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BATMAN

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1NCThe af’s demand or the ballot in response to their ethicalstance is a cop out. Rather than ollow the ethics inherent

within the af, the tie their ad!ocac to e"ternal #rati$cationin the orm o winnin# this debate. That strips their ethics otheir !alue and ma%es them sla!es to a ballot incapable o

#enuine ethicsMc&owan, '( – Todd, teaches flm theory, history, and genre at the University o Vermont (“The exceptional darkness o The Dark Knight, !"mp #"t, $o% &', pring )**+, http--...%e/"mpc"t%org-archive-/c&'%)**+-darkKnightKant-text%html0

1ccording to Kant, when we emer#e as sub)ects, we do so as bein#so radical e!il, that is, bein#s who do #ood or e!il reasons .  *ehelp our nei#hbor or the reco#nition we #ain2 .e vol"nteer to help .ith the schooldance in order to spend time .ith a potential romantic interest2 we #i!e mone or disaster

relie in order to eel comortable about our le!el o materialcomort2 and so on.  3or Kant, this is the undamental problemthat moralit conronts  and the most di4c"lt type o evil to extirpate% 5e explains, “Thehuman bein# (even the 6est0 is e!il only because he reverses the moral order o his incentives inincorporating them into his maxims% 5e  indeed incorporates the moral law into those

ma"ims, to#ether with the law o sel+lo!e2 since, ho.ever, he reali7es that the t.ocannot stand on an e8"al ooting, 6"t one must be subordinated  to the other as its s"preme

condition, he ma%es the incenti!es o sel+lo!e and theirinclinations the condition o compliance with the moral law  9.hereas it is this latter that, as the supreme condition o thesatisaction o the ormer, should ha!e been incorporatedinto the uni!ersal ma"im o the po.er o choice as the sole incentive%:'); Tho"gh Kant 6elieves that.e have the capacity to t"rn rom 6eings o radical evil to moral 6eings, .e cannot escape a certain originary radical evil that leads

"s to place o"r incentives o sel

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is an ethics that sees !alue onl in the end  9 o6edience 9 and  it

disre#ards whate!er e!il means that the sub)ect uses toarri!e at that obedience. ? people o6ey the la., the conse8"entialist thinks, it doesn@t matter .hy

they do so% Those who ta%e up this or some other compromise

with radical e!il predominate within societ, and theconstitute the beha!ioral norm. They o6ey the la. .hen necessary, 6"t they do so in order to

satisy some incentive o sel

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anwhere else than in the $tness o its ma"ims or its own#i!in# o uni!ersal law 9 conse8"ently i, in going 6eyond itsel, it seeks this la. in a property o any o its o6/ects 9 heteronom alwas results. The will in that case doesnot #i!e itsel the law3 instead the ob)ect, b means o its

relation to the will, #i!es the law to it.:'I;

The a4rmati!e’s heroism re5ects a master o dut thatreduces those the assist to ob)ects o their narcissistic ends.6upancic, Jesearch – ?nstit"te o philosophy – /"6l/ana, 7'''% :1lenka, Ethics of the Real: Kant and Lacan,Harch, pg )=L

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the calculation o interest 3 without the mas% o e!il, #oodremains schemin#. This is precisely .hat 5arvey Dent evinces, despite the promise that Aatman sees in him or

the perect orm o heroism% Throu#hout the be#innin# part o the $lm,0ar!e >ent seems li%e a $#ure o pure #ood . The p"rity o his goodnessallo.s him to never 6e nonpl"sed% >ven .hen a mo6ster tries to shoot him in open co"rt, he calmly gra6s the g"n rom the

mo6ster@s hand and p"nches the mo6ster in the ace% 1ter the p"nch, we see >ent’s e"pressiono total e-uanimit, e!en in the midst o an attemptedassassination. This coolness stems rom his absolutecertaint that e!ents will  ultimatel ollow accordin# to his

plans .  The rapidity .ith .hich $olan edits together the threat rom the mo6ster and Dent@s response minimi7es thespectator@s sense o danger% The threat against Dent@s lie disappears almost 6eore .e can experience it as s"ch, .hich s"ggests

that it lacks a 8"ality o realness, 6oth or Dent and or the spectator% The  co"rt scene establisheshim as a hero whom one cannot harm.  /ronicall, the s"perhero in the flm,

