Moral Relativism in the Dark Knight
Moral Realism v. Moral Relativism In the movie The Dark Knight, Batman is faced with a new challenge—dealing with the Joker. Batman, and the city of Gotham, views the Joker as a mysterious, sadistic criminal who is a freak of nature. However, the challenge becomes very personal for Batman as the Joker confronts Batman about everything he believes in. The Joker does this because he has a very relativistic view on life. Even though he murders innocent people, tortures others for amusement, and manipulates everyone he meets, he does not view his actions as wrong. In fact, he does not even believe in an absolute right. He believes that everyone else is crazy for thinking that there is a right and wrong that all people should follow, and he believes that he is the sane one. He thinks that he is one step ahead of everyone in the world because he does not play by the universe’s rules; he creates his own. He does not believe that people have the right to judge him since they do not stay true their morals. He knows that the “civilized” people of Gotham will ignore their laws and ideas as soon as something comes up that they do not agree with or when something causes trouble. For the Joker, he does not need to worry about that. He does what he wants because it is right for him—the people of Gotham will eventually crash and burn because they cannot pick a moral to commit to. Because they live by the universe’s rules, they will never live a sensible life. The Joker was right about one thing throughout the movie: People often find themselves constantly changing their morals for what is right and wrong. They cannot seem to agree on the same thing in their society. This is because some people follow the rules that society tells them to follow, and others do things that will benefit themselves despite what society says, like the Joker. Because some people cannot explain why they should do something, many start doing things that will affect them personally. C.S Lewis mentions
Cited: "Joker Interrogation Scene - The Dark Knight." YouTube. YouTube, 15 June 2012. Web. 20 Sept. 2013. Lewis, C. S. Mere Christianity: A Revised and Amplified Edition, with a New Introduction, of the Three Books, Broadcast Talks, Christian Behavior, and Beyond Personality. New York: Harper Collins Large Print, 2003. Print.