Sunday 22 July 2012

Inspired by a Dark Knight Rises

Often I write to express feelings of emotion, sometimes happy, sometimes sad but not usually of observation and insight... well, tonight is different. I felt compelled to write my thoughts and perception of the world and how a film incites thought.

Dark Knight Rises was a better than average film that followed very nicely from its predecessor, The Dark Knight. But it's not the overall film that spawned my thoughts and drove me to consider the premise of the loss of law and order.

For those who have not seen the film the basic synopsis is of good versus evil, order versus chaos... but is it really those things? 

We live in a society where our actions are governed by abiding to laws and morals. These are set by the people that sit in positions of higher power. We have to live by these laws because we supposedly 'elected' these people to rule, to govern, to ensure equality and continual existence of the human race. 

The film flips this upside down and the powers that be, depicted as the wealthy, are usurped by thugs who trap the normal 'peace keepers' (the police) and allows the 'baddies' to take power through fear and agression. What evolves is a 'new order' where the 'people' run the city of Gotham. How they run is by common law akin to communist rule. One leader, self elected, where law is delivered by tanks and guns. 

Criminals are now running the city and brandishing their own 'laws'. It is at this point that the 'rebels' against this new dictator fight back. In this case the 'rebels' are the police and of course Batman. 

Now what I see is the people in power oppressing the weak and the weak fighting back. This is no different to how the film started where the main antagonist was starting the rebellion and plotting and planning in order to take power.

History is wrought with 'evil dictators' trying to rise up and take power... to lead their people to rule the world. The more they are oppressed, the more they fight back.

My words are not truly reflecting my thoughts at the moment and I am writing my immediate thoughts rather than through planning. But my basic impression is that the the people in power are often the rich and it is the poor who suffer and have to resort to more 'old skool' violence. This is compounded by the current state of the economy where countries are crumbling but the rich continue to get rich whilst the poor get poorer. And as if to compound this thought train the BBC website just published an article claiming the wealthy have over $21tn ($21,000,000,000,000) stashed away, equivalent to the combined economies of Japan and USA! 

Is there a need for such wealth? What is the money doing? How about giving away 10% of this wealth? Would they really miss it? Would it affect their lifestyle?

To be honest, it's not like I come from a poor family and we're probably better off than many people, but we're far from being millionaires or anything. I live a comfortable life with an above average salary and family backing that will allow me to retire without the reliance on state pensions. Middle of the line makes me feel indifferent about the rich and the poor. 

But it is this lethargy that is destroying our economy.