Batman, shows himsel to be !ulnerable  .hen he frst appears in the flm, as dogs

6ite him thro"gh his protective armor% This distinction between >ent andBatman’s !ulnerabilit e"plains wh the ormer cannot bean authentic hero. ?n contrast to Aatman, >ent’s heroism does not in!ol!ethe e"perience o loss and is based on a repudiation o the!er possibilit o losin#. Ar"ce Eayne adopted the identity o Aatman ater the tra"ma o 6eing dropped

in a cave "ll o 6ats and the loss o his parents, 6"t no s"ch tra"matic loss animates the heroism o Dent% 0e is heroic

throu#h an immediate identi$cation with the #ood, whichenables him to ha!e a purit that Batman doesn’t ha!e.No rupture and subse-uent return animates his

commitment to )ustice. 0e can publicl a!ow his heroicactions  because he perorms them in a pure wa, withoutresortin# to the #uise o e!il.  But the alsit o this immediateidenti$cation with the #ood becomes apparent in >ent’sdisa!owal o loss, .hich $olan locates in the tic that marks Dent@s character 9 his proclivity or Qipping a coin toresolve dilemmas% Rn several occasions, he Qips the coin that his ather had given him in order to introd"ce the possi6ility o lossinto his activities% Ay Qipping a coin, one admits that events might not go according to plan, that the other might .in, and that lossis an everent .ins this and s"6se8"ent coin Qips in the

frst part o the flm 6eca"se he uses a loaded coin, a coin with two heads.Ehen it comes to the coin Qip, >ent does ma%e his own luc% b eliminatin#the element o chance. The coin that he uses ensures thathe will a!oid the possibilit o losin#. The coin .ith t.o heads is certainly a clever device,

6"t it also stands as the ob)ecti!e correlati!e or >ent’s lac% o authentic heroism.  The immediacy o his heroism cannot sur!i!e an

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mediation. nce loss is introduced into >ent’s world, his

heroism disappears , and he becomes a $#ure o criminalit.

The transormation o 0ar!e >ent ater his disfg"rement is so precipito"s that it strainscred"lity% Rne day he is the p"re deender o a6sol"te /"stice, and the next he is on a homicidal .arpath .illing to shoot innocentchildren% Rne co"ld chalk "p this rapid change to sloppy flmmaking on #hristopher $olan@s part, to an eagerness to move too8"ickly to the flm@s concl"ding moments o tension% A"t the rapidity o the transormation signifes all the more 6eca"se it seems so

orced and /arring% ?t allows us to retroacti!el e"amine 0ar!e >ent’srelationship to the law earlier in the $lm.   Dent 6ecomes T.oven Bordon, an o4cer .ho is not corr"pt, complains to Dent o the paraly7ing eCects on the

department o these tactics% Rn the one hand, an insistence on purit seems to be a

consistentl noncalculatin# ethical position. Rne can imagine this insistenceo6str"cting the longterm goal o 6etter la. enorcement (.hich is .hy Bordon o6/ects to it0% Rn the other hand, howe!er,the demand  or p"rity alwas anticipates its own ailure. The purehero -uic%l becomes the criminal when an e"perience o 

loss disrupts this purit.  This frst occ"rs .hen Bordon is apparently killed at the policecommissioner@s "neral% ?n response to this 6latant display o p"6lic criminality, Dent a6"ses a s"spect rom the shooting and eventhreatens to kill him, "sing his trick coin as a device or mental tort"re% >ven tho"gh Dent has no intention o act"ally shooting thes"spect, Aatman nonetheless scolds Dent or his methods .hen he interr"pts the private interrogation% This scene oCers the frst

