"Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him, because he can take it. Because he's not the hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. The Dark Knight."
Batman is in essence going to lie to the citizens of Gotham by taking the blame for those Harvey Dent killed. He believes that the masses are not intelligent enough to understand the complexities of the Joker and as such need an infallible hero to believe in. Bruce recognizes that he cannot be that hero.
I find it hypocritical that Batman tells the Joker after the ships don't blow each other up: "See - see - look there Joker! People are good at heart! They wont fall to your anarchic and terrorist ways!" And then turns around at the end of the film and lies to the people because he doesn't think they can understand the Harvey Dent situation.
Is that bad? Did he have an alternative? Is he right? Am I looking into this too much? Batman is making a decision for Gotham by hiding the truth for the greater good of having an infallible hero to look up to. Batman is not the "hero gotham needs right now". Gotham needed a White Knight - someone they can look up to that turn to criminals and says "look here, Sonny, you are not going to run this town no more!"
But who is it for Batman to be that moral authority? At dinner Harvey argued, "We all appointed Batman by standing around and letting criminals run Gotham."
But what is the message of the end of the film? That it is okay for Batman to lie because the masses need an infallible hero? Can society really not understand that even our heroes have problems? Is his lying and manipulation reflective of "Big Brother" or other constructions?
To some people the issue is very black and white. To me, I have a problem with Batman's hypocritical deceit - but I cut him some slack. While I disapprove of his manipulation of society - I don't see him doing it for power or political gain. In fact he is taking upon himself more problems by doing this. His lie to Gotham is bad and it sucks that society isn't smart enough to be trusted to understand the Dent situation, but I believe that communities need heroes.
All cultures have heroes - people from the past who are idealized.
In America, we have our forefathers. I think the question I have about The Dark Knight can be more easily understood in the context of a 5th Grade U.S. History Class. Should, in the curriculum, the teacher emphasize our forefathers being slave owners?
What if it turned out that Martin Luther King, Jr. actually beat his wife? Would that upset you? Would you prefer not to know that? Which is better: that we ignore a heroes flaws or that we point them out?
Isn't it the point, however, that our heroes are no longer men (or women), but ideas. Don't we idealize Thomas Jefferson not because he was a good guy, but because he stood for freedom? Don't we idealize Dr. King not because he gave good speeches, but because he stood for tolerance and equality?
At some point I feel that's the issue with Harvey Dent. Is it okay that Batman is going to lie about Dent's failures so that people idealize him? I feel it is because (especially since he's dead) he has become an idea. I believe that Batman's lie is justifiable because Gotham "needs a hero" that stands up for what is right - and even though Dent didn't actually stand up to the Joker - his legacy is too important.
Everyone has their favorite author, filmmaker, artist, musician, (politician?). Batman felt that after all of the chaos Gotham had gone through in Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, Gotham needed an infallible hero. Is it wrong that he is lying and artificially constructing the infallibility part because the citizens are too unintelligent to interpret the world beyond the simplistic understand of good and evil?
Does the ends justify the means?
My conclusion isn't an easy one to come to. It upsets me that Batman says he trusts in Gotham's citizens but then feels the need to lie to them. I guess I just buy into the theme of societies need for infallible heroes too much.
"He's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now." Gotham needs a Thomas Jefferson or a Martin Luther King, Jr. Gotham needs someone who represents more than just flesh and blood - but embodies an idea. And should Batman have lied in order to create an infallible hero?
That's for you to decide.
I don't think it was the right choice personally. People deserve the truth whether it hurts or not. Countries such as the US rely on the masses being intelligent in order for our system of Government to work. When we come to the conclusion that they aren't and we must lie to them all hope is lost. Lying in my opinion never solves a problem. It may temporarily but in the long run it will come back and hit you in the face, at least most of the time. I hope they show this as a failure of Batman in the next film, I doubt it though.
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