Atomic Nerds

So, Campaign 2012, alias Campaign “Oh god not again has it seriously been four years it can’t have been”, is in full swing, which means it’s time for everyone who REALLY REALLY cares about politics and makes a living off it to start frantic coverage and everyone who doesn’t to try and ignore them for a few more months.

Coincidentally, it’s also summer movie season, and several hotly anticipated comics-movie blockbusters have either already come out (Avengers) or are about to, like the third and final installment in Chris Nolan’s dark and gritty Batman series, The Dark Knight Rises. The last five years or so have been the age of the comic book movie, as Nolan and Marvel studios have conclusively demonstrated that they can be objectively good movies and not just good takes on comic books.

Except Rush Limbaugh thinks it’s actually not a coincidence:

RUSH: Have you heard this new movie, the Batman movie, what is it, The Dark Knight Lights Up or whatever the name is. That’s right, Dark Knight Rises. Lights Up, same thing. Do you know the name of the villain in this movie? Bane. The villain in The Dark Knight Rises is named Bane, B-a-n-e. What is the name of the venture capital firm that Romney ran and around which there’s now this make-believe controversy? Bain. The movie has been in the works for a long time. The release date’s been known, summer 2012 for a long time. Do you think that it is accidental that the name of the really vicious fire breathing four eyed whatever it is villain in this movie is named Bane?

….Um, yes, actually. But Rush is REALLY convinced.

So, anyway, this evil villain in the new Batman movie is named Bane. And there’s now a discussion out there as to whether or not this is purposeful and whether or not it will influence voters. It’s gonna have a lot of people. This movie, the audience is gonna be huge. A lot of people are gonna see the movie, and it’s a lot of brain-dead people, entertainment, the pop culture crowd, and they’re gonna hear Bane in the movie and they’re gonna associate Bain. The thought is that when they start paying attention to the campaign later in the year, and Obama and the Democrats keep talking about Bain, Romney and Bain, that these people will think back to the Batman movie, “Oh, yeah, I know who that is.” (laughing) There are some people who think it’ll work. Others think you’re really underestimating the American people to think that will work.

Or else they’re… making a Batman movie. I know this is a crazy theory, but bear with me for a moment.

The first time I laid eyes on Bane the Batman villain was in 1994, watching the rather excellent Batman: The Animated Series, like most other kids my age. Who are now in their early to midthirties and, I dunno, some sort of money-having potential theater audience or something. I know, it’s a crazy conspiracy, but I’m just trying to present all the alternatives. Kids (and for that matter adults) that were harder core geeks than I was met him in 1993, in Batman: Vengeance of Bane. He’s appeared off and on the Batman comics and cartoon adaptations ever since; the last time I saw him outside the movie theaters was in Young Justice. He’s had a bit more sticking power than some of the other staple comics Batman villians, mostly because he’s visually impressive and generally cunning, so there’s a lot you can do to make him scary and a lot that distinguishes him from the rest of the rogues’ gallery.

Now, I know that explanation doesn’t make as much sense as this one:

The Bane character in this movie was a terrorist. He’s out to destroy Gotham, New York City, which is the case in every Batman movie. But instead of sounding like Romney, he sounds like an Occupy Wall Street guy, in truth. Now, there’s a story in the Washington Times Communities today: “Is Mitt Romney…Batman? — Opponents of Mitt Romney have noticed that the name of Batman’s villain in the upcoming film The Dark Knight Rises is homonymous with the name of an investment firm that Romney founded in 1984. The childish ‘aha’ moment was not unpredictable. Americans have tolerated condescension remarkably well for the past four years, so we can presumably take an insult to our ability to spell — or ability to follow a storyline, for that matter.”

But, anyway, I didn’t really know what the point of this story is. They’re trying to point out that in Batman the good guy and the rich guy are one and the same, and that’s Bruce Wayne. And so what this gal is saying here is: Hey, instead of falling in with the evil guy being Bane, let’s just say Batman is Romney. Batman’s Romney, he’s the evil rich guy, he’s the good rich guy, he’s out to save New York. The rich guy’s the good guy. Of course the evil guy is always rich too in these Batman movies. You may think it’s ridiculous, I’m just telling you this is the kind of stuff the Obama team is lining up. The kind of people who would draw this comparison are the kind of people that they are campaigning to. These are the kind of people that they are attempting to appeal to.

I mean, Bruce Wayne as the Batman has only been around since 1939, which is OBVIOUSLY just in time for modern populist politics, and Bane is obviously meant to allegory the evil 1% as the originally penniless victim of government experimentation and entirely self-made man.

Oh, Obama administration: prescient enough to tell Chris Nolan to make Bane the villain of a movie that began scriptwriting in 2010, because they were just that sure that Romney would win the Republican primaries and make Bain capital a hot topic totally to the entirety of America and not just the pundit class, but so comically stupid as to have the intended allegories make no sense whatsoever.

Pass the pills, Rush, I like this plan! You can’t fool the American people, Obama administration! We’re on to your bat-tricks!

Posted current events, Ranting, run that one by me again... |