"The Dark Knight," Counterterrorism, and Law

John Ip, University of Auckland Faculty of Law, has published The Dark Knight’s War on Terrorism. Here is the abstract.

This article considers Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film, The Dark Knight, as a reflection on legality and security in the post-9/11 era. The article examines how the film depicts three specific counterterrorism policies associated with the war on terrorism (namely rendition, coercive interrogation and warrantless surveillance), and argues that none of the film’s depictions of these actions can properly be seen as endorsement of their Bush Administration-era equivalents.

Accordingly, the film is better viewed as something other than an endorsement of the Bush Administration’s war on terrorism. This article contends that, unusually for a film about a superhero, The Dark Knight is ultimately about the importance of law, legal institutions, and popular courage.

Download the paper from SSRN at the link.