Why Did Batman Fail?

I have watched Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) many times, and have always wondered why Batman saves Harvey Dent after he clearly says he is going for Rachel. I mean it makes sense for him to save Harvey, because Harvey means more to the city then Rachel. Batman always does what is right after all. However, Batman is in love with Rachel. I guess my mistake was not realizing the Joker knew it.

The Joker simply lied; he wanted Harvey to survive so that he could corrupt him, yadda yadda yadda. Or, perhaps he wanted to show Batman that he was corruptible. Saving Rachel is a selfish decision. Either way, Nolan often uses deceptive characters in his movies, and rarely lets the audience in on what is a lie, and what isn’t. The funny part is that in this case is the Joker lie is not confusing because of the actual lie, he is supposed to lie. The reason it’s confusing is because Batman doesn’t catch the lie, he lost the fight with the Joker because he broke character. The hero is supposed to be the master of his emotions doing what is right for the right reasons, but as a result of his blinding love he fell for the Jokers trap.

So why do they call him the Joker? A question asked twice, in the beginning of the film, and then later. We are given two succinct answers. The problem is both answers given are different, and both told by the Joker, a known liar. But, neither answer is incorrect, it’s just the question isn’t being asked right.

The Joker doesn’t wear a traditional mask, because the striking white paint-look is just his skin. Another way of looking at it is he is always wearing a mask, and as V in V for Vendetta says: “Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.” There is no point in asking a masked man who he is, because he put on a mask so that his whoness would be contingent on his whatness. The Joker is not a who, he is a what, he is the personification of comedy.

The aim of comedy in theater is to use jokes to release the audience from the play’s stressors. The jokes work by poking holes in the logic of the preceding events, “comedy is one kind of exemplification that nothing actual is wholly logical.”[1] That is to say funny things are funny because the things we believe, rules we follow, and situations we find our selves in are often ridiculous. Once we see that what we do is silly we relax and stop taking it all so seriously. Comedy is essentially chaos in constant war with order.

Comedy stands a fighting chance against Batman, because Batman is the unbreakable rules. Batman doesn’t have powers; he is no godlike superman. Instead he is a man attempting to uphold a creed of unshakeable morality. The issue with morality is when it is analyzed with some humor, it looks a lot like silly superstitions. Philippa Foot likened moral imperatives to rules of a club, those rules only hold weight if one cares about being part of the club. Batman learned this lesson when he was presented with something he cared about more then his imaginary rules. He lost the battle.

[1] The Meaning of Comedy James Feibleman The Journal of Philosophy Vol. 35, No. 16 (Aug. 4, 1938) , pp. 421-432 Published by: Journal of Philosophy, Inc. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2017538