The Rebel, The Nihlist, and the Revolutionary in Batman the Dark Knight - Essay Example

The following study text expounds on the three figures as portrayed by Camus and further examines their possible application in the movie Batman the Dark Knight by examining three characters and how they fit in Camus’ figures. The nihilist believes that all values are meaningless and baseless, and that nothing can be understood or communicated. Concisely, the nihilist is an extreme pessimist who has no beliefs, no purpose, no loyalty, and all they think of is destroying. “A nihilist is not one who believes in nothing, but one who does not believe in what exists” (Camus 38).

Camus argues that nihilism is a disorder that the modern age overly suffers from and it fights against morality. Morality demands of people to be honest and truthful when looking at their faults, and be truthful to their natures. However, a nihilist does not care about morality, and does not see any purpose of anything in the universe. According to Camus, most of us are nihilists, lacking the necessary values and seeing life as not worth living. The rebel as portrayed by Camus is an individual rejecting both absurdity and political, metaphysical which can be better put as rebellion against unjustified sufferings inflicted by a state on citizens.

The rebel in this condition tries to resist the unjust system of rules and at the same time rejecting the silent (unspoken) universe. A rebel protects what is theirs and denies anyone from touching it, and is perceived of as aiming at imposing but not conquering. This imposition is to make them meaningful towards people who deny his feelings of humanity in a world which has no meaning. As such, rebellion is an act of defence, but not offended, because a rebel will not charge at an oppressor. In the master-slave situation, a rebel will not rebel against their masters but will act against their “master” status.

This is where the action against the superiority is evident and it can be concluded that