Page - 65 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

The Problem of Evil | 65www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 59–74 Some movies contribute to the debate over the distinction between justice and vigilantism: the protagonist evolves in the margins of the law while pre- tending to serve it; interprets, transgresses, or judges it inefficient; and finally follows a more personal (and often ambiguous) ideal of justice. This process leads to a graduate deletion of the distinction between what rené Girard calls private vengeance (based on vendetta codes) and public vengeance (a non- arbitrary application of the law).13 the movies featuring Batman, adapted from 1980s classic comics, are often concerned with this topic: Batman: Under the Red Hood (Brandon Vietti, US 2010); Batman: Year One (sam Liu/Lauren Mont- gomery, US 2011); The Dark Knight Returns (Jay Oliva, Us 2012–2013). evil appears not only in Manichaean oppositions but also in confrontations of opposite points of views, linking to Hegel’s definition of tragedy:14 Justice League: The New Frontier (Dave Bullock, US 2008); Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010); Justice League: Doom (Lauren Montgomery, Us 2012). in other cases and especially in some recent interpretations of iconic char- acters (and in a way that contradicts the first point), evil appears in the actions of an individual engaged in a precise teleological process, the violent reform of a fallible world. As long as the objectives are noble, everything is allowed. The hero’s actions are to be judged not in light of principles, but in the light of issues and circumstances. evil here is thought of from a utilitarian angle, with one evil preventing another evil with more disastrous consequences. this cynical ascer- tainment of fallen characters can be found in Superman vs. the Elite (Michael Chang, Us 2012), Batman: Under the Red Hood (2010) and Batman: The Dark Night Returns (2012–2013).15 each category represents a possibly productive route for study as long as the genre evolves and matures – and there is still a substantial margin for improve- ment.16 However, a first potentially interesting topic to explore from a moral and religious perspective, it seems to me, concerns the action’s relevance: is 13 see Girard 2011. 14 in The Phenomenology of the Spirit and his Aesthetic Courses, hegel talks, for example, of sophocles’ Antigone, a work of which he thinks highly, and of the opposition between Creon, the representative of human law, and Antigone, the defender of divine duty. As Mathieu thibodeau summarizes, the tragic heroes are bound to “confront their compatriots, to assert their point of views, to promote their interests and to defend their own conception of the truth” (my translation). this situation leads them into unresolvable conflicts with others, bringing disaster and death. See Thibodeau 2011, 35. 15 Movies featuring Batman are frequently cited here due to the ambivalence created by a character who follows his own moral code but eventually expresses a certain faith in humankind. in Justice League: Doom (Lauren Montgomery, Us 2012), a group of villains steals plans that had been elaborated by Batman in order for him to be able to neutralize, if the need arose, his own powerful allies (superman and Wonder Woman, for example) should they lose their innocence by fully realizing the potential of their unlimited powers. the villains eventually deploy what Batman had considered a deterrent. 16 We can add to those different categories a debate related to a present political reality: the Cornelian dilemma involving individual liberty and security. see, for example, Marvel Comics’ Civil War, which was recently adapted for the big screen. some critics have already linked this question to erich fromm’s thesis about “the Basic human Dilemma” between unlimited freedom and security. see Langley 2016.