The Dark Knight: Reflections on Human Nature

SPOILER ALERT: Parts of the movie will be used and discussed in my post, so if you haven't watched it, and don't want me to accidentally ruin the movie for you, go watch it, I highly recommend it. Oh and by the way: STOP HERE.

After watching the highly-anticipated The Dark Knight on the big screen, I realized that this movie was amazing not only the action level. As many people have seen or heard, the late Heath Ledger's performance of the Joker was simply ridiculous, well played, and certainly the "newer, better class of criminal" that has the Batman busy in Gotham. After all, he's a man of his word.

But not only was Ledger's acting of the Joker superb, merely the character brought up very interesting points about human society as we know it. The "social experiment" that the Joker did with the two ferries, one filled with convicts, the other with innocent men, women and children. As both boats are rigged with oil barrels and explosives, the Joker throws the people onboard an interesting, and possibly sick twist to it. In their own hands, they hold the detonator to trigger the other boat's demise. The Joker tells them that they have 15 minutes to decide whether or not they'll detonate the other boat, as if neither boat decides to do it, he promises to blow both boats up.

In this predicament, we see that initially, that the citizens were very set on blowing up the convicts' boat, as "they made a choice to break the law." After 10 minutes of an absurd "vote" onboard, we realize that the convicts had no intention of blowing up the other boat, and the citizens also didn't want to dirty their own hands by mercilessly condemning hundreds of people to death. As Batman had put it, "Gotham has citizens ready to see the light, that they are waiting for the good in people." Social experiments have always been interesting to me, and most of them involving money prizes and such, there is always one or two individuals that end up being too greedy to be a "team player." However, when lives are stake, people seem to concern their morals and ethics more carefully. This gives me quite a nice, positive outlook on humanity and the future.

The other major note on human nature I saw, was that about relationships between people. Batman, or Bruce Wayne, has always had a thing for his childhood friend, Rachel Dawes. Now, from before, we must realize that Rachel had told Bruce that "once Gotham no longer needs a Batman", they could be together. We see that she means it, but at the same time, is living her normal life, and thus another guy enters into her life, the charismatic District Attorney, Harvey Dent. Of course, she's always hesitant when Harvey asks her to marry him, but at the end, you see that even though "Patience is a Virtue," my addition to that line would be "...but Patience often fails the test of Time."

Of course, this film tells us that in reality, there is not always a happy ending, and that Good might not always be able to conquer Evil. As for Batman vs. Joker, my take on why Bruce could not kill the Joker, despite having around 10 different occasions to do so, is because he realizes that he needs the Batman, and that the only reason for Batman to continue to thrive in Gotham, is to track and hunt the Joker. As in their relationship, the "Agent of Chaos" is necessary for the "Vigilante of the Night" to continue in Gotham. Much more complex than your simple Good vs. Evil, hmm?

Music these days.

Listening to some of the most recent music of these days, I feel that we're missing out on a lot of the suave, cool, and more romantic side of music from the past.

Take for instance, Andy Williams, writing Love Story (Where Do I Begin) in 1969. The song is so passionate, a soliloquy of a guy desperately describing his love of the woman he loves; at the end, the guy says how the woman he loves will always be there for him, and there's a happy feeling for him, seeing that he has someone in what could be described as a "fairy-tale" relationship.

Now fast forward to modern music. What do we see? The closest songs I can think of that describe something like it, would be songs like Beyonce's "Irreplaceable", or Timbaland ft. One Republic's "Apologize." However, these would be much more on the depressing side; both sides talk about how the relationship breaks up, there's no chance for making-up, there's cheating within relationships, and the perfect line to explain all this, "It's too late to apologize."

This made me think. Why has the popular music of our time changed from optimistic relationships and fairy-tale love of the '60s-'70s to the breaking-up, pessimistic fighting of our modern R&B, Pop, and Rap music?

I miss the old days. Not only is the music more melodic and passionate, but I can't help to feel that modern music is based purely around how loud your bass can go and throw in some drum beats.

I like drums, but music shouldn't be just that.

I have a dream, that one day...

...my children or I, will be able to see a world rid of cancer, and all people can live in harmony, free of disease, dissent, and disaster.

People who know me very well, would know that being part of the medical field was a dream I had since the beginning of middle school. People would also know that I'm amazingly stubborn when it comes to things I want to achieve-at any cost, any means necessary.

