Why the Bat Must Be Broken and Gotham Must be Destroyed

(this was co-conceptualized with Bo Jimenez, and the plan is that this is the opening volley of a series of essays and pieces on The Dark Night Rises.)

A common reading of The Dark Knight has been as a right-wing text, a text justifying Bush-era paranoia and extremist control, and as a reinforcement of the status quo social order of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Even in trailers for The Dark Knight Rises we were given a hint that this new film would at least, in some way...