Words have power, and yours are, very.

Isn’t it fun to see the conversation you started?
(It’s working. . . .) ;>}

One need not be a Christian, or embrace any religion at all, to
uphold the worthiness of leading a moral life. Beware false alternatives.

There is a built in audience for movies like Fireproof. The churches push it; O’Reilly gives Kirk 5 minutes to plug it, and it makes it’s huge return . I see no reason the religious right shouldn’t make movies for their base, and it’s base is big. But as someone that loves quality, thought provoking movies that push the limits and inspire conversation, it’s not what I want see.
Artists (in general) tend to lean left and no matter how many Big Hollywood sites come up, they always will. Reading right wing subtext into movies so that you can feel okay about liking them is self delusion.
I am a liberal. I know that Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were not. That doesn’t make me love the Road Pictures any less. I don’t pretend there was a hidden leftist agenda attached to them. I just enjoy them.

Batman= BUSH/USA
Dent= leftist/European/intelligentsia
Joker= Islamist

The Ferry scene: The Islamists cannot force Americans to act as they do.

Lucius Fox/Cell Phone Machine: Yes, Fox is appalled. It does have potential for great abuse. But Fox’s faith in Batman is justified when the machine self destructs. Batman told him the password; he never said it will blow up. Fox realizes that Batman had never planned to abuse this device. It was a worst case scenario tool. ( hello waterboarders).

Gordon’s final speech: leftist talk a good game, but in the end they need USA to do “dirty work” to protect the world.

very little “iraq” stuff in there. Now dont get me started on how Forrest Gump is pro conservative.

I’m glad you are 100% conservative and see everything from that slant. I find it a bit hard to believe but maybe you are that one-dimensional. I don’t know you. But good luck and God bless.

And USS Ben, I can’t see why you’re arguing with me. I agree, it was the point I originally had. I was simply saying that all that constitutes conservative isn’t right and all that constitues liberal isn’t wrong. And vice versa, depending on your political and social leanings. Thanks for the history lesson that there is right and wrong, evil and good in the world and in politics. Wow, I certainly would have never known that without your anaylsis. Point I was making is that good doesn’t solely belong to one group or bad to the other — in terms of conservative and liberal. I understand the evils of Communism…but how does that equate to liberalism? Or maybe you were equating that to conservativism, I’m not really sure what you were trying to say there except communism is bad. Which I agree with. but it had nothing to do with what I was writing about.

In the scene where Batman is “questioning” the Joker, Batman says he has one rule, which the Joker says, “That’s the rule you’ll have to break.” Presumably, that rule is “thou shalt not kill” because Batman had a chance to kill the Joker earlier and didn’t. Instead, Batman worked a plan to have the Joker captured by the police and await trial. But when the Joker escapes from jail, Batman finds the Joker by utilizing a sonar device that most liberals believe President Bush has the NSA working on right now. Batman’s confidant Mr. Fox, in the worst display of self-righteousness and moral equivocation, proclaims that spying on 30 million people is wrong despite the Joker’s threat to blow up a couple of passenger-loaded ferries. But, thanks to Batman’s forethought, he has the device programmed to self-destruct at Mr. Fox’s instruction when the ordeal is over.

So, truly, Batman’s one rule is to not appropriate for himself more power than is necessary to combat evil. Where Batman could become a Ceasar of Gotham, he instead chooses to be a Cincinnatus. The movie’s tagline, “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” is, I think, a sympathetic recognition of the difficulties our government has to carry out its law enforcement and national defense missions while not running afoul of our constitutional (some would say natural) rights.

Where Christopher Nolan comes down on issues of domestic surveillance and warantless wiretaps is anyone’s guess. And that’s why this film is excellent –it asserts an absolute moral abstract and then shows that the application is much more nuanced than either liberals or conservatives would like it to be.

And lest anyone think that The Dark Knight only criticizes the government, the scene with the civilians on the ferry is a biting commentary on the cowardice and selfishness of those who adhere to moral relativism.

Thank you for focusing your SLR lens on what Hollywood needs to do . . .
Standards . . .
Leadership . . .
Responsibility . . .

Great conservative leaders have emerged from the film industry and can inspire and lead us again.
Mind games do not have to be an exclusive tool of the liberals . . . conservatives can be persuasive, too. Would more “Courage” improve the focus?