In North American history, many events have left deep marks, and Duke and the Batman series will surely do the same. Yet whether their final portrayal will be positive or negative, no one can say for sure. This nationwide debate about film and violence will likely never yield a true conclusion.
Current events create public opinion, and public opinion in turn shapes the course of events.
Perhaps when Duke grows old and looks back at this media storm over movies, he will find it rather amusing. As a director, whether passively or actively drawn into such an incident, he is destined to leave a bold and colorful stroke in America's cultural history.
This debate has already gone beyond the scope of The Dark Knight Rises, pulling the entire Hollywood industry into its vortex. Moreover, moralists pushed forward by certain groups have begun targeting the very promoters of these films.
In the eyes of these moral crusaders, the entire film industry is guilty. They listed what they called Hollywood's "Seven Deadly Sins."
First Sin of Film: Inspiring Villain Worship.
"Hollywood is a spectacle-producing industrial system—not only in visual effects but also in the spectacle of stories and characters. To achieve the ultimate confrontation between good and evil in a reasonable yet extraordinary way, Hollywood's writers and directors rack their brains."
"Audiences crave excitement and entertainment. Hollywood has evolved villains from early bloodthirsty killers to mid-era psychopaths; from the warning messenger in Se7en to a philosophically driven criminal like the Joker. While villains have undergone metamorphosis, heroes have changed little, resulting in villains gradually dominating the dramatic influence."
"Whether it's the fictional Michael Peterson or the real-life Charles Manson on screen, they are figures elevated in a context where heroes no longer exist—or have become political tools. Films have exaggerated this mythic quality, letting evil take on a prophetic glow. Be it simple brutality, revenge, warning, or the Joker's philosophical musings—it moves people from curiosity to admiration, from appreciation to worship, and finally, in isolated cases, to imitation."
Second Sin of Film: Glorifying Violent Spectacle.
"Film plots depend on conflict, contradiction, and drama—thus violence becomes an essential element in Hollywood blockbusters. On one hand, depictions of violence raise the public's tolerance level; only by constantly increasing the stakes can Hollywood survive. On the other hand, real-life violence keeps feeding Hollywood's creativity. Charles Manson's followers brutally murdered Roman Polanski's wife, and later, in Duke Rosenberg's hands, the most charismatic demon—Manson—was merged into the Joker's character and habitual gestures. The upgraded on-screen Joker then, in turn, influenced today's youth, driving some to commit even more extreme and horrifying acts."
"Cinematic violence itself is merely a narrative device. Once the theater lights turn on and the credits roll, the violence should end there. Yet mass media amplifies and exaggerates it, allowing what should stay fictional to spill into real life. Such one-sided portrayal inevitably leads to abuse of violence."
"Oliver Stone mocked media violence with Natural Born Killers, yet ironically, that very film inspired the infamous Columbine High School massacre. Martin Scorsese explored war trauma and stylized violence in Taxi Driver, but it also led to young John Hinckley's obsession with Jodie Foster and his assassination attempt on President Reagan."
Third Sin of Film: Promoting Violence Against Violence.
"'Fighting violence with violence' is a tactic directors love to use. In those films, when the law cannot punish wrongdoing, violence becomes the only answer. More subtly, using violence to resist violence becomes the ultimate method of using law to challenge law itself."
"But few truly grasp the deeper meaning. Many moviegoers admire Se7en's meticulous John Doe, respect the enigmatic Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs, praise Agent Smith in The Matrix, adore the air-gun killer in No Country for Old Men, and idolize the Joker in The Dark Knight. Though vengeance feels satisfying, the unrestrained imitation of violence only turns it into a vessel that harms society and humanity. Once violence steps off the screen and escapes the dream machine's glow, all that remains is tragedy."
Fourth Sin of Film: The Spectator Syndrome.
"Public spectatorship—waves of discussion and fascination—infinitely magnify the social significance of violent incidents. It's understandable for media to explore the social context behind criminals, but under entertainment-driven narratives, such exploration turns into a kind of deification movement and voyeuristic spectacle."
"Remember the Black Mirror episode where the criminal demanded the British Prime Minister commit an obscene act with a pig on live television after kidnapping a princess? His shocking crime intertwined with the public's voyeuristic indifference, becoming a grotesque performance art. This absurd story vividly reveals how all modern media, including film, shoulder a shared responsibility: by fueling excessive public reactions, they nurture sensationalism and attention-seeking crimes."
"A single, independent film is not guilty. But under the catalysis of mass media and social issues, movies—or rather, their texts—inevitably become key elements in repeated tragedies…"
These critics collectively listed seven deadly sins of Hollywood cinema, effectively condemning the entire industry. From a certain perspective, this even benefited Duke and The Dark Knight Rises—since the major Hollywood studios immediately united, sharing a common stance to refute the accusations and thereby reducing direct attacks against The Dark Knight Rises.
Whenever someone threatens Hollywood's collective interests, its major conglomerates naturally form an alliance.
They even pulled Duke's own words as a weapon of defense, as if their earlier criticism of The Dark Knight Rises had never happened.
"Movies don't kill people. We love movies. We love the worlds they create. Films, in their unique way, give people emotional experiences. As long as we stand together against ignorant and extreme remarks, acts of violence will never destroy our love and faith, nor will they ever destroy cinema and art."
This recent statement from Duke appeared prominently in many media outlets.
Using his words as ammunition, media organizations closely tied to Hollywood launched sustained and powerful rebuttals against the notion that films are guilty.
"First of all, movies don't kill. Human violence long predates the birth of cinema. Films stand in a complex and ambiguous position within this cycle of bloodshed. To make movies pay for crimes committed by humans smacks of scapegoating."
"In fact, violent films rarely have a direct impact on people. As Richard Walter once said, whenever a violent film hits theaters, social violence often decreases instead. What is a cinema, after all? It's a gymnasium for emotions. In sports arenas, we experience physical confrontation; in movie theaters, we experience emotional and psychological conflict. What's wrong with that?"
"Secondly, violence comes from the human heart. To claim that The Dark Knight Rises and the Joker caused the tragedy is simply an exaggeration. The theme of The Dark Knight is to condemn violence, but what James Holmes saw in the film was crime and killing. Different minds extract different meanings from a movie. It is individuals, through their own step-by-step choices, who place themselves in the position of criminals."
"Movies merely present or artistically process the social realities that already exist. Even if a film were as pure as a virgin—resolutely rejecting all scenes of violence, lust, and evil—people would still learn about violence and crime from countless other sources. In reality, the true roots of violence in people's hearts come from social imbalance, pressure, and problems in education."
"Finally, the tragedy reflects the problems of an entire era."
"After the tragedy, Duke Rosenberg officially announced his farewell to Batman and delivered a passionate declaration: 'We love movies. We love the worlds they create. Film, in its unique way, gives people emotional experiences.' The innocence of this director and his films indirectly proves that this Joker-like real-life tragedy was born from this very age."
"In Duke Rosenberg's Batman films, the symbols of criminals always carry a touch of anti-civilization and anti-system madness, a sense of extremity with no self-regard and no demands. When the Joker sets the city ablaze and sticks his head out of the car window laughing wildly; when Bane destroys an entire football stadium, raises a flag casually, and tosses aside the broken Batman mask—this is no longer a national, military, or political war. It belongs to individuals—intense, primitive, rebellious. On one hand, it questions order and authority; on the other, it becomes the embodiment of fear and anxiety itself."
"James Holmes's original intention is already unknown. But even now, at twenty-five, he still spits at prison guards, pretends to be insane, and keeps asking about the ending of The Dark Knight Rises. He scorns his own crime and life itself. His criminal temperament belongs to this era, while film and culture merely reflect its infamy. As Warner considers cutting violent scenes from future films, President Obama and the U.S. government are busy discussing gun control laws. So why should only the big screen bear the blame, self-examine, and take responsibility? Every aspect of this world—its reality, its legal system, its education, its injustices, and every member of the public—is inseparably linked to the tragedy."
Facing public doubt, Hollywood's attitude is not only one of rebuttal, but also of humble acceptance and resolute refusal to change.
That is to say, whatever type of film demonstrates the greatest market value, that is what Hollywood will continue to produce. Perhaps for now, during this period, Hollywood may impose some restrictions on content, but in the larger trend, it will still pursue the ultimate goal—creating the greatest possible profit.
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