission.
Not the Occupy
Movement
Some attempts at a social analysis
of this film have sited that the class conflict shown in the TDKR is a representation of The OccupyMovement. Regardless of the fact that this is simply inaccurate considering the
length of time major film like this take to make (meaning that the script was
written far before the occupy movement became an international social issue in
2011), the issues and the conflict are not the same.
Firstly, The Occupy Movement’s slogan “We are the 99%.” while invoking
the very Marxian idea of the Proletariats against the Bourgeoisie (represented
mathematically as the 1% with this phrase), and showing solidarity between
anyone who isn’t part of the “super rich”, this is not the reality that they
live in. This is because privilege in this country is not only granted through
wealth.
Max Weber points out that class status is
defined by Education as well as wealth, and what he calls, the three P’s(Property, Prestige, and Power). Additionally, Bourdieu mentioned several times
how a person’s cultural capital: the value of a person’s knowledge skills and
experiences, is conditional on the social setting and environment (i.e. what
you know). As an example, knowledge of survival skills mean little in a “first
world” country, but trapped alone on an island, they become invaluable.
Bourdieu mentions that a person’s social capital: The value of a person’s
social relationships within a particular social setting suffers the same
fate. So the idea that class division
itself is only about wealth is both
ignorant, naïve and wrong. Outside of
the determinants of social class itself the 99% slogan does not take into
account the intersectionality of Social Class with other demographics, namely
Race and Gender.
Intersectionality is a Sociological term
to explain how all aspects of inequality (class, race, gender, sexuality,
disability etc.) are interconnected like a spider’s web[7].
This is why the fight against structural, covert and invisible levels of
inequality are so difficult to overcome; it
has been integrated and embedded in our social institutions (creating income,
housing, occupational discrimination) as well as normalized through our every
actions and behaviors (the use of language to reinforce someone as “other”
or less than such as “I’m not racist but…”, racial jokes, feminism, the word
female its derivatives and synonyms). Therefore, when a slogan like “We are the
99%.” is touted, it is ignoring the very real privileges that people are
afforded to them because of their skin color and their gender. Thus, when a
such as slogan attempts to be all inclusive, through being both color blind and
gender blind, it ignores the very unequal realities of women and people of
color.
"The
point, was that Batman could be anybody." -Bruce Wayne.
Secondly, the conflict between Bane and
the police is not fully formed to be a parallel to the Occupy movement, with
Bane being on the people, and the police the side of order (and the super-rich).
One review I read went so far to say that this was illustrated by the fact that
the police were led by one of Gotham’s super rich (i.e. Bruce
Wayne/Batman). However, there are
several contradictions to this assessment. During the scene of the heist at the stock
exchange, the dialogue between the police and a stock trader outlines the
police as “of the people.” Yet, if this is the case, it is contradicted by Bane
saying that he is giving Gotham to the people (wouldn’t he also give it freely
to the police as well…which he doesn’t), and during the final confrontation
between Bane and his army and Batman and the police in the climax. By this assessment,
“the people” rise up to take their city back from Bane solidifying its own
contradiction
Also, I could make the opposite assessment
by saying that once Bruce Wayne lost his money, it legitimated that he could
lead the people of Gotham in taking back their city. However, I am unwilling to
put too much stock in this idea either because the people of Gotham do not
realize Bruce Wayne and Batman are the same person by the end of the film.
Since they don’t know that they are the same person, Bruce Wayne is still seen
as part of “the 1%” whereas Batman remains a symbol of the people (see the
above quote) which was Bruce’s whole goal of the Batman persona to begin with.
Thus, it is a false analysis to say that this film has parallels to the Occupy
movement because A) Bane does not represent the people, Batman does, and B)
Bane whole purpose (as described above) was not about liberation, it was about
control and destruction.
Feminism and
Gender Bending
One of the most legitimate and resounding criticisms I have had through this sociological review of the films
of Christopher Nolan has been his portrayal of women. His films, up up to this point, have featured
paper thin two dimensional female characters that have been there only for the
plot or to advance the story of the (usually white) male protagonist. None of
his prior films pass the Bechdel test, and many of the female characters die or
are killed fulfilling the not only the damsel in distress trope (e.g. Rachel in
Batman Begins) but the women in
refrigerators trope as well (e.g. Rachel in The
Dark Knight). In The Dark Knight Rises, it seems that
Nolan has finally turned a corner. Not
only does he have two major female characters as part of the main cast (Anne
Hathaway’s Selina and Marion Cotillard’s Miranda), both of which have detailed
character arcs and rich three dimensional backstories; but Nolan also includes
important secondary character in Jen (Juno Temple) who’s presence allows the
film to pass the aforementioned Bechdel Test. In addition to that, it was nice
to see female police officers fighting Bane’s army in the final battle.
The use of Bane’s backstory in the
film also gave Nolan an opportunity for gender bending. During the second act sequence when Bruce is recovering
in “The Pit” he hears the story of a child who was born in the prison and
escapes. Even though we see this sequence play out in front of us, because
Nolan kept a lot of gender identifiers neutral, the audience assumes, as Bruce
does, that it was Bane that made the climb out. When it is revealed that the
child was Ra’s daughter Talia (Marion Cotillard), Nolan is commenting on how
gendered expectations can be easily manipulated in stories without other,
culturally specific gender identifiers (albeit subtly). It might be a stretch,
but one could also suppose that this gender bending is a commentary on the
expectations of masculinity and preying upon devaluing of women in our culture.
In many action films, especially in the
superhero genre, women are just starting to be seen on (semi) equal footing. I
still argue, however; that women being seen on equal terms with men in popular
culture still comes at the cost of women retaining their sex appeal. While this
is still true in Rises, Nolan is able
to use the audience gendered expectations against them. The audience assumes
that it is Bane who climbs out of the prison, not only because that is what
they are told through the story, but because it is something that they have
seen in film 100 times over: a young white male finding the courage to overcome
adversity. It is hard to say, (though it could be inferred) if Nolan was
preying upon the weak female stereotype. If he wasn’t directly alluding to it,
the stereotypical assumption that women are too weak to make such a climb
certainly helped with his misdirection, setting up the twist reveal at the end.
Also, we do see a number of men try and fail to climb out of “The Pit” (Bruce
Wayne even attempting twice before success), adding fuel to the normalized
stereotype.
CHARACTERS
Bruce
The
Dark Knight Trilogy
is the story about Bruce Wayne. The Dark Knight Rises is how his story
ends. As mentioned above, the journey of
Bruce Wayne is how he learns to deal with the loss of his parents and the
emptiness that it caused. Starting with Batman Begins, In order to make a
difference in his city, one that makes sure his parent’s death was not in vain,
he adopts the persona of Batman as a symbol to inspire people to be better,
that the people of Gotham are good decent people, just misguided by the
criminals and the corrupt. However, in
the also uses that persona as therapy (to express his anger and suppress his
fear) which fast becomes an addiction as to Rachel’s point The Dark Knight.
When the audience catches up with Bruce
at the beginning of Rises, not only
is he physically the shell of the man he once was, his 8 year “cold turkey”
withdrawal from his Batman addiction coupled with a fresh failure of trying to
help the city as Bruce Wayne has left him in fragile psychological state. Christian Bale (who gives his best
performance here as the character) plays with these aspects, including hints at
possible mental illness, through sporadic mid-sentence accent and inflection
changes in his voice, and mannerisms that suggest dis-associative disorder. Yet, when the chance arises for Bruce to be
Batman again, like an alcoholic falling off the wagon (because the withdrawal
symptoms are so bad) Bruce jumps at the chance.
One of the criticisms of TDKR, especially concerning Bruce Wayne,
is that he has to build himself back into Batman twice in the film, seeming
redundant. I contest that he is not
fully “Batman” in the film until he climbs out of “The Pit”; learning to
embrace fear and life again. Alfred says as much to Bruce on two separate
occasions in the film. First when he attempts to go out as Batman for the first
time:
Alfred: “You can strap
up your leg, and put your mask back on; but that doesn’t make you what
were.”
And
then immediately when Bruce returns
Bruce: “You thought I
didn’t have it in me.”
Alfred: “You don’t. You
lead the cops on a merry chase with a load of new toys from Fox.”
Even before Bruce meets Bane, whenever Bruce
is fighting the League of Shadows, Bale includes subtle signs of effort and
physical straining tin his performance that wasn’t there in the previous films.
Additionally, when he does meet Bane the depths of just how lost he is begins
to sink in as he can do Nothing to injure or hinder Bane.
Bane
was the mechanism by which Bruce was removed from the state of False
Consciousness about his health and abilities that the armor and the weaponry
secured. It was only when he was physically and spiritually broken, stripped
away of all his delusions of grandeur, and his death wish could he hope to
build himself up back into the man that he was; even better than before.[8]
“You will never learn.” – Ra’s al Gul
One of the most consistent character
traits of Nolan’s Bruce Wayne is he constantly underestimates his opponents. He
believes that he can intimidate and bully the Scarecrow in Begins, he is unable to assess The Joker as a dangerous threat at
the start of The Dark Knight and he
believes that Bane is just a mercenary who can be beaten if he just fights hard
enough at the beginning of Rises. While I understand this is more realistic,
this particular character trait leads him to actions or inactions that put him
and or others in danger. This is one aspect of Bruce’s character that I wish
was more influenced by the comics: A Batman so cynical and jaded that he
prepares for every eventual outcome, even betrayal.
Regarding the notion of betrayal, another
departure from the comics is that Nolan’s Bruce Wayne is always looking for the
best in people. This goodness is
rewarded (mostly) with betrayal. Selina betrays him to Bane (to stop them
trying to kill her) and he is betrayed by Miranda once she reveals she is
Talia. Nevertheless both female characters are positioned in the film as
potential romantic partners for Bruce. Yet, out of the two Bruce’s relationship
with Selina is more genuine. They flirt
and have a natural chemistry both in and out of costume. Whereas Miranda (we
find out later) is just preying upon him, seducing him and taking away his edge
as he goes to meet Bane.
It is important to note that while the
inclusion of Selina Kyle in this film was almost an afterthought (Nolan needed
convincing from his brother Jonathan) she is integral in both getting Bruce out
of his state of limbo at the beginning of the film; And, more importantly giving
Bruce a life beyond Batman and Gotham. She represents his first real adult
relationship, and his perfect compliment.
Selina
Selina Kyle in The Dark Knight Rises is Nolan’s representation of feminism. She has agency in both her identity and
sexuality and she is one of if not the first three dimensional female character
in a Nolan film that is a non-archetype/trope.
What is interesting is the way Selina plays off the gendered
expectations that others have using her gender master status[9]
as a way to manipulate the situation and get what she wants. In several instances in the film she uses her sexuality
to disarm her prey (such as Congressman Gilly) or uses frightened female
routine to avoid suspicion. One of the best examples of this is the “Catwoman”
reveal at the beginning of the film. When Bruce Wayne finds her, he startles
her by shooting an arrow by her head. She attempts to act frightened hoping
that will allow her true intensions to be masked. Bruce, being the detective that he is, doesn’t
buy it and Selina has to drop the act.
And with a simple “Oops.” Selina true nature is revealed, and she
captures the attention of both Bruce and the audience.
Unfortunately, there is one aspect
of Selina’s story that is left unresolved in the film, and that is her relationship
with Jen (Juno Temple). I assume this is a call back to the relationship that
Selina has with Holly in Batman: Year One. In the comics, this relationship was forged
out of necessity. Selina and Holly
(again Jen in the film) were prostitutes working under the same sleazy pimp
which causes her to have her first run in with Bruce Wayne (undercover as a
street thug at the time). There are hints at this prostitute backstory in the
way that Jen would lure guys into their apartment and then steal from them.
“Once you’ve done what you’ve had to, they
will never let you do what you want to.” Selina
However, as the film builds to its
climax we do not see Selina and Jen together once Bruce returns to Gotham. It seems like that relationship is dropped
for Selina’s relationship with Bruce. As
a Sociologist that studies gender and sexuality, I am disappointed in Nolan for
not having some type of resolution to this relationship. It would have been nice to see Jen be the one
to lead the people out of the tunnel that Selina unblocked with the Batpod;
then we could get a satisfying character moment between them. Instead the only
female/female friendship in the entire trilogy is cast aside to focus on the
heterosexual romantic love interest. I
do not think this was the intent or even a conscious choice on the part of the
filmmakers, but it is a constant occurrence in films such as these; a
representation of our cultural hetero-normativity denying what Adrianne Rich calls
“The Lesbian Existence”[10]
Bane
“No
one cared who I was until I put on the mask.” Bane
When
Bane was first announced as the main antagonist for The Dark Knight Rises I was a bit skeptical. I did not think he was a terribly fleshed out
character in the comics (at the time I had yet to read Gail Simone’s take on
Bane in Secret Six) and I only knew
him as the person who broke Bruce Wayne’s back and his awful portrayal in Batman and Robin. Yet, the more I heard
about Bane’s role in the film, and the more I read of him in the comics to
prepare, I realized that there was no other choice. I became convinced once Tom
Hardy was cast and I heard that the voice that he was crafting for Bane was
going to be Eastern European with a hint of Irish gypsy. His Bane voice was so good, it became quitepopular among fans.
As I mention in a previous post, a
lot of Batman’s villains (in the comics and in Nolan’s trilogy) are reflections
of himself. Bane in TDKR represents
what Bruce would have become if he would have stayed with Ra’s. His dedication
and humanity would have been warped to serve extreme ecological terrorism. Bane is charismatic, brutal and dedicated. He
inspires loyalty in his subjects and commands respect. This is illustrated in
the opening “Prologue”.
It needs to be mentioned that in the
film, Bane is a person with a disability; he suffers from chronic pain. The
drug venom in the comics is replaced with a narcotic gas that numbs him to the
pain. This allows Bane to go past normal
human body limits and build his body into a devastating weapon because he has
no sense of pain to stop him. Unfortunately
here, Nolan again falls into the disability film trope of the villain having a
physical disability as a short hand to show that he is also evil ( as he did
with The Joker in The Dark Knight). But
even this is turned on its head by the films end. Allowing Bane to be humanized
seeing that he is more like Anakin Skywalker (Darth Vader) than just surface
comparisons.
Talia
I never thought that we would be able to
see Talia al Gul on screen. When Marion
Cotillard was cast, it was the worst kept secret that she was Talia. However, the film is so long, and so much
happens, that you almost forget about it until her reveal. As with her father’s
deception using the alias “Ducard” in Batman
Begins, everything that Talia does as Maranda is in the service of her
overall mission. This is where viewing the film multiple times allows the
viewer to see all of the little sabotages that Talia causes as Maranda:
1)Gaining
the trust of Alfred and Lucius in order to prey on Bruce
2)She
uses her relationship with Bruce to gain access to Wayne Enterprises by
inflating the threat of John Dagget
3) She uses her position at Wayne Enterprises to
gain access to the clean energy project that she can turn into a bomb
4)Exploits
Bruce’s feelings of loss and pain over Rachel and Alfred
5)Sleeps
with Bruce and gives him dreams of a happy future right before confronting Bane
to take his edge off
6)Joins
Gordon’s resistance to gain intel and sabotage all their efforts
She tells Bane where to find
the Special Forces
She marks the wrong
truck that is supposed to have the bomb
She has Gordon and their
men ambushed
All
of this was done as Talia was masquerading as Maranda. But when Talia finally reveals herself. She
is powerful, strong, capable and scary.
She is the only one in the entire trilogy to make Bruce beg; because he
realized that she had won, her deception was near perfect. If Bane is Anakin,
she is the Emperor. The menace that is in the shadows waiting for the right
moment to strike.
Gordon
Gordon, like Bruce, is
emotionally scarred by the events of The
Dark Knight. Keeping up the lie about Harvey Dent for the sake of Gotham
has caused him the loss of his family.[11]
Like so many of our US soldier he is a war hero that does not know how to
adjust to peace time/civilian life. In TDKR, Gordon does share a lot of
similarities with vets of our current western conflict. Not only is he emotionally damaged by his
time at war and his inability to adjust causes him to jump right back into the
fray getting himself hurt in the process. Then, later, he becomes the defacto General
in the War against Bane. It is
unfortunate that, like Bruce, Gordon couldn’t let go of all that he’d seen and
done. I would have liked to see Gordon reunited with his family at the end.
Blake
In my review of Nolan’s The Prestige I mentioned that one of
Nolan’s approaches to filmmaking is treating it like a three part magic trick.
In John Blake he pulls off one of the greatest tricks he has ever attempted.
While we are getting the end of Bruce Wayne’s story, we are also getting the
origin story for John Blake. That origin is a composite of most of the
characters that have donned the persona of “Robin” in the comics Aside from
Stephanie Brown (Robin IV) and Carrie Kelly (Robin VI):
1)John’s
backstory is pulled directly from Jason Todd (Robin II)
2)He
deduces Batman’s identity as Bruce Wayne like Tim Drake (Robin III)
3)He
is a “hot head” like Damien Wayne (Robin V)
4)He
is a cop and he takes up the mantel of Batman like Dick Grayson (Robin I)
At
the end of the film when the assessor asks for his legal name, I was half
expecting to hear one of the names listed above, however when he said “Robin”
that solidified that he was helping Batman throughout the film, like a
sidekick, and that he was going to be Bruce’s successor.
PRODUCTION
Source Material
As
with The Dark Knight,Rises has a lot of different source
material it draws upon from both the comics and from literature:
This was the swan song of Wally Pfister
and Christopher Nolan’s collaboration, and it is the most beautiful film to
date. Sweeping breathless cityscapes to intimate close-ups Pfister gives us
everything. With a total of 72 min of the film shot in IMAX Pfister took what
he leaned on The Dark Knight and Inception and made this film even
better. They had better rigs for the
IMAX cameras, and they found a way to dampen some of its noise. The rest of the film was shot on 35mm and
75mm film to make sure that when they made a photochemical (non-digital)
transfer of the film that the home video viewing experience is as crystal and
clear as the film in the theaters. While I did not particularly like Pfister’s
directorial debut, I would like to see him direct again, or at the very least
collaborate with Nolan on a future project once Interstellar is complete.
Direction
The Dark Knight Rises is Nolan’s greatest
work to date. It is also an illustration of how Nolan masterfully weaves
together large scale scope, and epic visuals with human drama. The immensity of
TDKR only works if you are invested
in the story of Bruce Wayne. Once Nolan has that the scope and scale that he
creates is there to just emphasis and elevate the story itself. He is Brilliant. That is all.
CONCLUSION
This is my favorite Nolan Film to
date.
It is hard to put into words how this film makes me feel every time I see
it. It is as close to a religious
experience as I believe I will ever get (who knows we will see what happens
when I see Interstellar). This film
means more to me than the others in the trilogy because it has an ending. While many Batman fans wanted an out. Meaning
they wanted the end of the story that wasn’t an end, desiring instead to have
Batman’s mission be everlasting. Nolan
never set out to tell that story, and there were hints at it from the very beginning
of the trilogy. I wanted an ending, I
wanted the three act structure to be complete. When stories continue, (going on
sometimes for 10 years) they lose their value. By ending the story in a (very)
satisfying way, Nolan not only protects his vision of Batman, (From the Studio
and Zack Snyder) but gives us a complete understanding of Bruce Wayne and
Batman that can never be repeated. This
is the end to my definitive Batman on Film.
I may have to wade through a lot of crap in the future (looks like a
tons worth). But this series of films,
and The Dark Knight Rises in
particular will always show me that Batman has been given his due.
[1]It was quite
clear, based upon the negative fan reaction to the aforementioned 8 year gap
between TDK and Rises that many fans did not expect nor want Batman’s story to end
because Batman’s story in the comics; is endless. However, this is more so a
function of the comics industry’s need to constantly sell more monthly comic
books rather than Bruce’s mission being completely without end.
[2] I
too was in a midnight screening of the film. I will cover this as well as my
personal reactions to the tragedy and the entire Batman mythos in a later post
covering the entire trilogy.
[3]I mentioned in my review of Batman Begins that Bruce uses the
persona of Batman as a coping mechanism to deal with the loss of his parents
and to control and focus his Fear.
In The Dark Knight Bruce learns that
he has to be humble and altruistically sacrifice himself and his reputation, to
eliminate Chaos. By The Dark Knight Rises the questions are
raised as to how healthy Batman has become for Bruce Wayne’s psyche, and how
long can a person hold onto, and let Pain
rule his life?
[4]In that moment, Bruce is reborn.
This is a direct reference to “The Lazarus Pit” in the comics which allowed
Ra’s al Gul to heal injuries and reach immortality. Here, being able to climb
out of “The Pit” has similarly rejuvenated Bruce.
[5]If Bane really wanted to
revolutionize Gotham by eliminating Capitalism, he would have to come up with a
successor system to it; such as David Schweickart’s “Economic Democracy”
[7]There are many
names for this idea. My favorite is from Patricia Hill Collins who calls this
“The Matrix of Domination”.
[8] This
too is also a reference in the comics to rebirth of a character as they rise
from “The Lazarus Pit.”, a pool with unknown chemicals that has allowed Ra’s
(and a few others) to cheat death. The
Rebirth of Batman, in such a way in the film, is a nice Easter egg for fans.
[9][9] Master status: The collection of
certain social statuses whose assumptions, above all other statuses, affects
how other individuals react to you and interact with you. Master status includes: Age Race, Ethnicity,
Gender, Sexuality, Disability
[10]The Lesbian Existence is the idea that
women can gain more power, authority and capital (in all its forms) through
their relationships with other women. However, Rich states that this power is
denied to women through “compulsory heterosexuality” which, in part, teaches
women to value their relationships with men over their relationships with
women. This is one reason why women are
socialized to hate other women, because they see other women as competition for
male attention.
[11] As
a side note: How do you know Gotham is the worst city in the world? Those that
try to escape it move to Cleveland!!!
