Prisoners Dilemma In The Dark Knight

In the movie the Dark Knight the boat scene exemplifies what Joshua Greene calls a prisoners dilemma, because it involves two groups people who are put in the situation of checks between if the citizens or criminals of Gotham should live. They are given the option of pressing the button on the detonator and blowing up opposite boat and killing all who are in it. Greene states that the prisoner's dilemma is a way to explain why a persons morals are the way they. The prisoner's dilemma involves two criminals who are trying to stay out of prison (28). In order to achieve the mutual goal, it will involve corporation from both prisoners to not confuse the others wrong doings. The prisoners have four possible outcomes ,the first one is, one prisoner's …show more content…
Greene states that the prisoners dilemma “involves tension between Individual interest and collective interest”( 30). The Prisoners dilemma is is seen in the Dark Knight, but instead of two prisoners it is the citizens and the criminals of Gotham City involved in what the Joker calls “ A social experiment” where the citizens and the criminals are handed the detonator to the opposite boats bomb.The joker gives two options, either someone presses the button and boat blows up and the boat who pressed it first will live, or if no one presses the button by midnight both boats will explode. The retaining the citizens a mother on bored states “Why should we have to die those men had their chance” which leads to the people in believing the criminals had their chance to be good in life; therefore they should be the ones to die, while boat with the criminals do not have a reason to justify to why they should not be the ones to die other than their own selfish desires to live.The chastens and the criminals with have the fourth option of the“magic corner” (29). What the groups do not know is that if both groups cooperate and wait long enough Batman will defect the joker in time before he is able to blow up either