Modern Media

The Dark Knight
- Gotham has severely contradicting opinions regarding Batman's vigilantism. Some, like the many Batman impostors, regard him as "a symbol that [Gotham] doesn't have to be afraid of scum like [the Joker]," while others say that he is the reason that Gotham's criminals are so steadfast in their wicked resolves.

- Bruce Wayne has two appearances to the same reality. As Bruce Wayne, he is a carefree billionaire playboy; as Batman, he is a caped crusader that fights against the criminal forces of Gotham City. The reality, unbeknownst to all but a few of Wayne's closest friends, is that the two appearances are the same being; two sides to a single coin. Bruce Wayne utilizes two different personas in tandem towards his goal of eradicating Gotham's mobs.
- The Joker's motives initially appear to be that of any small-time thug wanting to become wealthy, but in reality he is an anarchist who "just wants to see the world burn." The Joker has the most complex and socially overarching motive out of Gotham's "triumvirate" (Batman, the Joker, Harvey Dent), which is to prove that anyone, regardless of their position on the social ladder, will revert into an immoral and selfish being devoid of any bearing of what is "good" if their spirit is broken completely. The Joker succeeded in destroying Harvey Dent's moral compass by killing Rachel Dawes, beginning his transformation into Two-Face, but failed with the "boat experiment" when he tried to get each boat to detonate the explosives on the other boat. The Joker's persona and moral views are
   - video: "Some men just want to watch the world burn."
      - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efHCdKb5UWc
   - video: "Until their spirit breaks completely."
      - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfh24uYCofg

Inception
- The premise of the movie is centered around the topic of dreams. In psychology, a sizable portion of Sigmund Freud's research into the field of psychoanalysis focused on dreams, as well.
- Freud believed that dreams could be analyzed in two parts: manifest content and latent content. The manifest content is what can be remembered as what "physically" happened within the dream (appearance), while the latent content is the explanation as to why what happened in the dream happened (reality). Freud believed that during sleep, the mind is "protected" from external stimuli and "connected" with the unconscious, allowing for repressed memories and strong negative emotions to manifest themselves as things, people, or events within the dream.
- When Dom Cobb first talks to Ariadne in her dream, he explains the general nature of dreams. Cobb says that dreams feel real while one is in them. While in a dream, the dream takes on the appearance of reality and is treated as such. Only when the dream ends does one realize that the dream was not reality, and the dream takes on the appearance and classification of a dream.
   - video: "How did you get here?"
      - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpmdzHsC9-Y
   - The "totems" act as the links to true reality when the characters are dreaming. Cobb's totem, a top, would not stop spinning if he were in a dream.

Songs
- "Everybody's Fool" by Evanescence (lyrics: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/evanescence/everybodysfool.html) - the first line ("Perfect by nature") sums up much of what both Marlowe and Nick think of their respective idols. The lyrics imply a tone of mockery towards some figure that spends too much time thinking and worrying about others' opinions and ends up being "everybody's fool."
- "I Swear I'll Change" by Attack Attack! (lyrics: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/attack_attack/i_swear_ill_change.html) - the first line ("Seeing everyone's true face") can be related to the "unmasking" of peoples' personas. The second line of the chorus ("You said you tried, but you never changed") sounds as if it could be said by Daisy to Gatsby.
- "The World Is Flat" by Echobelly (lyrics: http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-world-is-flat-lyrics-echobelly.html) - the title of the song can be tied back to the universal misconception from centuries ago that the world was flat (what it appeared to be). The world eventually came to realize that the world is spherical, a truth that was always present but unable to see. Because Gatsby and Kurtz were mostly hidden from the outside world, their inner lives were truths that were not able to be viewed by outside parties.