Phy
08-02-2008, 04:06 PM
http://phywriter.com/?p=136
I’ve been thinking about The Dark Knight for three solid weeks, now. This really has got to stop. I’ve got me a new job, a serial novel to finish writing, a monthly magazine to develop and release and publicize, and some grinding to accomplish in Age of Conan–my ranger and conqueror won’t get leveled up by themselves. The problem is, I’ve got something like 6k words written, and I still don’t have an elegant way to approach the things on my mind and in my head. Unfortunately, my experience has been that the only way to rid myself of them is to write them out. Therefore, since I don’t know how to approach this, but I clearly have to do something to work these things out, I’m going to take a stab at writing about these things in a couple of chunks. This is the first one.
http://phywriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dark_knight-300x225.jpg
In this summer’s biggest blockbuster, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David Goyer have a great deal to say about the will and the character of their vigilante hero. For one thing, this is no mere superhero movie–it is an epic crime drama of the sort I have never seen before. For another, when they started filming The Dark Knight, it turned out they weren’t done crafting Batman’s origin story. However, by the time the final credits run, they will have finally completed creating the legend we think of as Batman. But if all this has just been prelude, I quiver with anticipation over what a fully developed Batman can do.
As I said, It has been three weeks now since I first experienced The Dark Knight—and that is the proper word for it, experienced—and I am only now beginning to get a handle on it. This is high praise for what I erroneously thought was going to be a mere superhero picture going in. There isn’t anything ‘mere’ about this film. At over two and a half hours long, it boasts an additional act (not unlike Casino Royale). The action is more brutal, the lighting is darker, the complexity is greater, the music is more brilliant, and the performances are greater.
In addition to all that, this film is overflowing with themes. To illustrate that correctly, we need only return to the end of the prior film. At the end of Batman Begins, Lieutenant Gordon tells Batman “You’ve really started something here. Bad cops running scared, hope on the streets.” And then he asks a question which will be one of the themes of The Dark Knight.
Jim Gordon: What about escalation?
Batman: Escalation?
Jim Gordon: We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman: And?
Jim Gordon: And you’re wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy. Amed robbery. Double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card. [Gordon presents Batman with a clear plastic evidence bag containing what appears to be a single playing card; Batman turns it over to reveal a Joker card.]
Batman: I’ll look into it.
The escalation occurs in every area, and is about nothing less than the raising and felling of knights, men so devoted to the public good that they will risk anything to protect it, including losing those they love, and becoming something they didn’t intend or desire to become.
At the beginning of the film, Batman has suffered a major loss—the destruction of the ancestral Wayne estate—but he has also won a major victory. The city had also suffered the opening of Arkham Asylum and the escape of a great many criminals and maniacs. Batman had his work cut out for him, and he was taking great strides to return the bent and wicked to where they came from. However, in the process, he started to buy his own press, always a mistake. He began to think he could be a normal person, have a normal life.
That brings us to yet another theme played out large in this story. If the great theme of Spider-Man was “With great power comes great responsibility,” another theme of The Dark Knight may be “With great responsibility comes great sacrifice.” Indeed, that is what it will take for one incorruptible man to stop one unrepentant one. And therein lies the conflict. A strong man may choose to be a hero, but no sane man chooses to be a savior—the cost is too high, for of every savior is required one thing, a horrific personal sacrifice, nothing less than a man’s soul.
When the Joker makes his ascension to the top of the city’s crime bosses, it is clear that Gotham needs something more than a mere hero, it needs a savior. This sort of religious terminology is not entirely out of place. The Dark Knight wrestles with ethical paradoxes which the Jokes designed to push Batman and the entire population of Gotham City over the edge into utter chaos. The Joker said, “Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.” Sacrifice, however, requires something more; a cross, a nail, and a willingness to surrender. Batman was winning his physical battles, but in order to truly triumph over the evil on Gotham, he must be willing to surrender his internal ones.
In order to save the city, Batman was forced to contemplate and then ride out a descent toward something he very much didn’t want to be, a career caped crusader. He pinned his hopes for a normal life on love for a woman, unaware that the love for a city would be all that was left at the end of the day. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough.
