Politicizing Batman

Newsweek's article interview with director Christopher Nolan is quite telling of Heath Ledger's characterization for the Joker, Katie's second chance at Rachel Dawes, and so forth. What upset me was the politicization of the movie, at the hands of Newsweek:

NW: The film implies that Gotham's latest wave of psychos exist partly because of Batman, not in spite of him. his presence has unintended consequences in the same way that the U.S. presence in Iraq has consequences. (Here we go.)
CN: At the end of the first film we introduced the idea of escalation. Batman creates this extreme response to crime in Gotham - putting on a mask and jumping off rooftops. Well, what's that going to inspire from the criminals he's fighting? Batman has chnaged the world, but not all for the better. The use of force against an enemy is a tricky and fascinating thing to have in a story. And the film tries to make the point that everybody loses in these situations.

What's your point, Gordon? To make a political statement out of a movie, or drag one out of a director?

NW: So it's not a stretch to look at Gotham and see shades of Baghdad? (Yeah it's a stretch, back off).
CN: Well, where I suppose I would see a parallel is the threat of chaos, which is something we very much deal with in this film. And in today's world, Baghdad is a powerful illustration of that. It's frightening to imagine in one of our own cities.

Good for you, Nolan.

NW: This is heavy stuff for a summer blockbuster.CN: [Laughs] In a way, but I hope it's also entertaining stuff. All of the political echoes that we're talking about—they're all things that rattle around in your brain afterward. The movie itself aims to be entertainment. But you've got to have some real fear that things are not going to turn out well. What we're trying for is genuine peril.

After all that effort on the part of the interviewer, Devin Gordon, he didn't get what he wanted. What is most frustrating is that he tried. I agree movies- and in this case a Film like Batman - have deeper meanings and greater underlying statements about the world around us. But to try to draw a parallel to our presence in Iraq is unnecessary for this movie.

If anything, the US presence in Iraq is the positive effect of Batman, fighting the extremists who wish to destroy the world. Let's recognize our Soldiers as the Dark Nights.