Hancock

Okay, this one's interesting too.

Hancock is clearly the USA. He is a superhero (superpower), he has the eagle hat, and then there's his name--think Declaration of Independence.

(Interestingly Dark Knight paints the US as a troubled superhero as well.)

Here's the message I got from this movie: The US used to be a force for good, but now has become self-absorbed, jaded, and hopeless. Part of the blame seems to go to the world for lack of support, and part seems to go to the US itself, just for having a bad attitude.

The message seems to be that with a little support and a good PR campaign, the US can regain it's stature and self-confidence as a moral powerhouse. Overall, a pretty positive outlook.

I can't decide if the girlfriend superhero is supposed to be a metaphor. Maybe even a certain country? Most of the analogy in this flick seems to fall apart if you go very far with it. Any thoughts? What am I missing?

The Dark Knight

Now this was an interesting movie. It seemed pretty political to me.

Batman is a metaphor for America, and the Joker represents Islamic terrorism. There are a lot of clues to this in their characters and it’s important to keep in mind as you watch the movie.

Batman is portrayed with a seriously flawed character. He doesn’t do things b/c they are right. Rather he tends to react emotionally in a reckless manner, to satisfy his selfish interests.

When he beats up the Joker in his prison cell, Batman is acting out of personal anger, not justice. He is not trying to get information to save innocent citizens, but is only frantically trying to save the girl he loves. It is made clear that he is in a state of rage—that he is out of control.

Also, he makes the wrong choice. He selfishly chooses rescuing his girl over Dent, who is the hope to save all of Gotham.

Interestingly, Gotham acknowledges that Batman’s dirty work was necessary, but now they want Harvey Dent and a new era. At the end, the authorities of Gotham say something like “Batman will have to pay for his crimes eventually.” Keeping the movie’s metaphors in mind, I think this is actually a pretty sinister statement.

Then there is the “sonar” issue between Batman and Morgan Freeman. It appears to argue both sides of the “government spying on citizens” debate, but ultimately gives the moral high ground to Morgan F. who represents the liberal position. Morgan does agree to do it “just this once,” but it’s still clearly the wrong thing to do and he announces his resignation. Pointedly, the invention later goes haywire on Batman and almost gets him killed.

On a side note—Joker destroying the batmobile with a bazooka represents 9/11. Batman is baffled, afraid and full of self-doubt after encountering the Joker. He can deal with street criminals, but not terrorists. He plans to resign—to just give up. Kind of lame, to say the least.

Also, note that at the end of the movie, Batman departs in the much more modest (and vulnerable) batcycle.

One more thing: I think at times in the movie Batman specifically represents the Bush administration rather than the US in general.