The Joker: 'I'm Just Ahead of the Game'

The Dark Knight Rises wallpaper (unknown artist; source)

By Thomas Neuburger

“In the considered opinion of the Montagnais-Naskapi, however, the French were little better than slaves, living in constant terror of their superiors.” —Graeber and Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything, on 17th century Americans’ view of the West

“I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.” —Heath Ledger’s Joker in The Dark Knight Rises

I’ve been a fan of Alex Berenson since I discovered his John Wells thrillers a while ago. He’s quite a good writer, whatever else he may be. A Trumpist, he’s made a name for himself as a strong Covid vaccine skeptic (I find he finds interesting facts, but don’t share his conclusions), among other positions others might strongly oppose. But we’re nothing if not heterodox ourselves here at God’s Spies — consider this climate take as one example — so I take good ideas from everywhere they occur.

One such idea is the following, from the aforementioned Berenson. He ties the “state of the world” in the 2012 Dark Knight film to what Trump is doing to Venezuelan boats, to which he objects. I too disagree with the murderer Trump’s assaults (Berenson and I both use that word). But it’s the Dark Knight section of the post I want to feature.

I think Berenson’s right: Just as in The Dark Knight Rises, a film whose main point is to picture a whole world gone mad, we ourselves have entered the last stage of madness in charge — the complete descent of the asylum to degenerate rule.

The degenerates, of course, are the wealthy, the 0.001% — the thousand or so people whose lock-jaw vice grip pliers are glued to our throats. They’re addled and crazed, of course, but you knew that, right?

Berenson on the implications of the Dark Knight world:

The Dark Knight is based on the Batman series, of course. But calling it a comic-book movie is like calling Shohei Otani a baseball player. Its brilliant acting does not hide its bleak worldview. It insists the line between civilization and madness is paper-thin and that in fighting monsters, we must not become them. … In the movie’s most iconic scene, the Joker — played by Heath Ledger in what would be his final completed role — mocks Batman for his “one rule.” Though neither man says so aloud, the rule is that Batman never kills his enemies. He captures them and hands them to the police for arrest and justice. But police officers in Gotham City have repeatedly proven unreliable and corrupt. Worse, the Joker tells Batman the citizens he’s fighting for do not care about his strictures[.]

The film, and Berenson, contrasts Batman’s “one rule” with the rule of the whole establishment side of the world, which is no rule at all for themselves. What the Joker says of all men is certainly wrong, but it’s certainly true of our masters. Their hubris is over the top, and the Trump wrecking crew, the madmen Miller and Rubio, Hegseth et al — backed by the Silicon Crazed — is their almost cartoonish final representation.

The Joker: Don’t talk like you’re one of them! You’re not... even if you’d like to be. To them you’re just a freak, like me. They need you right now, but when they don’t they’ll cast you out, like a leper. See, their morals, their “code”... it’s a bad joke, dropped at the first sign of trouble. They’re only as good as the world allows them to be. I’ll show you — when the chips are down, these “civilized people”? They’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster. I’m just ahead of the curve.

Albert Pennyworth: Some men aren’t looking for anything logical, like money. They can’t be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

They don’t mind if it all burns away, so long as they’re still in charge. Sadly, that's literally true.