Anorak

Anorak News | All American Batman Beats The Immigrant Godfather

All American Batman Beats The Immigrant Godfather

by | 27th, July 2008

BATMAN is not an Italian. He has never been an Italian. And he will never be an Italin. He is the all American:

The Batman story is also an interesting quasi-libertarian commentary on the shortcomings of government Like the Mafia portrayed in The Godfather, the necessity for Batman’s sometimes dubious methods arises because of the government’s failure to protect people and their property against predation. This point is effectively emphasized in both The Dark Knight and Batman Begins. In that respect, Batman is similar to The Godfather in conveying skepticism about government, its motives, and its ability to effectively fulfill even the core “minimal state” function of protecting the public against violent crime.

In two important respects, Batman’s message is actually more libertarian than that of The Godfather. While the latter portrays private protection firms (such as the Mafia) as being basically similar to government in their predatory nature, Batman’s crimefighting activities are depicted as being both more noble and more effective than those of the generally incompetent and corrupt Gotham authorities.

Batman is not an ethnic. He’s no immigrant like Superman.  Batman is what America wants to be…



Posted: 27th, July 2008 | In: Reviews Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink