Counterpoint Poem by gershon hepner

Buried within rigid paradigms
lie ambiguities concealing tensions
between the very best and worst of times,
quite as intriguing as two-part inventions
by J. S. Bach. Our lives, like counterpoint,
have themes that, played against each other,
may please us sometimes, sometimes disappoint,
but should not cause us any serious bother
once we discover continuity
creating tension in opposing themes,
and can accept the ambiguity
some think can be interpreted in dreams.

A. O. Scott writes about “The Dark Knight, ” the new Batman movie (“How Many Superheroes Does it Take to Tire a Genre? ” NYT, July 24,2008) :
“Batman has no limits, ” says Bruce Wayne to his manservant, Alfred, early in “The Dark Knight, ” and the accountants at Warner Brothers, which released the movie, are likely to agree. I’m not so sure. “The Dark Knight, ” praised by critics for its somber themes and grand ambitions, has proven to be a mighty box office force in a summer already dominated by superheroes of various kinds. But any comic book fan knows that a hero at the height of his powers is a few panels removed from mortal danger, and that hubris has a way of summoning new enemies out of the shadows. Are the Caped Crusader and his colleagues basking in an endless summer of triumph, or is the sun already starting to set? ... Instead the disappointment comes from the way the picture spells out lofty, serious themes and then... spells them out again. What kind of hero do we need? Where is the line between justice and vengeance? How much autonomy should we sacrifice in the name of security? Is the taking of innocent life ever justified? These are all fascinating, even urgent questions, but stating them, as nearly every character in “The Dark Knight” does, sooner of later, is not the same as exploring them. And yet stating such themes is as far as the current wave of superhero movies seems able or willing to go. The westerns of the 1940s and ’50s, obsessed with similar themes, were somehow able, at their best, as in John Ford’s “Searchers” and Howard Hawks’s “Rio Bravo, ” to find ambiguities and tensions buried in their own rigid paradigms. But the cowboys of old did not labor under the same burdens as their masked and caped descendants. Those poor, misunderstood crusaders must turn big profits on a global scale and satisfy an audience hungry for the thrill of novelty and the comforts of the familiar. Is it just me, or is the strain starting to show?

7/24/08