Throughout Christopher Nolan’s film “The Dark Night” societies struggle with madness is showcased through each character’s struggle with madness and their confrontations with chaos. The role of madness is to hold a mirror up to society to show it that its sense of morality and sanity is an illusion. This is shown in the film specifically through the characters of Harvey Dent, The Joker, and The Batman. Harvey, at the start is the epitome of morality firmly on the side of sanity and order. Joker, however, is the epitome of madness and chaos. These two characters at first glance appear to be complete opposites but as the madness seeps in the line between order and chaos becomes blurred. Batman, however, appears to be in the middle having a …show more content…
Batman choses wrong Rachel dies and half of Harvey’s face is melted off. After this incident Harvey begins to see the madness and the cruel reality of the world. And yet he hasn’t been completely exposed to chaos he doesn’t fully realize what the madness is he requires another push. The final realization comes from a final confrontation with the Joker while he is still recovering in the hospital. In order to get Dent to fall fully into chaos the Joker must expose the falseness of society. “Nobody panics when things go according to plan even if the plan is horrifying. If tomorrow I tell the press a gangbanger will get shot or a truckload of soldiers will be blowing up nobody panics…because it’s all part of the plan. But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then, everyone loses their minds!” This speech from the joker is what wakes Dent up to the realization that society’s morality and sanity that he was the champion of is only an illusion. A lie told to keep everyone happy in their little bubble so they don’t freak out and become like the Joker once they realize that the society they love requires horrific events like wars and crimes to unify that society against a common enemy so it doesn’t rip itself apart. For the first time Harvey Dent sees the cruelty and chaos in the world and comes to the conclusion that “…the only morality in a cruel world is chance, unbiased, unprejudiced, fair.” Through the mirror of madness Harvey has realised that
In the view of author Kevin Mahadeo, one of the most insane tricks the Joker had pulled was when he had captured members of the Bat-Family and had Alfred serve them up some platters topped with their faces which he had cut off. (Mahadeo) This is a representation of how truly insane and twisted the Joker was. Although the joker was quite insane, some people have learned to love his evil ways because of how clever and inventive he was while he came up with tricks. Despite the Jokers insane tricks, his trickery is shown throughout today’s culture because of how thought out and clever he can
Another common thing that the Joker does is that he attempts to conceal the true reasons for his actions. In other words, the Joker uses defense mechanisms to distance himself from reality as a means to protect himself from the horrid things he has done (Friedman & Schustack, 2009). He demonstrates the specific defence mechanism of rationalization and he does this by trying to justify murdering Harvey Dent's, a pivotal character to the film's plot, girlfriend. He explains to Dent that her death was not his fault and he does such things (i.e., killing innocent people) to show others how pathetic they are for believing that they have control in their lives “ “ (De La Noy & Nolan,
In the movie The Dark Knight, there two heroes, Batman and Harvey Dent, sometimes know as Gotham's white knight. As the movie progresses, Harvey Dent is more of a hero then Batman because of the criminals he arrested. The Joker comes along and wants to control all of Gotham but first he must kill Batman in order to accomplish that. The Joker threatened to kill everybody until Batman reveals who he really is. Later on in the movie, Batman has to choose how to save, Rachel, Bruce Wayne’s (batman) love or Harvey Dent. Batman choosed Harvey Dent and Rachel Died. Although Batman was chosen Harvey tov save, he was too late and Harvey’s right side face burn off. After Harvey Dent recovers, he becomes Two Face, one side of his face is burnt off, his is where he becomes a tragic hero.
The main conflicts in the world of The Dark Knight Returns revolve around escalating crime in Gotham city and forces of the authority attempting to control it. The authority should be a moral force and represent justice. The figures that represent the authority should be selfless and work only to promote the integrity of law and order. Authority proves to be contradictory in Miller’s novel as the authoritative figures express qualities of vigilantism and overall moral ambiguity.
