The Dark Knight Contextual Study.
Production Context:
Film Narrative and Significant Elements:
Main Characters:
Bruce Wayne/Batman:The character of Batman represents order and is also known as the Dark Knight.
He is Bruce Wayne’s crime fighting alter-ego who was created out of Bruce’s
childhood trauma of his parents being murdered. Bruce has a strong desire to
fight and prevent crime and uses Batman to do this without directly affecting his
friends and family. He is the masked hero of the city and is seen by its residence
as a vigilante who rarely speaks and mostly observes the people around him.[1]
Bruce’s character is a rich, irresponsible, superficial playboy with a subtle sense
of humour. But he has created and contributes (almost exudates) this persona by
acting dim-witted, out of touch and self-absorbed to draw attention away from
his alter-ego and stop people suspecting him as the Batman. But this backfires
when his workforce in his powerful company feel that he is not fit to run the
company and is an embarrassment to other global corporations and betray him
and try to blackmail him.
Batman dresses in a black, bat-like costume that consists of a helmet to hide as
well as protecting his face, body armour that can double up as a weapon (as it is
very sharp) and a cape that can be used to glide down from high buildings,
adding to the bat image. He also carries small weapons like ninja-stars. Batman
uses his image to inspire a superstitious-esc fear in the criminals of the city and
plays on their guilty conscience. He deliberately carries a frightening persona
who can hide in the shadows and strike the criminals quickly and devastatingly
before disappearing into the night. He also put on a distorted voice to not give
away ho he is, (as he is one of the most rich and powerful men in the city,
someone would recognise his voice if he spoke normally). But as Batman is an
alter-ego, Bruce may also put on the distorted voice as a way of becoming
someone else as well as putting on his costume.
Batman can also be seen as representing the power of wealth (as all of Batman’s
gadgets, costumes and vehicles are funded by Bruce Wayne’s business),
physical prowess (Batman relies mostly on strength and surprise), deductive
abilities and even oppression.[2]
Batman takes direct action against criminals and takes the law into his own
hands, he is cold and distant and lakes mercy. Whereas Bruce Wayne is in fact
very kind, he donates a lot of his inherited and earned wealth to charities that
help victims of crime and prevent people becoming criminals, he also hosts
fund raisers for Harvey Dent’s campaign to prevent crime in the long term.
Overall Bruce is, in the long run, is a better person and contributor to society
that Batman ever could be, there are those who see Batman as coursing bigger
problems rather than helping society. But Bruce Wayne doesn’t seem to see the
better part of himself and uses Batman as a form of escapism, Batman is the
person he wants to be.[3] He blames himself for his parents’ death and takes it
upon himself to avenge their murder and protecting others from criminal acts
and concur his fears using the symbol of the bat.
Bruce Wayne has internal conflicts between his normal self and his ‘shadow’
self. The Batman commits evil acts such as murder and violence to crusade for
the greater good. The two sides can’t ultimately co-exist and Bruce Wayne
really craves a happy, normal life rather that what he thinks he wants as the
Batman who can’t show weakness or emotion and is ultimately a tool for others
and a character that is glorified by others to aspire to but is ultimately
unachievable. He is the justice in an injustice world.
Bruce Wayne seems to suffer from hero complex and is obsessed with
preventing crime to the point where he can’t stop being Batman and it intrudes
on his personal life to the point when he chooses not to be with those he loves.
But because he swore never to take an innocent life, when ordinary people start
to get hurt by his indirect actions threw the Joker, Bruce lets go of Batman.[5]
The Joker:The Joker represents chaos and lives for anarchy, despite being the opposite of
Batman and what he stands, he takes a liking to him, even refusing to kill him at
first and insisting that one can’t exist without the other. The Joker first appears
to be a eccentric, rambling but harmless minor criminal for higher, but it
becomes obvious quickly that he is really a extremely intelligent psychopath
with a warped, sadistic sense of humour who revels in outwitting and harming
others and playing mind games until the order collapses or destroys itself.
