The film The Dark Knight, written by Christopher Nolan, Jonathon Nolan and Bob Kane does a good job of presenting the philosophical themes of dualism and mimetic desire through the its two main villains. Throughout the film, Batman, billionaire Bruce Wayne's alter ego, fights to protect the city from both the Joker and his friend-turned-villain Two Face, also known as Harvey Dent. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Mimesis or mimetic desire is the idea proposed by Rene Girard that the desire for things is inspired by our innate need to imitate others. This imitation of others can then lead us to imitate desire. For example, going from wanting the same sports car as someone else to wanting that specific car that they own. This causes conflict and rivalry between people which spreads to affect the group as a whole. Once someone gets what they want, those without it get angry and retaliate and so the cycle continues. Girard believes that this is the reason why violence exists in the world. The Dark Knight shows the consequences of mimetic desire on the people of Gotham City. After the mob is discovered hiding money in Gotham's banks, Gotham begins to take a stand against organized crime in the city. In front of this stand is Harvey Dent, Gotham's perfect district attorney who uses the law and Batman, the dark symbol of Gotham who uses force. Both try to be symbols to imitate, Harvey Dent inspires the city of Gotham to work harder to eliminate organized crime from the city, while Batman's actions are literally copied by citizens in similar costumes who try to help him. The city in turn hires the Joker, a sociopath in clown makeup, to make the situation worse. He has power with the crowd because they are afraid of him and Gotham City. This mimics Batman's tactic of having power over criminals because of how afraid they are of him and his presence in the city. Girard states that when fear and chaos threaten the very structure of society, the community will choose only one person to blame in order to restore the previous peace, this is the so-called scapegoat. However, scapegoating is a lie as no one person could ever be fully responsible for such unbridled fear and chaos. Therefore, peace does not last long and eventually the cycle will continue. Girard believed that because mimetic desire and rivalry are innate in humans, the cycle could not be broken unless the scapegoat was replaced with a Christ-like figure to inspire nonviolent imitation in the community. Harvey Dent as Gotham's White Knight appears to be that figure, fighting crime with the law and not brute force. Batman also supports the idea of ​​Harvey Dent replacing him and creating a Gotham that no longer needs Batman. However, the Joker ends up corrupting Harvey Dent and destroying the mimetic desire for peace that Harvey inspired among the people and government of Gotham. With the burning of fifty percent of his body, the loss of his lover Rachael, and the persuasion of the Joker, Harvey becomes Two-Face. He begins, imitating the Joker, to spread fear and violence in Gotham by attacking police officers. And so our figure of purity and peace was corrupted and a false victim of the fear that was supposed to distance us from the City. Ultimately, Gotham resorts to scapegoating again, singling out Batman as responsible for the crimes committed by Two-Face and the Joker. So ultimately Batman's symbol and mimetic desire through ours.