Along with the rest of America, I went to go see The Dark Knight this weekend. I really enjoyed it. Well, maybe "enjoyed" isn't as good of a description as "was haunted by."
I went to bed that night not being able to get the movie out of my mind, especially the main characters Bruce Wayne, Harvey Dent, and the Joker. I saw a bit of myself in all three of those guys. I sometimes feel troubled like Bruce Wayne, I sometimes want to be a white knight like Harvey Dent, but most of all I related to the Joker.
The Joker wouldn't have been the Joker without Ledger's psychotic performance, but he did have the part written for him. Some of the things he said have haunted me for a while. His motivations for things were crazy- For him, it wasn't about catching Batman. It was about turning society upside-down and breaking all the rules, and messing with Batman was one of his ways of doing so.
He wanted to rule Gotham City, but rule it from the outside. If you had offered him the position of mayor, he wouldn't have taken it. It's not what he wanted. That's the thing that scared me most about the Joker- I feel like I have that same trait of wanting to rule from the outside and mess with the system.
For a small example, a band I formed (called Lando) didn't make OBU's Spring Affair my sophomore year. I thought our try-out was really good, but they were scared by the fact that our song was a fairy tale, complete with narrator, power-point presentation, and a fairy. We defeated giants in less than five minutes. We didn't make the cut, thanks mainly to some senior girls that absolutely hated the idea.
I could have written a letter to OBU's student publication, the Bison, or spread slander about Campus Activities Board. But that wasn't the way I wanted to do it. I reworked the song and made it better music-wise, and wrote lyrics of animosity toward CAB. The twist was that I wrote them so that they would sound like they were about a girl. We ended up making the show and getting third place (there's a youtube video out there that catches a little bit of the greatness...)
But looking back on some of the lyrics post-Dark Knight scares me a bit when I think about the Joker and his disdain for organized society:
Oh yeah, I'll tell all the boys about you
And about how they can't win
Oh yeah I'll tell all the boys about you
And if they don't listen I'll just tell 'em again
I'll tell 'em "Boy, you better follow the rules
If you wanna do what you wanna do.
You need her but she don't need you
So boy you better follow the rules"
You can try again to set my world on fire
And you can tell all your friends to laugh at the funeral pyre
You can try to burn away my pride,
but my pride'll always bring me back
I will always come back but I will never ever ever ever follow your rules.
It really wasn't about me not getting to perform what I thought was a good song. It was about the fact that we were rejected because we didn't play in a conventional way. Those unwritten but powerful rules really bothered me.
My chosen form of revenge was from the outside, making them think they were accepting me when I was really subversively winning. The outside is where I like to dwell. I hate labels and being defined by things. If I had gone to a state school, I definitely wouldn't have joined a fraternity. It's nothing against fraternities, it's just not who I am at all.
Outsiders have the potential to have the most power, as the Joker terrifyingly demonstrated in Dark Knight. Monty Python was all about this idea. I've been reading a book about them, and Terry Gilliam (their animator) said something interesting about comedy. He talked about how comedy's always best from the outside, and how once you become part of the Establishment, you're no longer effective.
I believe that's true, whether it's in comedy, music, politics, or religion. Sure, there have been some decent laughs from the "establishment", some good songs, some good stuff done in office, and some neat spiritual ideas, but none of that compares to that which is created from the outsiders who fight wars that don't seem winnable.
Of course, people don't like outsiders. Jesus is the best example. He said things that made the religious establishment angry, but he also was seen as an enemy to the biggest baddest superpower the world had ever known...Rome. And they killed him for it. They threw at Jesus the worst thing the establishment can throw- death. But even the finest tools of the establishment can't keep outsiders down, and Jesus showed that even death itself could be conquered.
This outsider Jesus was followed by the outsider church, which didn't take all that long in becoming part of the establishment. Constantine didn't help the church by making it the official religion of Rome. He hurt it. In giving the church insider power, it was like offering somebody the one Ring; it's power that you think can be used for good, but in the end only corrupts and destroys. Goodbye persecution. Hello Crusades.
Open arms can be much more deadly than closed fists. It's what the establishment does, it opens its arms and accepts the wolves, neutering and declawing them in the process.
That's why I've been cautious about Obama. I was truly inspired when I heard one of his campaign speeches, a feeling I've never associated with a politician before. Obama seems like a great guy now, and an outsider, but the establishment's going to get him. It always does. He may think he's on guard against the devil, but the devil seldom sounds evil. The devil is a reasonable one who sings sweet songs.
I want to stay on the outside in whatever I do. And that's a scary quality, because it can lead to Jokers.
Fortunately, Jesus keeps me sane. Following Jesus means always being on the outside. The Church is a band of outsiders who see the world's definitions of power and avoid it. They see wealth, political power, democracy, militarism, and capitalism as the charades that they are, things that won't save anybody in the end. Their job is never done until things here on earth are as they are in heaven.
Other outsiders end up trying to use the establishment's own tools against them. Even if their motives are a little better than their foes', violence only gives way to violence, hatred leads to more hatred. When you use fire to fight fire, everything gets burned. Jesus' followers use water. But the craziest thing is that they don't show love to everyone around them because it is a
good strategy! They do it because it's the way God intended them to live, and really for no other reason. And the world can't take it, so it continues to try and open its arms to the Church.
There will always be believers who get seduced by the devil of reason and join the establishment. Jesus called his ways the narrow road for a reason. But as long as we stay in his dominion and not the world's, we can continue to make a difference...as long as we stay in the right set of arms.
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