Adam-Troy Castro: Lard’s Bane Foul
A few years ago a demonstrable moron of a moviegoer raised a brief public stink about Peter Jackson’s movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s THE TWO TOWERS, claiming that this was a sneaky reference to 9/11 and that Jackson was clearly making light of the tragedy.
Informed that the book had existed for forty years and that it was an international cultural phenomenon before the hijackers were born, and that the title was therefore established, the fool doubled down. The existence on an unassailable timeline had no effect on him. He preferred his conspiracy theory, even if it was disproved by facts nobody could possibly counter. The conspiracy theory was more fun, more satisfying and (to him) more empowering.
Clearly an absolute moron, right?
So we now have Rush Limbaugh, claiming that the villain of the new Batman movie, Bane, is clearly lib’rul Hollywood’s sneaky slam at Mitt Romney, just because Romney used to work at a company called Bain.
(This is a connection made by Jon Stewart too, but Stewart, at least, knows it’s a joke.)
Okay. So forget that Bane the character has been around for years and years and years — since 1993, in fact — and that he in fact appeared in a previous Batman movie, during the Clinton Administration; you can argue that this is the kind of thing only stone geeks would know, and no doubt that argument will be made, in defense of Limbaugh’s sloppiness.
But you don’t even need that kind of specialized knowledge to tear this idiocy apart.
See, movies don’t take five minutes to make.
They require time for screenplays to be written, then rewritten; time for the cast and crew to be hired and to gather, time for the sets to be built, for the movie to be made, time for it to be scored and edited. Everybody knows this. Everybody also knows that Mitt Romney has only been the presumptive candidate for a few months. Nobody, but nobody, knew for sure that he was gonna be the guy, when the movie entered production.
Christopher Nolan, beginning to plan this final movie in his trilogy, did not suddenly have the brainstorm, “Gee! I don’t know who’s going to be the Republican nominee in 2012, but just on the OFF-CHANCE it’s Romney, two years from now, I’ll take this one Batman villain whose name is similar to a company on Romney’s resume and everybody will be so stunned by my clever political barb that they won’t vote for him!”
You discern even more stupidity when you realize that Romney’s doings at Bain have only been big-time controversial for a matter of weeks…since long after the movie was in the can. More alleged clairvoyance from Nolan.
And there’s even more than that when you take this into account: if the hero fighting Bane were Marvel’s The Black Panther — a charismatic black guy, and one LITERALLY born in Africa, who has a name of an organization that some idiots think Romney’s opponent supports — then he might have a case. But it’s Batman, a billionaire and a law unto himself. HE’S the Romney surrogate, if you have to believe that Romney has a surrogate in the movie. Thus, the metaphor Limbaugh thinks he sees doesn’t even survive simple knowledge of a character created in 1939, for crying out loud.
What gets me is that even the folks who ditto everything Limbaugh says, who might be able to spot the sheer appalling brain-dead stupidity of this particular claim, will not make the logical leap that he might have his head equally as far up his ass on some of the other things he says.
Seriously, folks: is there anybody out there who contends that this is the only time Limbaugh has just made stuff up? Or is this just the most recent, and obvious?
Related articles
- Rush Limbaugh Thinks ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ Is An Anti-Romney Conspiracy — Really (comicsalliance.com)
- Rush Limbaugh: Batman Villain Created In 1993 Is Attack On Romney (outsidethebeltway.com)
- Limbaugh: New Batman Film Is an Anti-Romney Conspiracy (motherjones.com)
- The Batman villain Bane is a conspiracy against Mitt Romney, hypothesizes Rush Limbaugh [Video] (io9.com)
- Rush Limbaugh: Batman Villain Was Named “Bane” To Hurt Mitt Romney (deadline.com)
- Rush Limbaugh: ‘Do You Think That It Is Accidental’ That The New Batman Villain Is Named ‘Bane’? (mediaite.com)
It appears that it was a Democrat that first made the Bane/Romney connection. From the Washington Examiner:
“’It has been observed that movies can reflect the national mood,” said Democratic advisor and former Clinton aide Christopher Lehane. “Whether it is spelled Bain and being put out by the Obama campaign or Bane and being out by Hollywood, the narratives are similar: a highly intelligent villain with offshore interests and a past both are seeking to cover up who had a powerful father and is set on pillaging society,’ he added.
As the Friday release date has neared, liberal blogs were the first to connect Batman’s toughest foe with Romney’s firm.”
And this from Chuck Dixon:
Chuck Dixon gave an exclusive interview to the nationally syndicated radio program “Schnitt Show” yesterday, telling the host that efforts to connect Romney to Bane are foolish.
As for the mainstream media’s attempt to usurp the character, Dixon said, “It’s ridiculous. Obviously Bane was not created as an attack on Mitt Romney. We never heard of Romney twenty years ago.” Also, within the context of the movie, Dixon said the comparison between Bane and Romney does not make sense. “My understanding is that Bane is more of an Occupy Wall Street type. Romney is more like Bruce Wayne.”