Evidence suggests that Hollywood is nothing less than a world class cesspool. But swimming around in the muck you occasionally spot some splendid work — films of substance that leave a lasting mark. However squalid and seamy Hollywood is, no one can deny that moviedom is a penetrating historical repository, giving you an explicit view of our society’s changing mores from generation to generation. If you care to pay attention, you will discover mutations in language, culture, value systems — and of course, technology. You will notice that bad is good, that good is square and that morality is relative. You will learn that homosexuality, bisexuality, bestiality, drugs, violence and sleeping around are the new normals. That Christianity is absurd superstition. And that Christians are extremists. Hollywood has learned, like Waste Management, Inc., that recycling rubbish is crackerjack business. Then, unpredictably, you stumble onto a golden nugget amid the scraps, scrapings and sweepings of Tinseltown. In a display of uncommon — or unconscious — ingenuity and intuition, writers Warren Skaaren and Sam Hamm and director Tim Burton, unwittingly created in 1989 a perfect metaphor for the state of America, circa 2008-2014. The movie is Batman. The scene is downtown Gotham City. Throngs of people jam streets and sidewalks, anticipating a festive parade organized by none other than The Joker himself who has promised to give away money out of the goodness of his heart. Sure enough, he and his henchmen fill the air with greenbacks and, gullible to the core, the frenetic crowd erupts in a frenzy of delight. “That’s right, folks. Who can you trust?  Me, I’m here handing out real money. And where is Batman?” By now you know the money’s as fake as The Joker himself who has lied and mugged his way to power. Hollywood has given you scores of similar arch villains — frauds, con men, charlatans, serial killers, Ponzi cheats, gold diggers, chiselers, swindlers — who all share essential traits: the ability to deceive, seduce and manipulate; the ability to lie on an epic scale; the ability to flash a beguiling, disarming smile. The phonies are everywhere, from dictators to gigolos. That’s not at all surprising. What staggers you is how real life can mimic the most outrageous flick showbiz ever invented. You’re not shocked by the outrageous baseness of the scam artist, but by the half-witted gullibility of the victim, the sucker who can’t spot the obvious clues of a pretender. More astonishing is witnessing this ignorance on a massive scale when a politician with all the classic traits of duplicity can still brainwash millions. Welcome to America, proving that 21st century humans have a seemingly infinite capacity for incapacity, as did their ancestors down through the ages who worshiped impostors by the dozens. Hollywood tells the story again and again. Only the hero knows the bad guy is a fake and eventually comes to the rescue. But the people remain oblivious. They always do — until the end. Unfortunately for America, the last time you looked, you saw no sign of the Bat Signal.