THE Dark Knight Rises is a film about a man dressed as a bat who drives a silly car, it has emerged.
Director Christopher Nolan’s latest epic has prompted intense speculation from critics searching for socio-political meaning behind the images of a man in a costume hitting people and running away from explosions.
The Guardian’s Tom Logan suggested that Batman’s batarang was symbolic of the means of production, which always returns to the hands of the bourgeousie. Meanwhile in America, right-wing commentator Rush Limbaugh believes gay socialist supervillain creators invented baddie Bane in 1993 on the off-chance that Mitt Romney would start a similar-sounding company years later, which would then look evil.
There has also been speculation about the film’s Nietzchean aspects. Film critic Nathan Muir said: “This film will see Batman coming to terms with the darkness in his soul, and going on a redemptive emotional journey to the heart of his tortured psyche. While dressed in a bat costume.”
But the letters of Batman creator Bob Kane reveal that character was inspired simply by things that seemed cool at the time.
He wrote to his editor at DC Comics: “Had this idea for a character called Bat-Guy. He beats people up.”
The reply came: “Cool. Can he have a jazzy car that comes out of a cave?”
Kane wrote back: “Yes he can.”
Christopher Nolan said: “It’s up to the audience to make their own minds up. Is it a just superhero movie? Or is there something deeper?
“The way I’ve shot it, it’s pretty hard to make out what’s going on, which adds to the intrigue.”
