Professor Elam

Chuck Kim at Yahool makes this comment about The Dark Knight, which set a new box office weekend record as the market bounced. “I would not take a kid to see ‘The Dark Knight,’ said Chuck. “The Joker and Two-Face alone could give a kid nightmares.” The oft-mentioned violence is not of one of gore, he says, but more of the heart—and thus potentially more terrifying. “The main thing is that it is a very dark movie,” Chuck concludes.”There’s no ray of hope for the city.”

Hmm, not a ray of hope, no wonder this film is resonating with audiences. Understand that several of our big banks and brokerages have just been technically insolvent, ie, lacking enough capital to meet regulatory standards. No hope for the city indeed…. Chuck is not kidding, Vallejo, CA has declared bankruptcy. This city of 117,000 is being watched by other municipalities as whether bankruptcy is a way to SAVE the city. Yes you read that correctly. Now here is evidence of just how worried markets are about pending city bankruptcies.

The new social science of socionomics links how popular culture reflects the economic environment. There is no better social laboratory than the stock market, the prices are there for everyone to see every day. Optimism brings higher prices and pessimism brings lower prices. The lack of hope for Gotham City refects the frustration and low consumer expectations reflected in the markets. Indeed this is not the light and breezy Batman from the tv series in the 1960s. Dark Knight has set a box office weekend record of $155.3 M. Yet the movie was conceived and begun over a year ago. How did the producers anticipate the turn in emotion such that the movie would coincide with the downturn in expectations. Ah, that is the wonder of socionomics! A few weeks back the latest installment of indiana Jones conincided with a lft in markets. Jones is a consistent bull market figure. The movies began and continued through the up market 1980s. The vision of the Saturday serial hero vanquishing all foes hit a high note with audiences seeking to cast off the pessimism of the 1970s. Now Dark Knight fufills the opposite expectations.