“He sounds like Donald Trump”: It’s the End of America When People Claim 1 Christopher Nolan’s Batman Villain Resonates With Them for All the Bad Reasons
- Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy is one of the most popular superhero film series.
- Nolan has denied that a villain from his movies makes it seem like the whole thing is related to the right-wing.
- He has always insisted that the movie does not intend to make any political statements.
There is a reason why Christopher Nolan tries to stay away from social media, but that does not stop others from comparing a Batman villain to Donald Trump of all people. He has made only a dozen movies so far, but every single one of them is undoubtedly a masterpiece. He famously avoids making any controversial comments about his own films or someone else’s work.
The majority of Christopher Nolan’s films are thought-provoking and inspire conversations. One such movie is The Dark Knight Rises whose villain Bane is often compared to Donald Trump from the right wing, but Nolan insists that if anything, the movie is left-wing.
Christopher Nolan denies claims that The Dark Knight Rises has right-wing characteristics
Christopher Nolan‘s first feature film, Following was released in 2003. He not only wrote and directed the film but also photographed and edited it. The film turned out to be very successful and it allowed him to make Memento, which turned out to be his breakthrough film. This movie earned him two Independent Spirit Awards and even nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award.
His next movie was Insomnia, which was also critically acclaimed. Then came The Dark Knight trilogy, the first of these, Batman Begins was released in 2005. The trilogy claimed concluded in 2012 with The Dark Knight Rises. The movie has been largely interpreted to be political, and Bane is often said to have similarities with Donald Trump.
According to a Redditor, Christopher Nolan was interviewed by The Nolan Variations in which he claimed that he was afraid of demagoguery when he made the movie.
I think you have to go out of your way to look at the film and attribute to it right wing characteristics. If anything, it’s speficially left wing. When people listen to Bane and say ‘He sounds like Donald Trump’ or that Donald Trump sounds like him, well it’s about a demoagogue. He’s the bad guy.
What I was afraid of when I made The Dark Knight Rises was demagoguery. Turns out I was right to be afraid. The film was not supposed to be political. It’s not intended to be, it’s about primal fears.
He further stated that while writing the film, they had a false sense of calm and that getting over the financial crisis was only the solution to the surface problem. However, the underlying issues can escalate to more challenging situations.
Christopher Nolan claimed that The Dark Knight Rises was not political years ago
Art and the messages in them have always been open to interpretation. So, while some people enjoy movies as entertainment, others look for a deeper meaning. It is often said that everything is political and The Dark Knight Rises has been considered political since it was first released.
Even then, Nolan had said that the movie was not political in an interview with Rolling Stone:
Your concept of “Does the end justify the means?” shifts according to the backdrop. And so the challenge of Batman Begins was to make us OK with the idea of vigilantism. The films genuinely aren’t intended to be political. You don’t want to alienate people, you want to create a universal story.
According to him, if Gotham is considered the same place as New York City, it could be said that Batman is a right-wing character who tries to chase evil away on his Batmobile. He further said that Bruce Wayne’s reason for becoming Batman was the kind of extreme corruption.
The Dark Knight trilogy is streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV.
