Hidden Inspiration of The 'The Dark Knight' Hollywood Movie

Terrorism and counterterrorism have long been a source from which Hollywood draw a inspiration to create movies. The Dark Knight is no exception. The Dark Knight (a piece of popular culture) sheds light on the justice system in our post-9/11 world. Popular culture does not only reflect social status, but it also influences the way in which people view the law. Speaking from personal experience, I believe this is due to people having little to no direct experience with the law and legal issues, meaning that much of our knowledge is second-hand and often leached from pop culture. On the other hand, popular culture is used as a tool by people in power as a result from it being easily accessible to the public. This gives pop culture the power to shape people’s views about the law, justice, terrorism and the legal issues that come as a result of it.

The Dark Knight is the second movie from Nolan’s Batman series. Nolan uses the classic story in which Bruce witnesses the murder of his two parents. This catastrophe causes a seed to grow within Bruce which eventually leads to him becoming Batman. Batman has no superhuman powers like Superman, however, Batman is at the peak of human strength & martial arts skills, which are nothing to be trifled with. Not to mention the cool technology he has access to, such as the batmobile, and the phone surveillance Sonar system that taps into people’s cell phones to create a live map of sorts. This all melds together in beautiful fashion when Batman kidnaps Gothams mob’s money-launderer, Lau, from Hong Kong. In gorgeous fashion, Bruce escapes by using a skyhook which is then swept by a jumbo plane while defending into the night sky. Once Lau is arrested, he testifies against the mob (his clients) in exchange for freedom and a private plane back to Hong Kong. As a result of Lau snitching on the mob bosses, they decide to take up the offer of the Joker (to kill Batman for half of mobs fortune).

Enter: The Joker. Joker starts his reign of terror in Gotham delivering his promise to kill innocent people until Batman reveals his identity. His killing spree begins with one of Batman’s impersonators followed by the Judge who sentenced the mobsters under Laus testimony. After having killed both the impersonator & theJudge, the Joker targets the Police Commissioner and District Attorney Harvey Dent. Although the joker succeeded in killing the previous targets; Bruce managed to preventive the Joker's goons from capturing Harvey.

Bruce, unable to bear the responsibility for the death of innocent civilians at the hands of the Joker, prepares to reveal his secret identity. Dent, who is against Batman revealing his identity, tries to ease the publics demand that Batman reveal his identity. This forces Dent’s hand: Dent claims that he is Batman and is taken into custody. As Dent is being transported to jail, the Joker attacks. However, the real Batman appears and manages to capture the Joker. Later, at the police station, Batman viciously attacks the Joker after the Joker reveals that his goons have taken both Dent and Assistant District Attorney Rachel hostage. The Joker reveals their locations knowing that Batman does not have time to save both. Batman chooses to save Rachael, However, the Joker lied and that lie ultimately lead Batman to Dent’s location instead of Rachels. Batman manages to save Dents life and Rachael is killed before Gordon can reach her. While this unfolds, it is revealed the Joker, who planned to be arrested all along, escapes.

At Gotham General Hospital, the Joker confronts an injured Dent. Dent has been scarred and half of his face is disfigured, and the emotional trauma he has suffered causes him to descend into the dark side. Both the Joker and Dent leave before the Joker triggers an explosion that destroys the entire hospital. From this point on, Dent is the villain Two-Face and gets vengeance to those who he holds responsible for Rachel’s death.

In the movies final scenes, the Joker declares that he controls Gotham and that anyone who wants to leave should abandon the city immediately. Now, you might ask yourself “how does this all relate to our post 9/11 world?”. Batman who is increasingly growing helpless has to resort to doing illegal acts so that he could put an end to the joker and the domestic terror he’s havoking. how does he do this? By developing technology that uses sonar images from civilians' cell phones to fight crime (wiretapping privileges granted via the Patriot Act). I believe the dark jj ugh was meant to show us that freedom and liberty come at a cost. A cost that many were not aware of, the cost of losing ones privacy. .