The Public Fable

From the opening scene of The Public Enemy, I immediately thought of the video game Fable II. Similarly to Tom, Sparrow, the protagonist of Fable II, starts out his life as a normal child with the potential to do either good or evil. However, through making bad choices, Sparrow slowly descends into a world of crime. Starting out, he only has to perform simple tasks like transporting slaves and stealing gold from houses. This is similar to Tom's early career as a criminal when he had to raid the rum warehouse. As time progresses, Sparrow becomes richer and more powerful through his evil deeds, gaining the wealth to gradually own businesses and houses. Although tasks like murder and enslaving innocent people definitely remain on Sparrow's list of things to do, he also gains the ability to extort the citizens of Albion by raising rent and charging extreme prices for basic goods. However, the rise of crime causes the city guards and assassins from opposing criminals to constantly attack Sparrow. This mirrors the last few days of Tom's life when he has extreme money and power but succumbs to the gunfire of opposing criminals. In a turn away from Tom's life, Sparrow actually lives through the constant opposition from his enemies, giving him the opportunity to make the final decision to be good or evil. (watch the video from 3:55 to 4:55)

Another person who shares the criminal coolness that Tom has is the Joker from The Dark Knight. Having a complete disregard for all justice and law, the Joker does not care about money. Instead, he only wishes to create chaos within society and gain power. Although Tom's goals are not centered on chaos, he does not care about money. For Tom, he only wants people to recognize him and fear him as the city's greatest criminal. In addition, the Joker has no problem killing innocent people. He even goes as far as to blow up a hospital just to make a point. Tom also has no problems killing people, as can be seen by the way he kills Putty Nose and walks away without a second thought. However, Tom does not go as far as the Joker does. Although he is ruthless, Tom cannot stand to harm his mother. Conversely, the Joker could easily kill his own family for the sake of one of his cruel jokes.

Although I can see the viewpoint of those who like cool criminals, I still do not find criminal activities to be cool. I may simply be too much of a goodie-two-shoes, but I am the type of person that finds Batman cooler than the Joker simply because the Joker harms innocent people. As for Tom, he has a slight glimmer of coolness in the way he cares for his mother, but his overall attitude towards everyone else makes him a very uncool person.