The Dark Knight Rises a Christian Allegory. SPOILERS

I have seen many a fan try to analyse a product, halo for instance, and make a connection to it and the Christian faith. For me it never carried any real weight to it, however interesting it was. I think, in my own opinion of course, that it carries enough weight to share.

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By MrCritic115 - 7/24/2012

I have seen many a fan try to analyse a product, halo for instance, and make a connection to it and the Christian faith. For me it never carried any real weight to it, however interesting it was. I went to go see TDKR with my dad who happens to be a priest (who before deciding to change denominations was running applicable to be a bishop) at the midnight showing. Ironically enough I was the one who spotted these similarities. And I think, in my own opinion of course, that it carries enough weight to share. Please enjoy, and please comment on your thoughts.

Batman is the ultimate symbol of good. He might not be the one that everyone wants, or the one they expect, but he is the one they need. Jesus christ was foretold to be the king of the jews and people actually took that at face value, but when he actually came he was just a normal guy.

Batman's first fight with Bane represents Christ's torture and then crucifiction. Catwoman turned over Batman to Bane for personal gain, protection. Which resembles Judas' betrayal. The pit he is thrown into represents his death. Just as Batman rose from the pit Jesus Christ did too *rise from the dead. And it should too be noted that the movie's main theme is faith and christians are asked to take a **leap of faith.

I did a google search to see if I was the only one who noticed this. Apparently I wasn't the only one. A website called jwwartick.com (the author of the article is J.W. Wartick)
There is a notion of a clean slate which Selina Kyle is primarily motivated by. Batman offers it to selina as a price to pay for her help in the final battle. And in the end goes back to help batman even though she was never required to do redeeming herself. And another christian principle or belief can be applied. That we are all sinners and our clean slate is faith in Jesus Christ

Christians are told that once sin came into the world the only way to save it was for God to come into flesh and save us. There was also a part in the movie where Jim Gordon has a talk with ***John Blake. He was talking about the evil of Gotham and how Batman transcends the filth, but he puts his hands into the filth with us. Wayne has no obligation to Gotham but still loves it anyway and condescends into the muck to save it. Jesus is God incarnate and was willing to become one of us to save us. Christ did what was necessary to save humanity from its own sin. The son Rises.

John Blake is an idealistic young cop who believes in everything Batman stood for. At the end of the movie he stumbles onto the batcave and it is strongly suggested that he inherits Batman's mantle, sort of in the same way Jesus' Apostles did.

*Note the wordplay.
**Also interesting to note that this term was used in Inception.
***John the baptist, or John the disciple of Jesus?

Is it all coincidence? In the words of Jim Gordon
You're a detective now, there are no coincidences.

In the name of Christopher Nolan, Christian Bale, and the Batman, Amen!

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7 Comments

	RunDTC - 7/24/2012, 7:41 AM Login to report abuse ...........that actually makes sense.
	hellfire - 7/24/2012, 8:53 AM Login to report abuse Personally and please don't take this the wrong way but I think if you look hard enough you can find hidden meaning in anything whether it's there or not. A film is meant to entertain and nothing more, to escape reality for a couple of hours.
	Spiritdog - 7/24/2012, 3:01 PM Login to report abuse I too felt a strong Christian symbolism in this film whether intended or not. The scene of Bruce being "tortured" like Christ, the journey to the "pits of hell" and the remarkable and I mean remarkable "RISE" Bruce makes up, up, up into the light was outstanding. Christian Bale has played Jesus in another film and I actually turned to my friend during this ascent and said "he looks like Jesus rising". The whole film had messages of redemption and fighting evil. I am going to see it several times as I loved Chris Nolan's story of Bruce Wayne's journey and Batman's meaningful allegory. The film is so inspiring at the end and I hope people see that instead of the horror of Colorado. We can overcome pain and suffering as Bruce did and rise to our soul's potential and that is what we saw on the screen and in that theatre. Anyone, no matter what faith, can appreciate that and I thank Chris Nolan for his story and the extraordinary performance of Christian Bale and how he portrayed the struggle of good and evil within one man and his incredible suffering and final victory.
	RedHood13 - 7/25/2012, 4:35 AM Login to report abuse Wow this is a good article
	Tainted87 - 7/26/2012, 6:50 PM Login to report abuse I can't wait for a How It Should Have Ended parody. They've been kind of lame these days, but I think the material writes itself in this case. So yeah - This is actually called the Hero's Journey.
	Tainted87 - 7/26/2012, 6:51 PM Login to report abuse
	BattlinMurdock - 7/29/2012, 6:43 AM Login to report abuse I'm a Christian, too, but this interpretation also greatly overlooks a huge issue: This is the end of a trilogy, and Bruce as Jesus doesn't make much sense in that light. While there are some notable things that you pulled out, Jesus didn't come to earth, fight off evil, abandon his people for eight years, and then try again. One could say that you could say that was like his time in the grave, but you've already used that for his time in the pit. Let's also not forget the kicker; Bruce Wayne was born into royalty. A lot of what makes Jesus Jesus in that he's fully human and fully divine is the fact that he wasn't born amongst a throne. Isn't it possible that one could say that Tate is a Christ-like figure, too? A woman born into poverty who learned the teachings of a father destined to show the world a complete and total new order? The idea of destruction for rebirth is visited numerous times in the Bible. Gotham is a lot like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the League of Shadows could be interpreted as God's wrath in that story. I'm always careful with things like this. It's just another form of hermeneutics and it can make things pretty stretched. You've got some good points, but sometimes, a story recycles plot to be something new on its own.

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