insight into .hat Dent .ill 6ecome later in the flm, 6"t it also sho.s the implications o his orm o heroism% >ent

resorts to torture because his orm o heroism has noontolo#ical space or loss. *hen it occurs, his heroism

becomes completel derailed. Rachel9s death and his owndis$#urement introduce traumatic loss into >ent’s

e"istence. $olan sho.s the ramifcations o this change thro"gh the transormation that his coin "ndergoes d"ring theexplosion that kills Jachel% The explosion chars one side o Dent@s t.oent

can so -uic%l ta%e up this attitude because his heroismhas no place or loss. *hen it occurs, the heroism becomescompletel undone. 1ter Dent@s death, the $lm ends with Batman

acceptin# responsibilit or the %illin#s perormed b >entin order to sal!a#e >ent’s public reputation and therebsustain the ima#e o the public hero.  &ordon and Batmanbelie!e that this #esture is necessar or sa!in# the cit

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and %eepin# its hope or )ustice ali!e. Ehen Bordon says, “Botham needs its tr"e hero,.e see a shot o him t"rning Dent@s ace over, o6sc"ring the 6"rned side and exposing the h"man side% ?n death, Dent .ill 6egin to.ear the mask that he .o"ld never .ear in lie% 1 mask o heroism .ill cover his criminality% 1s the flm conceives it, this lie 9 thatp"rity is possi6le 9 represents the sine 8"a non o social 6eing% Eitho"t it, .itho"t the idea that one can s"stain an ethical position,calc"lation o interest .o"ld have nothing to oCset it, and the city .o"ld 6ecome identifed .ith criminality% A"t the real interest o 

the flm@s concl"sion lies .ith Aatman and the orm o appearance that his heroism takes% ?t is as i Batman ta%es

responsibilit or >ent’s act  not to save Dent@s ace 6"t to stain his ownima#e irre!ocabl with e!il. 0e remains the heroic e"ception,but his status chan#es radicall .  ?n order to #uarantee that >entdies as a hero, Batman must ta%e responsibilit or themurders that >ent committed.  Eith this gest"re, he trul adopts themas% o e!il . ?n the closing montage se8"ence, .e see the police h"nting him do.n, Bordon smashing the Aat ignal,and fnally Aatman driving a.ay into the night on his motorcycle% 1s this se8"ence concl"des, .e hear Bordon@s voiceover say,“5e@s the hero Botham deserves, 6"t not the one it needs right no.% 1nd so .e@ll h"nt him, 6eca"se he can take it% Aeca"se he@s nota hero% 5e@s a silent g"ardian, a .atch"l protector %%% a dark knight% 1s Bordon prono"nces the fnal .ord, the flm c"ts to 6lackrom the image o Aatman on his motorcycle% The melodrama o this voiceover elevates AatmanNs heroism, 6"t it does so precisely

6eca"se he agrees to appear as evil% This #esture , e!en more than an o his

phsical acts o coura#e, is the #esture o the true herobecause it lea!es him without an reco#nition or his heroism.

or the hero who appears in the orm o e!il, heroice"ceptionalit must be an end in itsel without an hopeor a #reater reward. *hen the e"ception ta%es this orm,

it loses the dan#er that adheres to the tpical hero.  The mas% o e!il allows the e"ception to persist without multiplin#itsel. Ay adopting this position at the end o the flm, Aatman reveals that he has taken "p the lesson o the !oker and

grasped the importance o the 6reak rom calc"lation% >ent, the hero who wants to

appear heroic, descends into murderous e!il.  A"t Batman,the hero who accepts e!il as his orm o appearance,sustains the onl possible path or heroic e"ceptionalit. /n anepoch when the law9s inade-uac is e!ident, the need or

the heroic e"ception becomes e!er more pronounced, butthe dan#er o the e"ception has also ne!er been moreapparent. >eclarations o e"ceptionalit abound in the contemporary .orld,and the allow us to see the ne#ati!e rami$cations that

ollow rom the e"ception, no matter how heroic its intent.1"diences Qock to s"perhero movies in search o a heroic exception that they can em6race, an exception that .o"ld .ork to.ard