I’ve been thinking about The Dark Knight for three solid weeks, now. This really has got to stop. I’ve got me a new job, a serial novel to finish writing, a monthly magazine to develop and release and publicize, and some grinding to accomplish in Age of Conan–my ranger and conqueror won’t get leveled up by themselves. The problem is, I’ve got something like 6k words written, and I still don’t have an elegant way to approach the things on my mind and in my head. Unfortunately, my experience has been that the only way to rid myself of them is to write them out. Therefore, since I don’t know how to approach this, but I clearly have to do something to work these things out, I’m going to take a stab at writing about these things in a couple of chunks. This is the first one.
http://phywriter.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/dark_knight-300x225.jpg
In this summer’s biggest blockbuster, The Dark Knight, Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan, and David Goyer have a great deal to say about the will and the character of their vigilante hero. For one thing, this is no mere superhero movie–it is an epic crime drama of the sort I have never seen before. For another, when they started filming The Dark Knight, it turned out they weren’t done crafting Batman’s origin story. However, by the time the final credits run, they will have finally completed creating the legend we think of as Batman. But if all this has just been prelude, I quiver with anticipation over what a fully developed Batman can do.
As I said, It has been three weeks now since I first experienced The Dark Knight—and that is the proper word for it, experienced—and I am only now beginning to get a handle on it. This is high praise for what I erroneously thought was going to be a mere superhero picture going in. There isn’t anything ‘mere’ about this film. At over two and a half hours long, it boasts an additional act (not unlike Casino Royale). The action is more brutal, the lighting is darker, the complexity is greater, the music is more brilliant, and the performances are greater.
In addition to all that, this film is overflowing with themes. To illustrate that correctly, we need only return to the end of the prior film. At the end of Batman Begins, Lieutenant Gordon tells Batman “You’ve really started something here. Bad cops running scared, hope on the streets.” And then he asks a question which will be one of the themes of The Dark Knight.
Jim Gordon: What about escalation?
Batman: Escalation?
Jim Gordon: We start carrying semi-automatics, they buy automatics. We start wearing Kevlar, they buy armor-piercing rounds.
Batman: And?
Jim Gordon: And you’re wearing a mask and jumping off rooftops. Now, take this guy. Amed robbery. Double homicide. Got a taste for the theatrical, like you. Leaves a calling card. [Gordon presents Batman with a clear plastic evidence bag containing what appears to be a single playing card; Batman turns it over to reveal a Joker card.]
Batman: I’ll look into it.
The escalation occurs in every area, and is about nothing less than the raising and felling of knights, men so devoted to the public good that they will risk anything to protect it, including losing those they love, and becoming something they didn’t intend or desire to become.
At the beginning of the film, Batman has suffered a major loss—the destruction of the ancestral Wayne estate—but he has also won a major victory. The city had also suffered the opening of Arkham Asylum and the escape of a great many criminals and maniacs. Batman had his work cut out for him, and he was taking great strides to return the bent and wicked to where they came from. However, in the process, he started to buy his own press, always a mistake. He began to think he could be a normal person, have a normal life.
That brings us to yet another theme played out large in this story. If the great theme of Spider-Man was “With great power comes great responsibility,” another theme of The Dark Knight may be “With great responsibility comes great sacrifice.” Indeed, that is what it will take for one incorruptible man to stop one unrepentant one. And therein lies the conflict. A strong man may choose to be a hero, but no sane man chooses to be a savior—the cost is too high, for of every savior is required one thing, a horrific personal sacrifice, nothing less than a man’s soul.
When the Joker makes his ascension to the top of the city’s crime bosses, it is clear that Gotham needs something more than a mere hero, it needs a savior. This sort of religious terminology is not entirely out of place. The Dark Knight wrestles with ethical paradoxes which the Jokes designed to push Batman and the entire population of Gotham City over the edge into utter chaos. The Joker said, “Madness, as you know, is like gravity. All it takes is a little push.” Sacrifice, however, requires something more; a cross, a nail, and a willingness to surrender. Batman was winning his physical battles, but in order to truly triumph over the evil on Gotham, he must be willing to surrender his internal ones.
In order to save the city, Batman was forced to contemplate and then ride out a descent toward something he very much didn’t want to be, a career caped crusader. He pinned his hopes for a normal life on love for a woman, unaware that the love for a city would be all that was left at the end of the day. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough.