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Hero Worship Hero Worship

The Dark Knight perpetuates America's hero confusion.

Collin Hansen | posted 8/25/2008 09:42AM

Americans love our heroes. But we are a little confused about what we should expect from them. We celebrate Michael Phelps's record-breaking achievements of human strength and endurance. And yet we wonder ...

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JVK	Posted: August 26, 2008 11:50 AM

Pretty one-sided review. Consider the unselfishness of the Gothamites (including criminals!) who refuse to blow up each other's ferries: they sacrifice their security for the sake of moral principle. Likewise, Batman unselfishly saves Dent rather than Rachel, his old flame, and later unselfishly becomes Gotham's scapegoat. All of the above shows genuine character, not mere rule-conformity. Dent, on the other hand, has a brittle moral character that cracks under pressure. He's close to the Pharisees of the New Testament: self-righteous, dexterous with the law, and lacking the inner moral fiber to resist when evil deforms him (both physically and spiritually) into a selfish avenger of his own trampled rights.

Joshua Cookingham

Posted: August 26, 2008 7:53 AM

And yet...Batman struggles but does not succumb. Jesus was tempted and did not sin. I'm not saying that Batman is any where near Jesus's level. But he doesn't fight for glory or just for the sake of fighting, He fights to protect. It's not worship that we feel for Batman, Spiderman and co. it's admiration. Admiration that those who have been given the power to protect and serve are flawed and yet they choose to do right.

K. Scot Sparks

Posted: August 26, 2008 7:45 AM

Among many other things, the film began to neutralize the notion 'hero' by skirting senses as popular as they are simplistic (concerning what the human being is -morally and spiritually). The Knight, the DA, Gordon, AND the floating masses refuse to meet non-nuanced expectation. Does the film suggest that the authentic Hero is not extant -in the flesh? Perhaps it tacitly leaves room for the true Hero (and Lamb of God) -in all his redefining presence. Self heroizing impulses get appealled to -from pulpits and books far too often. As improperly, such appeals are read back into scripture. While this arena does not have a corner on the macho narcissism so typically and wrongly associated with 'hero,' such fixation in/near Christ's 'upside-down' kingdom should be recognized as the irony it is. The Dark Knight film sometimes brought reminders about the simultaneous if not perpetual depths of goodness and evil -of each and every one. (-Yes, there's a Solzynitzyn quote in there.)

Siew Lim

Posted: August 25, 2008 11:07 PM


I'm not an American, so can't comment on the American hero, although I do think that Americans in general hero-worship quite a bit. But watching 'Dark Knight' actually led me to think about the depravity of mankind and the need for Jesus and how does the sense of justice work in us.

Timothy Law

Posted: August 25, 2008 10:07 PM


You watch too many movies.

Paul Maurice Martin

Posted: August 25, 2008 6:37 PM


It seems to me that America's hero worship is expressed mainly as celebrity worship - doubly unfortunate. It can be a substitute for aiming high with one's own life as a form of vicarious living; and there is often an assumption that celebrity status or fame in itself is something to admire.

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