The Joker dresses like a clown, including face make-up and bright coloured,
mismatched clothing, which may contribute to his alias; the Joker. But this may
also be caused by the permanent Cheshire-cat grin on his face in the form of a
scar which extends his mouth. Nothing is known about the Joker, he gives hints
to his past and how he got his infamous scars. He may have had a traumatic
childhood or a tragic life before he went mad (he may have once been a normal
person before he turned to crime or always been the ‘prince of chaos’). The
carved in scares may have been done by his abusive father or he did it to
himself.
The Joker has no long term goal other than to course chaos. He doesn’t do crime
for money or power, though he does use these to spread and course anarchy
which he sees as the natural order of the universe. He also manipulates and
corrupts both criminals and normal people to prove his theory that everything
reverts to chaos and for his own fun- to “watch the world burn.”
The Joker doesn’t fear death or punishment. He enjoys seeing and feeling of
Batman losing his mind and beating him as it proves he is right about chaos
taking over everyone.[4]
The Joker seems to suffer from narcissism and psychosis, such as killing for no
reason and at random and leaving a calling card (a joker card). He believes that
if something such as justice and innocents can be destroyed then it doesn’t truly
exist, everybody has a price and no one is pure.[5]
Harvey Dent/Two Face:Harvey Dent is a tragic hero/sympathetic villain. He was seen as the best person
in the city but descends into a serial killer with a twisted sense of justice after a
series of traumatising events and being put over the edge of sanity by the
Joker’s theory that chaos rules the universe. Harvey Dent represents justice and
Two Face is the representation of chance which he sees as the only fair system.
He chooses the fate of his victims by flipping a coin.
Harvey Dent is the poster boy of justice and unlike Batman is a hero with a face
(The White Knight) and is a realistic person to look up to and aspire to be for
the normal people of the city. He becomes peoples preferred choice of hero
when the more ‘gimmicky’ Batman looses touch with the people of the city. He
doesn’t let his job as a lawyer get in the way of his personal life. Two Face feels
frustrated that he has been unfairly treated and let down by his supposed allies.
Harvey and Bruce worked together to prevent and stop crime in the city, but in
different ways. Bruce uses violence and Harvey uses the law. Harvey even
stands up for Batman and even takes the blame for Batman’s actions when there
is a witch hunt for him.
Harvey is aware of corruption in his line of work and seems to acknowledge
that he will either be killed for his job or become corrupt, which he ultimately
does. Harvey’s transformation into Two Face is the opposite of Bruce Wayne’s
transformation into Batman, as Bruce Wayne turned a tragedy into a force to do
good, Harvey turned it into a force to do evil.
When Two Face is ultimately killed by Batman during his revengeful rampage,
Batman is determined to not have Harvey die in vain and have his image tainted
in the eyes of the people so takes the blame for Two Face’s murders so the
people of the city don’t lose hope when one of their own goes bad.[6]
Two Face gives up his own responsibility to chance so he can’t be directly
blamed or feel guilt for his actions. He is proof that everyone has the capacity to
do good and everyone has the capacity to do evil. He is the fair in an unfair
world as everything is a 50/50 chance rather than a decision.[5]
The Target Audience:
Other Audiences:
Everyone has the ability to be a hero as Batman is not a ‘super’ hero as he has
no super powers so instead wins by using self discipline, his own strength and
intelligence, which everyone can do. Batman is human in that he suffers, builds
on his strength and puts asides his weaknesses which everyone strives to do.
The characters can be the greatest and worst of humans can be so they are
relatable.[5]
The Film’s Impact on the City:
References:
1. http://www.forafewmoviesmore.com/discussions/character-study-thedark-knight-batman/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman
3. http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/stories/whats-the-matter-withbatman-psychologist-analyzes-the-dark-knight
4. http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/The_Joker_(Heath_Ledger)
5. DVD Extra- Batman Unmasked; The Psychology of the Dark Knight.
6. http://batman.wikia.com/wiki/Two-Face_(Aaron_Eckhart)
7.