''Someone asked Christopher that question yesterday, and he said he didn't intentionally think of anything political in the development of the story. So I think the politics here, if there are any, is like art or beauty, it's largely in the eye of the beholder''
Only Morgan Freeman could have
put it in such an eloquent manner when asked about the underlying political
themes in the Batman series directed by Christopher Nolan.
I must admit, I’ve always felt
there was a very deep political motive in the modern Batman series throughout.
And now reading the storyline for the third one, I have to say that these three
movies present a very interesting study on the everlasting struggle between
good and bad in human societies.
Somewhat the underlying similarities between the ideologies of ‘The League of Shadows’ and the modern ‘Al Qaeda’ phenomena of ‘correcting a society with extreme measures’ are undeniable, the oddly attractive concept of ‘breaking it’ to make it better.
Ras Al Ghul (brilliantly played
by Liam Neeson) has a distinctive vision on how a broken society can be mended –
if it’s beyond repair the only way to get it sorted is to destroy it and start
again. Name it revolution, uprising, revolt or anarchy. If you need a change
for the system, then that system has to be uprooted in its entirety; probably
taking a good chunk of everything including ‘human lives’ with it. (Do we know a society which is beyond repair??)
Then the second part contains the
brilliant ‘joker’, the epitome of ‘chaos’! Where you don’t know who is who and
what is what. The ‘two faced’ nature of different forces in society, good
becomes evil and evil veils as good.
Why the joker is the prime
example of chaos? Apart from his most famous ‘why so serious’ line – I think
the conversation between Alfred and Bruce Wayne says a lot about him:
‘With respect Master Wayne, perhaps this is a man that *you* don't fully understand, either. A long time ago, I was in Burma. My friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So, we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never met anybody who traded with him. One day, I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
So why steal them?
Well, because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn’
This is the character that has befallen many societies; Temujin,
Atilla, Hitler, Stalin, Mladic. They are the ‘Gotham jokers’ of our real world
- they never had any logic, any ideology, any objective – they just
wanted to see the world burn!
And now comes the last part – the final
and by far the worst destroyer of modern human society. ‘Fear’ – arguably Bane
is more about brute force wearing a mask which pumps anaesthetics in his body
all the time. But more than his force it is the ‘fear’ which gives him the unchallenged
control over the whole city.
Potentially ‘Fear’ is far more
destructive for a human society than anarchy or chaos. Because fear doesn’t
physically damage the society; it makes it mentally dead.
Unable to think clearly, unable to
breathe openly, unable to express freely. It’s fear that annihilates the very
fabric of human nature that allows us to differentiate ourselves from animals
by living with each other in peace and harmony. It might not limit social
interaction but it takes out the love in that interaction. It preys on human
thoughts, ideas, creativity and slowly consumes the whole ‘soul’ of societies leaving
them nothing other than a mechanically manufactured structure void of emotions
and feelings.
What all is left behind is a soul-less
framework of human droids who only want to survive for themselves. Their
existence is limited to earning a livelihood and then consuming it for their
own selves.
The prime example? Nothing other
than my own birthplace! The city I’ve cherished throughout my life, the place
where I learned to dream, the glowing coast where I found the beauty of nature,
the place where moon-soons brought a new meaning to joy for me after the tantalising
heat. My childhood retreat, my summer holiday destination, the city which
spread colours in my eids, the streets which gave a new meaning to ‘playgrounds’
, the ‘bride’ of cities, the city of lights, joys, memories, delicious foods,
bustling bazaars. The city like no other city in the world…Karachi!
Fear, fear of MQM, Altaf and his band of killers has destroyed my city! Yet it is all lost now!
Though Gotham is just a fictional
place, but look closely and you will see the similarities between the famous
Hollywood town with the city of Karachi. Corrupt officials, disillusioned elite,
fractious neighbourhoods, gangs and local ‘warlords’ and then to add on it the ‘fearful’
ordinary humans.
A mentally ill man who is sitting hundreds of miles away gives a call for a strike in the city and there is not a single shop open throughout the number of malls and bazaars. He has the power to appear on every single media channel for 5 consecutive hours without any commercial break, thousands gather like cattle sheep on his single call for a ‘rally’. Every single member of his so-called political party cannot even utter a word anywhere without first mentioning his name and thanking him for 5-10 times continuously. Parks, roads, highways are named in his honour, on the name of his mother, family, relatives and there is no one who can say a word against it. He has the power to order killing of anyone, the power to have a foreign national become a governor of his province for more than 10 years, he can get journalists killed, businessmen held on ransom, appear on TV channels whenever he likes and sing/dance/tell stories of his liking to a crowd of human robots who clap absent-mindedly on his every move. Chant slogans of his name after every pause, thanks him for everything in their lives more than they even might be thankful to their creator.
Why is that all?? Just because of
‘fear’ – people of Karachi right from the first day of MQM’s creation in 1980’s
have stumbled against this fear; gradually losing their senses, feelings,
emotions, thoughts and finally ‘souls’ to this monster.
Now they are numbed, completely
senseless and limited to their own existence. People in Karachi are now slaves
of their own fear. They endure strikes, target killings, bhatta, ghunda gardi,
loss of peace and harmony but don’t make a single noise, don’t take a single
action and continue living a cursed life.
The fear of MQM has taken the
better of them!
How will this change?? Anarchy??
Chaos?? Or become the fear of their fears??
Are they happy with the
compromise they have made with their fears or they want to rise again and be
the Karachi that it once was??
The choice is in their own hands…
‘Took quite a fall, didn't we, Master Bruce?
.
.
.
And why do we fall, Bruce?
So we can learn to pick ourselves up’
