4. People Are Inherently "Good"? - The Dark Knight
Like just about everyone, I am a huge fan of The Dark Knight, though there is one sequence that I find a little difficult to stomach, not because its message is disturbing, but because its message is so eye-rollingly trite. The Joker (Heath Ledger) assembles two boats, one filled with civilians, the other with criminals, and gives the inhabitants of each boat a trigger which will blow the other boat up, thus saving themselves. Now, both boats take time debating it, taking votes and so on, before a criminal on the felon boat takes the trigger away from a guard and throws it out of the boat, giving him a condescending look as he does so. Nolan is obviously saying, "Ah, so you thought the criminals were going to push the button, did you? DID YOU? Well they're not completely inhuman!". It's such an obvious, middle-ground statement to make, especially considering that in reality, I expect everyone would have been scrambling to push the button before the other boat. People are not that "good" in real life, and by good, I mean willing to let themselves die through idiotic "morality".