Batman = George W. Bush

SPOILER: I'm not the first to raise this idea. In terms of diagramming logic puzzles, I don't think Bush and Batman are perfectly overlapping circles. The Dark Knight is chock full of layers and ideas. If you're only watching it as a political allegory, you're missing a ton. But the idea is intriguing, and I think has merit. The film has a very Hobbesian outlook, and the final decision that Batman makes - the choice to be hated by the public in order to protect the public that hates him - is something that George Bush would see a lot of himself in. Batman Begins is a film many conservatives claim, and I expect that to go doubly for this one. Whether you see the film as a critique or a defense of George W. Bush probably depends on your politics. But in terms of dealing with the past eight years, I think it's a lot more even-handed than what I expect to see in W.