What I love about the “Batman
Trilogy” is also what I hate most about it. The social commentary that the
writers expose the audiences to is chilling to watch play out on the screen.
Last night, I attended the midnight premiere of “The Dark Night Rises,” and
once again Christopher Nolan succeeded in drawing me in for two hours and 45
minutes. During this movie I sat there wondering if good would overcome evil,
when at times I was losing hope in that good could prevail.
Now how silly can this be? I tell myself, Christina, it is only a movie,
stop tearing up when the bad guys are kicking the good guys down. But that’s
the thing, the Batman movies draw you in. They make you wonder, can a whole
city turn against its rich attempting to restore balance by taking from them
and giving to the poor? Does this have to be done with murder, deceit and
hatred? Now once again this is only Hollywood and yet you sit there thinking
what is going to happen next, how will good triumph over evil? You wonder, how
could a whole city come to hate their police department that has protected them
for so many years? And most importantly, seriously, why can’t Gotham catch a
break? First the Joker, now Bane.
So, we spend ten to twelve dollars to
take an emotional and heroic ride through Gotham, drawn in by every gunshot and
evil sinister move. I think it’s easy to talk about the evil and the bad guys
when it comes a movie. Why wouldn’t it be? They are simply actors playing out a
screenplay from a great DC comic. It’s all pretend and after the movie reel
ends you can drive home and sleep safely in your bed. However, as I lay in bed
last night, reading through my electronic newspaper, twitter, I thought it was
a sick joke that someone would tweet that a shooting occurred in a movie
theater in Aurora, Colorado. Things like that don’t happen where you have loved
ones. Things like this only happen in scripted movies where no one really gets
hurt, right?
But that’s the thing, life isn’t
written out like a screenplay. What happened in Aurora, Colorado simply breaks
my heart and all this morning I am simply thankful for the safety of my
friends. So many people bash on social media, and yes, I realize it has its
flaws, but you cannot deny that it allows for people all over the U.S. and even
the world to come together. Earlier this morning I tweeted, “We must not forget
that although the there is so much good in this world, many of times we are
faced with evil. I wish that made it okay. #prayingforaurora.” Thousands of
tweets just like these have been tweeted and Facebook messages posted, sending
love and support to the victims and their families devastated by this horrible
tragedy.
I wish we had the answers to why
these things happen. I’ve never been one to subscribe to the saying,
“everything happens for a reason” because I just can’t allow that to be an
excuse for why bad things happen to good people. For me I can only turn to the
Lord for things like this. My good friend Paige even tweeted, “The Lord is
close to the brokenhearted. #psalm34:18” My faith is what helps me through
times such as these when I question why people must suffer at the hands of
those who only bring suffering.
In our world today we do not have a
billionaire named Bruce Wayne who protects of our cities. And even if we did,
would we turn against him like Gotham did? As people, I believe super heroes
fascinate us. Their strength, their cool gadgets and their ability to be
against all odds and still defeat the bad guys makes us admire them. But like I
have said, we don’t have any Batman’s running around the streets of Dallas.
However, the one thing that Batman gives to the people of Gotham is hope. A
hope that no matter how scared or abandoned they may feel, seeing the sign of
the Batman helps them know that he hasn’t given up on them, if they haven’t
given up on Gotham. We as people have hope like this but it doesn’t come from a
man dressed in black leather. It comes from people all around the world
grieving and showing compassion for the tragedy that occurred last night. It
comes from people staying connected and becoming aware that this life is ours
to live, but every moment must be cherished. We do not need super heroes to
save us, when we have the love and compassion that brings us all together,
giving us hope for a better tomorrow.
