Violence in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight: Parents Must Be Careful of What They Let Their Children Watch

The Dark Knight debuted on July 18 and racked up a hefty $158 million in one weekend alone. With theater seats still selling almost a week after the movie's opening, it is apparent that Batman (and Joker) fans are not yet tired of Christopher Nolan's latest film - they still have a hankering for Dark Knight.

Heck knows I do - I'm planning to see it for a third time next week, hopefully in IMAX. I have to wait until more showings are available, because nearly all tickets are sold out until then.

I want to see everything again - the explosions, the dramatic monologues, the terror. Everything is beckoning to me, even the violence the film reveals.

But after a near-argument with my boyfriend about whether or not the film should have been rated R, I thought, is The Dark Knight too violent for children? (Gordon McAlpin humorously answers this in an installment of his movie-centered webcomic Multiplex.)

The answer is obviously yes. Parents are concerned about The Dark Knight's violence content, even though the film received a PG-13 from the Motion Picture Association of America. The MPAA cites "intense sequences of violence and some menace" for the rating.

In an article from USA Today, author Scott Bowles explores the subject with parents who took their children to see the movie. One mother, Ann Fogler, said that even though it was "a good movie" The Dark Knight "should have been rated R."

To me (and my critical boyfriend), the movie is just at the border of an R-rating. Those scenes of "menace" the MPAA cites includes videos shot by the Joker, torturing bound victims just before killing them.

In one scene, the Joker taunts a Batman copycat he captured, visibly tied up and roughhoused. After the wannabe vigilante obliges to the Joker's demands, the clown takes the camera and addresses the lens, saying that every day someone will die until Batman reveals his identity.

It's. So. Creepy. Another video with an unlucky news anchorman (face-painted to look like the menacing Joker) has a less terrifying feel, even though it proves what the Joker is willing to do to get his way. What makes the movie so good is also what makes it terrifically frightening. The harrowing videos Heath Ledger's character creates and distributes definitely highlight the Joker's psychotic nature and, well, evil. Pure evil.

But it doesn't mean that, say, a 16-year-old shouldn't be able to see the film. The gore in the movie is limited; I know I squirmed more at Bruce Wayne's stitches caused by an angry Rottweiler in the beginning of the movie than at the scene where the Joker "makes a pencil disappear" by ramming it through a mob member's eyeball.

The camera lingers on Wayne's injury, giving the viewer time to absorb it and become grossed out. With the Joker's "magic trick," however, the camera follows the clown's slick movements quickly and wonderful editing takes care of the rest. (If you look closely, you can see the pencil right before the Joker ... takes care of his attacker. Don't thank me, thank clips that have already made it to YouTube.)

I must admit that Harvey Dent's injury - the catalyst that made him Two-Face - was also pretty painful to watch and just plain gross. As Aaron Eckhart's character lays weak in his hospital bed, you can see the burns on his skin in amazing detail; you can almost touch and feel its scarred, scratchy texture. Dent's left eyeball is exposed too, so menacing when combined with his gritted teeth.

But I suppose that age is what counts here; I'm 20 and these other kids are under 12. How do they know it's all CGI and make up? Sure, they know it's just a movie, but they see Dent's accident unfold; the gasoline, the fire, the lack of skin grafts. Even though it's a movie, such a freak accident (pardon the pun) is still possible, though improbable.

It's a parent's responsibility to educate their kids on movies (and television, now that I think about it) and do research on the films they watch with them. Parents have to go beyond the maturity ratings in order make sure their kids are exposed to movies they can handle.

That way, they can see a movie as many times as they want in theaters, without repercussions.

References:
Is 'The Dark Knight' too dark for kids?" (USA Today, Scott Bowles.)