Is George W. Bush Batman?

Posted By Travis Daub Saturday, July 19, 2008 - 2:09 PM Share

Forget Bruce Wayne. I think Dubya is actually the Caped Crusader. In her excellent review of "The Dark Knight" the latest in the Batman franchise, Slate scribe Dana Stevens writes, "[T]he movie seems to arrive at much the same conclusion about Batman as Americans have about Bush: Thanks to this guy, we're well and thoroughly screwed."

Stevens does a great job of deconstructing the copious references to the war on terror in the film, but I feel a need to explore her point about Bush at little bit more carefully.

Warning! There may be a few mild spoilers here:


Batman
Dubya
Lives in an enormous mansion attached to a vast secret underground complex
Yes
Yes
His Arch nemesis is _____ whose goal is to ______.
The Joker; "burn down the world"
Al Gore; warn the world about global warming
His parents were:
Killed by a small-time criminal.
Threatened by a small-time dictator.
Commits himself to an aggressive plan to rid the world of evildoers.
Yep
Check
But his plan subsequently backfires, making him extremely unpopular.
Yep
Yep
When innocents are killed, as a result of his actions, he:
Broods, considers hanging up his cowl
Quits playing golf
Builds a massive surveillance network, which upsets his most loyal employees.
Yep
Yep

 

EXPLORE:BUSH ADMINISTRATION, CULTURE
 

DRAKE

8:36 AM ET

July 21, 2008

I'm Batman

Only one way to answer to this : ROLF!
 

CHARLE OAPOSTROPHEMEARA

4:51 PM ET

August 11, 2008

Bush = Batman = faulty logic

i know the right seems to be wetting itself over the metaphor of bush = batman in the new movie, but there's a huge flaw in that logic: muslim extremists can view the same movie in the opposite way, i.e., bush = the joker, destabilizing the world, osama bin laden = batman, the lone freedom fighter standing up for justice. one man's hero is another man's villain and vice versa. logic is a sword that cuts two ways. got it? so stop drawin inane, sophomoric conclusions that wouldn't stand up for 5 minutes in a philosophy 101 class
 

HAWLEYBEACH

8:18 PM ET

August 30, 2008

OMG .. People think Batman

OMG .. People think Batman is George W Bush. Must only be in the USA ... the rest of the world is thinking the Joker was representing George W ...
 

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