 /"stice .itho"t sim"ltaneo"sly adding to in/"stice in the manner o today@s real .orld exceptions% ?n The >ar% ?ni#ht, #hristopher $olan ofers a !iable ima#e o heroice"ceptionalit . 1s he sees, its orm o appearance m"st 6e its opposite i it to avoid implicating itsel in thein/"stice that it fghts% The lesson or o"r real .orld exceptions is th"s a di4c"lt one% Rather than bein#celebrated as the liberator o /ra- and the sa!oir o .2.

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reedom, &eor#e *. Bush would ha!e to act behind thescenes to encoura#e char#es bein# brou#ht a#ainst himas a war criminal at the *orld Court, and then he wouldha!e to 5ee to the streets o The 0a#ue as the authorities

pursue him there.  ?n the eyes o the p"6lic, true heroes must identithemsel!es with the e!il that we $#ht.

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7NCThe $nal scene o The >ar% ?ni#ht depicts Batman acceptin#the role o the !illain, ramin# himsel or murders committed

b the *hite ?ni#htD 0ar!e >ent. This is the onl trulheroic act. To escape the calculati!e and conditional natureinherent in ethics that demand reco#nition, we must accept a

path that in!ol!es misidenti$cation o our actions as e!il.

ur %riti% maniests in a couple o was in the af@

1. The call or the ballot@ there ethics are positioned as a callor an a4rmati!e ballot E !ote or us because we ta%e an

ethical action to do FFFFFFD E this call coopts their ethics E itsubordinates the desire to do #oodD to the desire or

reco#nition with the ballot. Much li%e 0ar!e >ent’s rapid

de!olution into a murderer, this means o locatin# thea4rmati!e establishes an ethics that immediatel collapse in

the ace o ad!ersit E rather than becomin# a #enuine pro)ectto help FFFFFFFF their af becomes a strate#ic tool to win ballotsE when it stops bein# strate#ic, the’ll mo!e on the ne"t orm

o oppression or suferin# ha!in# created no real chan#e. Thisde!ol!es into a conse-uentialist compromise with e!il in order

to #et what we want, turnin# case and normaliin# !iolence insociet and our communit.

7. The role o the communit@ !otin# or their ar#ument doesha!e efects outside o this round E the ballot is part o a lar#er

communit that will imitate winnin# practices because debateis a competiti!e acti!it. ust li%e the !i#ilantes who imitate

batman, puttin# themsel!es and others in dan#er, thecommunit $lls with teams readin# the nati!es af, notbecause the need to restore )ustice to our treatment o nati!e

peoples, but because it has a #reat built in states answer anddoesn’t re-uire a whole lot o updatin#.

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The sense o detachment associated with the spectator posture ishi#hli#hted durin# episodes o alienation in which debaters cheer news o human suferin# or misortune. /nstead o ocusin# on the !isceralne#ati!e responses to news accounts o human death and miser,debaters o!ercome with the competiti!e eal o contest round competition

show a tendenc to concentrate on the meanin#s that such e!idencemi#ht hold or the stren#th o their academic debate ar#uments. 3or example,ne.s reports o mass starvation might tidy "p the "ni8"eness o a disadvantage or 6olster the inherency o ana4rmative case (in the technical parlance o de6ated"cational instit"tions

have ailed even more grievo"sly to provide the kind o civic or"ms .e need% ?n act, one could easilconclude that the principle purposes o our schools is to depri!e successor#enerations o their ci!ic !oice, to turn them into mute anduncomprehendin# spectators in the drama o political lieJ ('++', p% M0%

