Greetings, and welcome to Earthling Cinema. I am your host, Garyx
Wormuloid. This week’s artifact is The Dark Knight, co-written by
visionary auteur Jonathan Nolan and directed by his brother.
The Dark Knight tells the story of Bruce Wayne, a run-of-the-mill
billionaire playboy who suffers from a brain disease that makes him
pretend to be a rodent. Which is good, because he lives in the most
mentally disturbed city in America. Wayne uses his limitless wealth to
buy expensive armor, then goes around punching lots of people who
aren’t wearing any armor, such as Baghead, these mob guys
and an unemployed clown named the Joker.
The Joker decides he wants to get to know this “Bat-man” a little
better, so he offers to not kill a bunch of people in exchange for Batman’s
identity. Batman catches him instead, but not before the Joker
sets up a tasty little trap. District Attorney Harvey Dent and
perennial love interest Rachel Dawes are locked in two different
rooms filled with barrels, which are deadly to humans. Rachel is
killed and Dent changes his name to Two-Face, even though Half-Face is
probably more accurate. The Joker escapes, and Batman uses
his Bluetooth to track him down and finally spend some quality time together.
Two-Face starts throwing a hissy fit, so Batman silences him with a big
hug, then takes the blame for everything and goes on a much needed vacation.
The Dark Knight is a film permeated by duality.
Batman (a.k.a. the Dark Knight) yearns for a world
where he can be replaced by Harvey Dent, the White Knight. Except in
Rachel’s bed, that is. When Dent becomes Two-Face, he embodies this
duality, from the two sides of his face to the two sides of his coin
to his two perfectly intact eyeballs that never dry out, even
with prolonged exposure to air.
Another duality is order versus chaos.
"Chaos."
The Joker seeks to show the people of Gotham
that underneath the facade of an orderly society is existential anarchy.
Kind of like how underneath my eyebrows is another, crazier set of eyebrows.
The Joker is a nihilist, one who
believes in nothing, not even the concept of nihilism. When asked directly
"WHAT DO YOU ALL BELIVE IN?!"
... the Joker’s response is meaningless.
"Whatever doesn't kill you simply makes you stranger."
So too is the grenade he puts in the manager’s mouth. It’s just an empty scare tactic that
emits a floral perfume. My guess is Chanel number 5000.
The Joker offers several different stories about the source of his scars ...
But they are all lies. It doesn't matter how he got the scars. The
Joker jokes because everything is trivial.
But unlike this picture of a cat on a skateboard, the Joker's terrorist
acts aren't random. They try to prove a point: morality is a sham.
Take away humans’ physical comforts or safety and they will turn into wild animals.
Not literally, like we can. I’m talking metaphors here.
The Joker exploits the innate, base lawlessness of humanity.
"Their code, it's a bad joke."
The Joker has the bank robbers kill each other
in order to increase their share of the loot. He gives three
"friends" a weapon, telling them whoever survives gets to join his team.
He threatens to blow up hospitals if people don’t do his bidding –
causing cops to turn corrupt and citizens to attempt murder.
Pretty good for a guy who can’t even put on his makeup correctly.
The Joker’s pièce de résistance,
pardon my French, is the corruption of District Attorney Harvey Dent.
Harvey's double-sided coin represents his rigid adherence to
the ideas of justice, morality, and order, not to mention his firm
commitment to the U.S. Mint. He leaves nothing to chance, "I make
my own luck." But after he becomes Two-Face, the coin is scarred on
one side, turning it into a regular coin: 50/50. Or if you’re really
good at coin-flipping, 60/60. Just like the coin, Dent has been
infected by the Joker's vision – a reality ruled only by cosmic anarchy.
"The only morality in a cruel world is chance."
At the beginning of the film,
Dent is a Christ figure whose campaign slogan has religious connotations:
“I believe in Harvey Dent.”
But whereas most films use Christ imagery to suggest that the
character has sacrificed himself for an ideal, or for the good of
humanity, The Dark Knight shows us a daring and modern interpretation
of the Christ image. It shows a Christ without
resurrection. In other words, just a dead dude with a righteous beard.
A false Ideal, but one that must be upheld as a beacon of hope for mankind.
Batman takes it upon himself to uphold that facade ...
thus maintaining order. But unlike Dent, who represents
order through idealism, Batman represents order through force.
He is a fascist -- like my father-in-law -- a
necessary evil to tame the beastly side of mankind.
As the ferry scene proves, the democratic method is
not enough. A simple vote would have them do the amoral thing –
destroying the other boat to ensure their survival.
"140 against, 396 for."
It takes tyrannical power to ultimately uphold justice.
which is why Gerald Ford kept being elected president.
When Bat-man creates the sonar machine,
it is a tremendous violation of privacy, bordering on
morally bankrupt. But as Alfred tells him, sometimes the only way
to catch a jewel thief is to "burn the forest down."
"We burn the forest down."
For Earthling Cinema, I’m Garyx Wormuloid.
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