Abstract
As the Israeli military intensified its violence in Gaza in late 2023, Christopher Nolan’s new movie Oppenheimer began to gain Oscar buzz. This essay analyzes one of Nolan’s previous films, his Batman blockbuster The Dark Knight, in relation to Israeli and American military violence in the Middle East. To justify their enhanced military violence the Israeli government, just as the American government did during the Bush-era War on Terror, deploy the geopolitical script that exceptional measures must be taken to defeat the penultimate evil of the radical Islamist terrorist. I analyze The Dark Knight as if it were a social science essay which has as its thesis statement the argument that the state of exception is justified to protect society from the ‘other’ in the form of the terrorist. I will demonstrate how Nolan, unlike an academic essay, makes his argument by using cinematography, dialogue, sound, narrative structure, and character development. While Nolan masterfully uses the tools of his medium, the argument itself that the film makes is wrong when applied to the real-world applications of Iraq and Gaza. Ultimately, I frame Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight as a geopolitical essay, funded by Hollywood corporate-capital, that argues in support of the War on Terror waged by the American and Israeli militaries.
Recommended Citation
Dodge, Clarence P. Jr
(2024)
"The Geopolitics of The Dark Knight,"
Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 12:
Iss.
2, Article 8.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol12/iss2/8
Included in
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