Last week when the box office reports came back and said that Batman: The Dark Knight not only had the largest grossing opening weekend of all time (just over $158 million) but had also been the fastest movie to $300 million (beating out Pirates of the Caribean: Dead Man’s Chest), I have to say, being the superhero fan that I am, I was pleased and surprised. This week much of the same story continues. Batman is literally rewriting the record books, leaving the movie industry in ecstatic and joyful disarray wondering why this movie is doing so well. When the numbers come in tomorrow, this movie will have made it to $400 million in just eighteen days, beating the previous record holder, Shrek 2, by over two weeks! And there are only seven other movies that have ever made over $400 million! Many are predicting that this movie will beat Titanic as the highest grossing movie of all time. Granted, there are ticket inflation prices that need to be taken into consideration, but its success is leaving a lot of people scratching their heads, including me.

Why is Batman making so much money?

At first, we could say that there was a lot of hype about Heath Ledger. As you know, his portrayal of the Joker was his last film before his tragic death. But this, many analysts are saying, could only account for the first weeks numbers. That Batman continues to break records demonstrates that there is something more going on.

Being in ministry, I look intently at culture. Being a bearer of the Gospel requires that we keep our finger on the pulse of the world to see what is going on, how people are thinking, and why people do what they do—including going to the movies.

I go to see superhero movies because they, when done well, inspire me. They send messages of self-sacrifice, goodness in the face of evil, change, and endurance. With a lack of heroes in today’s world, it is nice to escape to a make believe world and let the idealist in me become drunk with a reality that is too often hard to find.

But I don’t think this is why The Dark Knight is doing so well.

While I discounted the theory that says this movie is simply serving as a Heath Ledger memorial service, I do believe that the character he played is what is bringing people in—The Joker. The Dark Knight was an extremely well written movie from beginning to end. The Batman was tremendous and represented all the characteristics we like to see in a superhero. But the movie was not really about him. It was about the Batman and the Joker, and the focus to understand Batman was ployed by The Joker. In this, he became the central character of the movie. The focus of our attention.

The Joker was everything a villain is supposed to be. Evil, sadistic, ruthless, and cold. But there was something else. He had something that no other villain has. A characteristic which is an anti-characteristic. In fact, the point of the Joker was that who he was made no sense. Why did he kill? Why was he bent on destruction? Why did he hate? What did he hate? Did he even hate? What is his motivation? We know why Batman is who he is (the death of his parents at the hand of a thief), but we don’t have a history on file for The Joker. The movie leads you. It tricks you. It turns you into the Worlds Greatest Detective in that you are seeking, along with Batman, to know why The Joker does what he does. Once you think you have him figured out, once you have answered the “why?” question, you, along with Batman, find out that you took a wrong turn. The Joker was not in the game for money, power, women, fame, or any other hope, good or bad, that you could pin on him. He was not seeking to “win.” There was no “deep down inside . . .” to figure out with him. Each time death presented itself to him, he laughed as if it was simply a continuation of some adventure. In the end, the gruesome realization is that there is no reason why The Joker was who he was. And that was the point of the movie.

Fascinating. Dark. Frightening. A horror movie unlike any other. Some might even call this movie prophetic. Not prophetic in the sense that we are seeing what our future holds, but prophetic in the sense that this movie reveals with the most vivid illustration ever put on film what utter nothingness looks like.

In the character of The Joker, our culture looks into the mirror and sees what it is becoming. Nihilism is what it is sometimes called. Nihilism is the anti-philosophy of a world that has no hope, no motives, no standards, and no values. The Joker is the Nihilist who believes in nothing, cares for nothing, and pursues nothing. At one point The Jokers says, “I have no plans. I am like a dog chasing a car. I would not know what to do if I caught it.” There is no rationalism because there is no such thing as order, reason, or ends that create purpose. It is just the moment, and the moment is ruled by randomness.

Our postmodern culture may see itself in the character of The Joker. Like a person who has not seen his face in many years, we are going to the mirror to take a look.

Is our culture nihilistic like The Joker? This is a good question that I cannot answer. What I can say is that we have been heading in that direction for quite some time. John Hannah calls this age the “age of despair.” The Joker is the next step. It is when the despair turns to apathy and we are what we are and we don’t care what we become. With the deconstruction of morals, truth, knowledge, revelation, and the like, is it any surprise that so many people are going to look in the mirror?

That is my two cents.

Why do you think Batman is making so much money?

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