**WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS DUE TO CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS**
To say that there are political undertones in The Dark Knight Rises would be like saying Lucky Charms has sugar: you’d have to be a potato, or have the brainpower of one, to not pick up on either fact.
So we started off with a liberal version of how current politicians could be linked to characters in the movie. It went pretty well, but we wanted to level the playing field with a conservative viewpoint because we like to at least try to understand the other side. This is what we came up with.
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The Dark Knight Rises Character: Batman
Political Character: Ronald Reagan
From what I can tell, Republicans are holding out for the resurrection of Ronald Reagan. George Bush Jr. was supposed to be the second coming of Reagan, the look of his father with the erratic behavior of a Hollywood actor, but even the most conservative of Republicans agreed that Bush was a little “too dumb”.
And so, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and company keep their beacons lit for the second coming, because they really are running out of ideas for a living president.
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The Dark Knight Rises Character: Bane
Political Character: President Barack Obama
Questionable place of birth, running the country into the ground while still giving the people hope for change, Muslim, possibly an extraterrestrial ; these are just some of the declarations made about President Barack Obama that some of the people falling over to the right believe. The same can be said about Bane, so illogically, one equals the other.
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The Dark Knight Rises Character: Talia al Ghul
Political Character: Hippies
When it comes to masterminds in political agendas, each party has a standard type to blame. Liberals blame corporations and the wealthy. Conservatives blame hippies.
It’s even harder to place an actual face on our depiction of a liberal Talia al Ghul because it’s hard to see who is pulling the strings behind President Obama. Some would say that shadowy figure is none other than the American people. It couldn’t be that easy, could it?
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The Dark Knight Rises Character: Catwoman/Selina Kyle
Political Character: Ron Paul
Yes, we did it again, because it’s just too perfect. The Libertarian stance usually finds itself somewhere in the middle of liberals and conservatives, depending on whether you’re talking about freedoms or finances.
Well, it’s still pretty conservative, which is more than we can say about Ron Paul in leather.
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The Dark Knight Rises Character: John Blake
Political Character: Mitt Romney
This is the guy, right? This is the guy that’s going to take on the next mantle of presidency? The guy that started Obamacare in Massachusetts, loves dogs, and is as close to a priest as we’ve ever seen a politician?
Either this is the guy, or Republicans are setting the world up for an old-fashioned switcheroo, to proclaim some other nominee as their presidential candidate with the sole reason being, “Well, it could be worse.”
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The Dark Knight Rises Character: Alfred
Political Character: John Boehner
Michael Caine spent three-quarters of his screen time in The Dark Knight Rises crying about Bruce Wayne’s life and choices. Speaker of the House John Boehner has spent about three-quarters of his political life crying about America. ‘Nuff said?
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More Batman Laffs:
Political Who’s Who In The Dark Knight Rises: Liberal Edition
John Blake Spoiler Ideas Before Watching The Dark Knight Rises