Does "The Batman" have a political agenda?

 As I was leaving the theatre, I felt like there was some kind of angle that was trying to be pushed onto the viewers.

This feeling of either sadness or realisation of the kind of world we live in washed over me as I came to notice what director Matt Reeves was doing to show off that even in the fictional city of Gotham the corruption and lies can easily show up anywhere around the world and affect everyone.

Looking at it like this shows that while Gotham is indeed very corrupt and has many social and economic issues one of the messages that seems to be trying to be put forward is that billionaires can work for the people as well as making sure corruption goes away. This message is shown mostly in the climax of the movie when Batman helps those trapped under rubble trying to show he can be a beacon of hope and change for the people.

While going through reddit to find out what other people thought of the movie I asked a few questions to people on what they thought of it and if they think it has a political agenda in any way. They all had the same opinion, meaning they thought that while the movie was very good, they weren’t impressed with the weak political tone the movie takes and how it is eerily similar to the Qanon conspiracies of current time. “If they wanted to make sure the audience was paying attention, they didn’t need to clumsily add in a plot about The Riddler having people idolise him on social media to the point they participate in a terrorist attack on Gotham.”

Another person who wished to remain anonymous also thought it was a bit weak to add in the terrorist attack just to drum up a final act. They went on to say, “Since it was in the trailer, I guess they had to show the destruction of the ports and other less sturdy foundations, but it still seems a bit contrived for it all to work.” Other people agreed with this point because it makes sense to those who have watched the movie, The Riddler’s plan could have easily backfired if anyone checked the docks and saw the trucks parked.

The last person that I interviewed had a different opinion to those other people, they thought that it was actually a good thing to include because it makes it feel like our world could exist at the same time as the movie because of the similarities that they both have. They went onto say “while many people don’t think it’s a good idea to do something similar that is currently ongoing the script was written in 2017 so it isnt a complete copy of current events but I can see why some would think so.” In the end I think it’s quite clear that while the intention wasn’t as obvious “The Batman” does still have quite a heavy-handed political agenda leaning more towards the left than the right, especially with the ending painting Batman as the hero the people deserve and should look up to because he will work and help for the people.

Article used for reference here