/ndependentl, this e"ternalied )usti$cation or their ethics

ma%es them sla!es to their pursuit o the ballot. /t strips our

actions o #enuine meanin# and reedom.ur ar#ument is not a %riti% o FFFF

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0e#el lived thro"gh the 3rench Jevol"tion and his tho"ght .as shaped 6y it% Thro"gh the experience o revol"tion, he

saw that modernit possessed the capacit or radicalchan#e but lac%ed the philosophical space or thin%in# o a hero as the a#ent o that chan#e.   1s a res"lt, tho"gh the philosopher .as"nac8"ainted .ith "perman, 5egel tho"ght a great deal a6o"t the phenomenon that "perman represents% ?n 5egelNs aesthetic

philosophy, he disting"ishes 6et.een a heroic age and the era o legal order% /n the  latter era o le#alorder, ethical acti!it is realied throu#h the laws o thestate rather than throu#h indi!idual action.  Thou#h lawscan be un)ust and we ma ha!e to chan#e them, our ethical

acti!it occurs within the law rather than outside it once a

le#al order has been established. The le#al order thus lea!esno room or the hero, the $#ure who acts outside o thelaw’s constraint. 0eroism is antithetical to law because it

alwas ser!es to constitute its own law even i it doesn@t mean to do so% 3or thehero, as 5egel p"ts it, “?ndivid"ality is a la. "nto itsel, .itho"t 6eing s"6/ected to an independently s"6sisting la., /"dgement, and

tri6"nal%:; /n the conte"t o le#al order, the hero’s acti!itwould become criminalit, and there would be no wa todiferentiate it rom e!il. This is .hy 5egel re/ects the idea o a modern hero% "ch a fg"re ails tosee ho. the private morality that it proCers as an alternative or as a s"pplement to the legal order is already incl"ded .ithin that

order% 1s a res"lt o its str"ct"ral incompati6ility, the hero’s acti!it will ha!e theefect o underminin# the law e!en i it is done tosupplement the law. But a problem remains@ Het to itsel the law cannot arri!e at )ustice , and the persistence o in)ustice within

the le#al order leads to a demand or the hero and or anheroic e"ception  to the la.%:&; Using Aatman, not "perman, as the protagonist, ChristopherNolan’s The >ar% ?ni#ht  ()**M0 ta%es this problem posed bthe hero and the hero’s e"ceptional status   in relation to the la. as itsoverriding concern% The title or the flm (tho"gh not the plot0 derives rom 3rank Hiller@s '+MI graphic novel series Aatman The

Dark Knight Jet"rns, and it provides a less ideali7ing portrait o Aatman than those developed previo"sly% The $lm isnot simpl, howe!er, a criti-ue o heroic e"ceptionalit.The $lm9s uni!erse ma%es clear the need or an e"ception tothe law. *ithout Batman (#hristian Aale0 providing extra

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and Aatman consists in their /oint recognition that an exceptional threat to the legal order re8"ires an extraar% ?ni#ht is

Batman’s attempt to $nd the proper public ace or

heroism. 5e is dra.n to 5arvey Dent (1aron >ckhart0 6eca"se Dent seems to em6ody the possi6ility o a heroism that.o"ld 6e consistent .ith p"6lic la. and that co"ld conse8"ently "nction .itho"t the need or disg"ise% Ater the death o 

Jachel Da.es (Haggie Byllenhaal0 and >ent’s o.n serio"s acial 6"rn transorms him rom a deender o thela. into the criminal $#ure Two+ace, Batman sees theimpossibilit o doin# awa with the hero’s mas%.  >ent, thewould+be hero without a mas%, -uic%l becomes a criminalhimsel when he e"periences traumatic loss.  This  t"rn o eventsre!eals that the hero must remain an e"ception , but  it also  sho.s

that the heroism o the hero must pass itsel of as its opposite .  !"st as

the tr"th that eonard (B"y Searce0 discovers at the end o $olan@s Hemento ()***0 is a constit"tive lie, theconclusion o The >ar% ?ni#ht illustrates that the trueorm o appearance o heroism is e!il.  The $lm concludeswith Batman !oluntaril ta%in# responsibilit or the murdersthat Dent-T.o

