Key Terminology
- Ideology – a system of ideas and ideals, especially one which forms the basis of economic or political theory and policy.
- Socio-Political Context – This sociopolitical context refers to contemporary ideologies, regulations, policies, conditions, laws, practices, traditions, and events that define America’s education. These ideologies, practices, laws, and policies cause the current structural inequality in the education sector.
- Vigilante -a member of a volunteer committee organised to suppress and punish crime summarily (as when the processes of law are viewed as inadequate) broadly : a self-appointed doer of justice.
- Dominant Hegemony – Hegemony’ describes the dominance of one social group or class in a society. … Such ‘hegemonic dominance’ rests on cultural influence, non-military resources, and economic power.
- Authoritarianism – the enforcement or advocacy of strict obedience to authority at the expense of personal freedom. Lack of concern for the wishes or opinions of others.
- Dichotomy – a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.
Key Quotes in the article
- Vigilantism, justice and vengeance – ‘Batman as a symbol of vigilantism,
justice, vengeance and even fascism. He
is a force for ‘good’ who fights criminals
by putting on a mask, attacking them in
the dark and dishing out his own vigilante
justice, uninhibited by the laws, restrictions
and corruption that the local police deal
with. Bruce Wayne is a character who begins
by wanting to take vengeance on the
murderer of his parents by attempting to
assassinate the criminal.’ - By any means necessary – ‘the tactics of Batman – In The
Dark Knight, his interrogation of the Joker
becomes brutal, like the torture so eagerly
justified by stopping acts of terrorism in real
life. Batman then uses a scarily sophisticated
and completely illegal surveillance’ - Inequality in Gotham – ‘The
people of Gotham are poor, struggling and
desperate. The first real contact with them
that Wayne has is when a criminal robs,
then kills his parents for their expensive
belongings. Dothan (2012) argues that:
the Batman movies pretty consistently
portray Gotham as corrupt, chaotic, unequal
and unjust.’ - The masses – ‘However Nolan’s films have
less faith in the masses. Aside from The
Dark Knight’s climax, Gotham’s people are
seen as docile, useless and incapable of
achieving anything worthwhile. The Dark
Knight is interesting in that
the film’s ideological conflict seems to centre
around the fundamental worth of humanity,
whether it is truly as corruptible as the Joker
thinks it is or if it has an essential nobility as
Bruce Wayne believes.’
‘Bruce Wayne became the terrorist and Batman became both torturer and operator of a mass surveillance system; it was exactly the point that in fighting the villain, he became the villain.’ similar to Americas approach on the War On Terror.
2013. Dark Knight, Dark Ideas. The Media Magazine. 44(2), pp. 3 7-41.
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