However, lately, I've been having, well, you can call them "second doubts;" that term doesn't quite do it justice, since I'm probably still going towards the field anyway.

I guess it was more of learning much more of the actualities and technicalities of the field, and not just some dream vision of being as badass as House; as hilarious as J.D/Turk; or even as scandalous as McNamara/Troy.

It all started with Medicine and Society class, I suppose. Fascinating course, great teachers, amazing people, intense discussion/debate. I don't regret taking the course at all, but it truly opened my eyes to many dilemmas that are faced by doctors, and how real world doctors face/deal with those problems. I suppose the most I got out of that class, is that altruism is not a natural human trait, and like everyone else, many doctors do the job merely for the money, and not for the advancement of science, nor for the betterment of human society.

To add to that, I suppose my internships at the University of Michigan Medical Scientific Research Building were pretty enlightening as well. Working in a protein crystallography lab, I learned that research is interesting, but also not for me as a potential research choice. I suppose it's just that I don't have the necessary drive to plow through the necessary grant-work, and now that the NIH has less money than ever, research professors are really placed in a dog-eat-dog situation.

Within this lab that I'm interning in, there are 3 other undergraduate students also "learning." All three of them are Juniors becoming Seniors, some have taken the MCAT, others prepping for graduate school, etc...at any rate, farther along the path that I'm looking at. For the guy who actually took the MCAT and is awaiting his score, I was so surprised at his attitude towards science: complete apathy. The guy has learned all the concepts, knows all the theory behind it, but simply cannot practice/apply it for the life of him! It makes me wonder on how he would ever succeed as a practicing doctor, if he can't do something as simple as mixing solutions in the right amount (written out for him) into one little vial for a PCR (for those who don't know, it's Polymerase Chain Reaction).

The experiences I've had since my "don't know what I'm getting into but it sounds good so I'll do it" ambition in the 6th grade, I've learned much more about the field that I have the most hope, promise and talent in, and because of that, I'll probably stick to this field. However, it's now let me realize that doctors are not as pristine as I used to think, and that if I am to truly achieve something in this field, I'll not only need to fight and work hard, but fight with everything I got, and work with any ethic I can muster.

Sure, if I end up getting a bum leg, I'd probably be as bitter as House, too. But we'd need to keep in mind that not many people can pull that off, and still manage to keep his job, and priority within a clinic. After all, dramas can't be real; that's why they're dramas.

Got Music? Might be better than Milk.

Music has been found as an Escape Route, a Therapy.
Ever listen to something, and realize that it reminds you of some past experience?

You're not alone. There's been studies that show how music therapy works wonders for past psychological patients that just did not quite recover.

But you don't need to be in an asylum to realize how powerful music is: For music, helps the heart, motivates the mind, and soothes the soul.

It helps the heart: I know for one that music is my getaway on when I feel down. Not only does the iPod or iTunes help the mood in playing emotional or passionate music when needed, but even just sitting in front of a piano, in a darkened room; it's surprisingly calming, especially when you play whatever your heart desires.

It motivates the mind: Stress is one of those big, rising issues when it comes with people of the modern lifestyle. It seems like school years for college kids nowadays are just filled with preparation of this class, followed by work for this class, an essay or two here, a project there, and BOOM, you get finals. Not only does this stress build up and weaken your immune system-making you more susceptible to nasty sicknesses, it also takes a toll on your mind. Eventually, you just don't think as well, and you're no longer "you." A simple break from the busy worker bee mentality from work or school works wonders. Regardless if you're going to pull out your violin and jam with your friends, or just listen to Coldplay. Your mind will thank you for it.

And finally, it soothes the soul. I'm not talking about just listening to the classics. Even if you have the urge to listen to Soulja Boy, go for it; whatever floats your boat. As the soul is the most abstract of the three things I've mentioned, the benefits is probably the most difficult to comprehend. People have told me how relaxing it is to compose, or simply spend 15-30 minutes improvising on one basic theme. The end result is certainly surprising. One classmate of mine composed something in his own free time, later, the school symphony orchestra performed it in the Student Concerto Concert; it was the hit of the concert. Like my conductor once said, "The only thing certain in music, is nothing is for certain."

Number 1 Rule of music: Don't judge, just listen.