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e"ceptional status.  *hen he a#rees to appear as acriminal  at the end o the flm, Batman a!ows  sim"ltaneo"sly the need or theheroic e"ception and the need or this e"ception to appear as

criminalit. / the heroic e"ception is not to multipl itsel in

a wa that threatens an possibilit or )ustice, then itsappearance must become indistin#uishable romcriminalit. The heroic #esture, as The Dark Knight conceives it, does not consist in any o the

partic"lar crime

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ramewor%

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AT@ H/N? T/t’s a -uestion o ramewor% E the role o the ne#ati!e is to

criticie the af’s political strate#, not to orward one o ourown. *e ha!en’t presented an ethical obli#ation, onl the af

has, meanin# that the onl source o a lin% is the af’sad!ocac. This is )usti$ed E it is necessar or education thatwe be able to challen#e the af in whate!er wa is responsi!e.

8!en i we don’t win ramewor%, all o our case turns are

reasons ou still shouldn’t endorse the a4rmati!e E we’!emade ar#uments speci$c to the impacts o !otin# or their af,

the impacts to our lin% ar#uments outwei#h the ris% o aresidual lin% to us.

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8T0/C2 CM82 /R2T8thics come beore ontolo# E all modes o bein# are tied to

the other E understandin# this relationship is a #atewa toother issues.

’Connor, 'O – >rin, ShD #andidate University o "eensland chool o Solitical cience and ?nternational t"dies (“SoliticalJesponsi6ility 1poretic >thics o 5ospitality and !"dgment, p% I, http--arts%monash%ed"%a"-psi-ne.s

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8AR >8AT0 &>ear o death is #oodMc&owan, 17 – Todd, teaches flm theory, history, and genre at the University o Vermont (“ho"ld the Dark Knight haverisenG !"mp #"t, $o% &, 3all )*'), http--e/"mpc"t%org-c"rrentiss"e-HcBo.anDarkKnight-index%html0Red

A"t another prisoner, a 6lind man, provides a possi6le sol"tion, the opport"nity or Ar"ce to transorm himsel rom a master

into a slave% ?n a remarka6le dialog"e rom the flm, this prisoner artic"lates the reedom  that comesrom, as 5egel p"ts it, tremblin# in e!er $ber o one’s bein#.  Theexchange 6egins .ith the prisoner@s criti8"e o Ar"ce Alind Srisoner Fo" do not ear death% Fo" think this makes yo" strong% ?t

makes yo" .eak% Ar"ce EhyG Alind Srisoner 0ow can ou mo!e aster thanpossible, $#ht lon#er than possible, without the most

powerul impulse o the spirit@ the ear o death.  Ar"ce ? do eardeath% ? ear dying in here, .hile my city 6"rns, and there@s no one there to save it% Alind Srisoner Then make the clim6% Ar"ce

5o.G Alind Srisoner 1s the child did, .itho"t the rope% Then ear .ill fnd yo" again% Nolan cuts romthis e"chan#e to Bruce attemptin# the climb  or the third time, and

the absolute ear  that he e"periences enables him tosucceed.  Tho"gh Aane intends Ar"ce@s imprisonment to teach him the horror o total despair, .hat he ails to reali7e

9and .hat the flm sho.s9is that total despair or pure ne#ati!it is theorm o sub)ecti!it. The sub)ect becomes a sub)ect

when it e"periences this emptiness in the ace o death,.hich is .hy Je6ecca #omay, in her st"nning 6ook on 5egel, claims that or the s"6/ect “the !oid is

constituti!e%:=*; The despair o Bruce’s punishment allowshim to succeed against Aane 6eca"se he no longer has an attachment to his prestige as a master% Hasterydoesn@t ear death, 6"t it does ear the loss o its prestige% ?t is th"s, even more than servit"de, a "ndamentally limitedposition, despite its lack o a.areness o these limitations%