A wrinkle in Kierkegaard's stages of life concept is illustrated in the movie The Dark Knight. In the movie, the aesthete is the Joker who thinks he is completely free but Batman who is in the ethical stage believes the Joker is being controlled by their impulses and never really chooses, so is not free at all. Jokers is always after what he wants and thinks it makes him happy but his selfishness to show the Gotham city the bad and destroying peoples life is not letting him live freely. Batman is living freely because he commits to saving Gotham from whatever danger coming at them, He has freedom because he made a thoughtful choice and is committing to it. Joker doesn't commit to anything except his own selfishness, for example when he kills his own members after the bank robbery. This is why an aesthete never doesn't experience true freedom 

The Movie poster for The Dark Knight