The Dark Knight is a profound film in that it attempts to tackle 2 icons of American pop culture in one film. because of this I am willing to give Nolan the lenience that he deserves, although he out performed my personal expectations. DK is a complex film that asks much of the viewer, and I appreciate the challenge because this says to me that Nolan is not making the mistake of creating an “American Blockbuster,” rather he is attempting to make a great film. I believe that Nolan has raised the bar in comic films although he did not do anything especially spectacular as far as standard filmmaking. His film is excellent yet I could only say that it is an excellent American film. I believe that it may raise audience standards and many American filmmakers standards I have to say that this film is not the messiah of American film people are making it out to be.
Because there is not much I can write about the film as a standard review that hasn’t been said in the last few weeks I would like to propose a few ideas to you and share some thought on the characters, comparisons with past versions of these American Icons and some possibly unconventional thoughts on the film and structure as a whole. before I do let me fully disclose my admiration for the film and my and absolute fanboy addiction to Batman. I tend to border on the over analytical as I have given lectures on Batman before and really find that there is some great power to his story.
There are fundamentally different ways to view this film and my biggest problem watching this film is that it didn’t seem to me that Batman was absolutely the main character. In this film we don’t see the film through any ones specific viewpoint so it is a true 3rd person film but we are not 3rd person omniscient as we can tell through specific elements being hidden from us on purpose. And interestingly we are kept in the dark about things the primary characters are going to do so we are not let in on anything until we are in the midst of the event itself. So here are some ideas on viewing the film through a specific characters perspective. I am not supposing that these characters are the eyes we see through but these are the characters we are meant to attach to and will empathize with at different times. So do not take these as literal but next time you watch the film try and see it from a different perspective. After all you never know what the person next to you may relate to in the film and this exercise can help foster some great discussion here and other places.
We are The Batman/Bruce Wayne
I propose that we are Batman. Batman and Joker are not diametrically opposed as one may think. They both are rule breakers, are not willing to confront their problems using society’s conventions, have complete freedom within their fantasy they have created, and only have one thing to loose, and are willing to die for their beliefs.
Batman desires Justice with a big “J” yet he is never sure what that truly is although he is presented with multiple answers and usually chooses one that fits the particular story he is in or situation he is in. As we walk through these stories particularly DK we have to continually ask ourselves ‘What is Justice?’ That has to be our driving force. In DK we actually see a rare thing for Batman and for ourselves. Complete submission. Bruce is willing to completely submit himself to the greater good so that the community can be whole again and safe. When can we say that we ourselves have ever submitted so wholly to someone’s idea of Justice or any other virtue. Through Batman’s example Nolan has taken an opportunity to show us something unexpected from a “hero,” humility.
We should remember that Batman is a free man. He has more money than he can fathom and he uses it to maintain his freedom not only to be The Batman, but to manipulate his closest relationships. We see this in small ways in his interactions with Dent and Dawes but it is brought to fruition in his relationship with Fox as he uses money to push that friendship to its breaking point and then to pull Fox back to him. There are obvious things we should be making ||’s to so I wont go further into this.
Lastly we desire Justice in the world and believe that the world is not “fair,” and we want to resolve our problems as well as others. This is where Batman has become a servant of others as well as himself. Batman has chosen himself and placed himself into this position of the defender of Justice. As he is still unsure of what true Justice is he delegates that duty to the only people he can trust, those he relies on completely. Batman lives by a strict set of rules and uses those rules to dictate every action he performs. Batman does what he does only so that eventually someone better than him can implement true Justice in his place. Sadly his own actions will always keep this from ever happening.
We are The Joker
I propose we are the Joker. Joker is an agent of chaos, rules do not apply to him and he seeks to destroy all rules. There is something more important in his character that should be examined first.
Who is the Joker? In the comics and other interpretations of the character there is usually an abnormal almost unjustified amount of time spent on how the Joker became who he is. This seems necessary for American audiences because it is comfortable and we can think about half baked Freudian explanations for a disturbed individual. What are the implications of a person who comes from nowhere? A man with no history can be the most dangerous man in the room. Think about it, when we meet people we like to know who they are but really we want to know what makes them who they are now. To trust someone we like to be confident in who they were and if that corresponds to the person we see. Also on the more manipulative side if we can know someones past we can manipulate them or we can predict their future actions.
Something that scares us about Joker is that he comes from nowhere. Joker realizes this about himself and uses it to his advantage. He terrifies us with his constructed pasts that he creates for his own purposes and as the audience we may relate to this because so many of us have tried to re-construct our own pasts. We do not want to be constrained even by reality or society’s perceptions. making these ||’s should start to scare you a little.
Joker is as free as Batman. The Joker only has one thing that he is fearful of and that is Arkham, but that is only in the comics. In DK The Joker has no fear he is free of everything all rules and constraints. Particularly money, and that sets him apart from Batman in an interesting way. The Joker is an explorer of ethical boundaries without restraint. In the film Joker actually acts out multiple textbook Ethics problems. In an of it self exploring the ethical dilemmas of the world is not evil, actually enacting them is.
We are The Joker in that we are also creations of the media and creators of the media. The Joker has a theme of manipulating the media and being affected by the media. His desire to be a part of the news, and using the news to his advantage shows him to be actually controlled in a simple way. The Joker may not fear anything in this interpretation but he has a weakness.
Just as Batman desires to seek justice the Joker desires to be a victim. Joker actually seeks out opportunities to be throttled by Batman and he manipulates Batman into those situations by using Justice. He thrives on fear and uses fear to drive society and to drive himself. At his most threatening moments he is nearly trembling in a fear euphoria. The joker uses others rules against themselves our their inhibitions. This is why he thrives on Batman capturing him, because he knows he will take Batman to the brink of his sanity and that gives him immense pleasure but because he does not fear death from Batman (because he can’t dish that out) he allows himself to be placed simultaneously in his worst fear and that is capture (because he can’t create chaos in captivity he hasn’t constructed)
Please feel free to discuss in the comments, I cant wait to hear from you!
