In my original post, I intentionally did not tell a story, because I wanted to write a straight-up review of the movie, and not introduce the rest of you to my personal bias. In light of Friday, now seems to be the time to tell it.
When the last Dark Knight movie came out, I had this friend, who shall remain nameless to protect myself and him. This friend saw the trailers hundreds of times. He especially watched and memorized a TV special that came out before hand on the psychology of Batman and this Joker (more on that in a minute). He then watched the movie, FOUR TIMES in the opening week.
This friend became obsessed with the Dark Knight. It changed his mood and behavior. He became darker, strange, even creepy.
Now this friend had once been a Christian, and we talked a lot about faith. But the Dark Knight changed that too.
Here's what happened. As I mentioned, the TV special explained the basic differences this way: Batman saw that the world was unjust, and sought to make things right. The Christopher Nolan Joker saw the world as unjust, and sought to prove it, especially to Batman. That is why he tried to corrupt Batman and Harvey.
My friend, as I said, became obsessed. And eventually he told me that the Joker was right. He got kicked out of his parents house, which he saw as unjust (I cannot speak one way or the other). I began talking to him ever week, witnessing first hand his downward spiral. Eventually he determined that all parents were selfish and evil for wanting to bring children into such a cruel world, and that abortion was merciful. I saw this as a cry for help, him wishing that he had never been born, but blaming others. He quickly sought to justify himself by blaming others for all his problems, taking no accountability for his own actions.
Eventually, this friend deteriorated to the point of calling God evil for ever creating humanity. At this point, he had gotten so bad, refusing to get the professional help that he needed, I decided that for my own safety and sanity, that I could not continue this friendship. I sent him an e-mail telling him that I loved him like a brother, but I loved him too much to watch him destroy himself, and loved God too much to listen to him talk about Him like that. I have not spoken to him since, nor read any e-mail nor facebook message he sent me. And this is one of the greatest pains I ever knew.
Why am I telling you this? Because when I heard the initial reports, I feared this young man was the shooter. When they said it was a 24 year old with Tennessee plates, my heart sank further. Fortunately, it was not the same young man. That said, I have seen firsthand the psychological damage that these movies can do, something I have never experienced before. As much as I loved "Batman Begins," it is the beginning and end of this story franchise to me. I feel pity for this wacko who shot 60 people, believing he is in fact the Joker. That's right. My initial anger and fear turned quickly to pity (after a day or so), though I still float back to anger frequently. But I guess my familiarity with someone so similar to the shooter just wrenches my guts in conflicting ways.
That said, look for two more posts on this issue coming after this one. The first being Where is God in Tragedy? and the other being On the Subject of Gun Control.
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