The Joker was once seen as a comical criminal who committed ridiculously silly crimes, such as spreading laughing gas throughout Gotham City. However, after the reinvention of Batman, The Joker was transformed into a grave and terrorizing character. Continuing the course of the new personality given to The Joker, writer Alan Moore and artist Brian Bolland created a graphic novel called The Killing Joke, “a much more complex, darker, and ultimately, frightening story” (Wooldridge) which tells one of the origins of The Joker since The Joker himself is unsure of his true inception. However, this particular graphic novel “isn’t about how the Joker came to be, it’s an examination of
The Dark Knight (2008), directed by Christopher Nolan, demonstrates the idea of good versus evil. Batman is known as the protagonist, and Joker is known as the ultimate villain. The representation of crime in the film is seen from the actions of both characters. The film essentially depicts the act of deviance meaning, “behaviour that violates social norms, including laws”. In normality the government would have the greatest amount of power, but in the Gotham city, power is complex. There is minimal structure of law and order in Gotham city due to powerful people like Batman and the Joker. Citizens of Gotham city can no longer fight for themselves in a world filled with supernatural powers. Therefore, the only hope that citizens have rest in the hands of Batman. Although Batman attempts to save Gotham city from Joker’s criminal intentions. Batman, however, also plays a role in deviant activity while attempting to catch the Joker. Realistically, Batman violates the moral code due to destructive behaviour, and putting the lives of citizens at harm. He does not care for social norms, nor whether his acts are of legality. He is devoted to combat organized crime with Harvey Dent, a district attorney in Gotham city. Batman is in fact, the definition of crime, he understands but does not abide to individual rights and social contracts which make up the rule of law. In addition, the man behind Batman, Bruce Wayne also portrays a form of deviance by disguising himself as Batman.
Harvey Dent wanted to be district attorney and be able to control crime. He wanted to be everything Batman couldn’t be and have power over crime. This can easily be compared to Macbeth wanting to have power. What makes Harvey Dent a tragic figure is the fight he has with his inner self. Harvey Dent had said “You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain”, this is ironic because it foreshadows future events.
In the film, The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan, The Joker, one of Batman's most dangerous enemies whose aim is too push Batman to his ultimate limits, to break his personal rules and strict moral code. This, being the Jokers only reason to live, he has no fear of death and pain. The Joker is characterised as a calculating and logical criminal, a rebel with minimal empathy or moral and a nemesis who commits purposeless crime. Together these characteristics are developed through specific and appropriate use of technical aspects, such as, camera movement, camera angles, props and dialogue. Together these techniques create a character who is an extraordinary to watch, as he causes chaos in Gotham City, all to get
Daniel Blick’s The Dark Knight: What it tells about our own nature, posted in Movie Pilot, discusses The Dark Knight’s implications on the nature of humanity, stating that our nature depends on the choices we make. Blick uses the choices that Batman and Harvey Dent make in response to Rachael Dawes’ death as an example. Rachael
The Dark Knight is a 2008 film based on the Dc Comics character Batman and his struggle and journey in combating the most demented villain ever, The Joker. The Joker is a psychopathic, mass murdering, schizophrenic clown with zero empathy. Due to The Joker’s insane nature, it is appropriate to use Dr. Sigmund Freud’s method of Psychoanalysis to better understand why The Joker is the way he is.
In a movie where good and evil are divided by a very thin line, the Dark Knight rises up to fight against injustice and corruption in Gotham City. An action sequel to the original Batman Begins, this installment is a lot darker filled with more explosion, twists, and suspense. For the first time, a comic has been integrated into the issues of the real world. With the help of District Attorney Harvey Dent and Lieutenant Gordon, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining mob members and clean the streets of Gotham for good. Their success is only short-lived when they encounter the Joker, a mysterious mastermind who is out to prove that nobility cannot hold in a world of anarchy.
Batman: The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan is non-stop action thriller that continually did the unexpected. The film is based off of the original Batman comic book but additionally changes the perception of the everyday world as good to naturally bad. Throughout the movie, Batman stands for honesty and goodness while the Joker is a symbolism of chaos and evil. Both sides are forced to make quick-witted decisions in order to stop the opposing vigilante from doing his desired work. The citizens of Gotham are put in the heart of this circumstance and feel obligated to go against their values to stop the chaos. Numerous people habitually pursue their dreams and values but often become blinded from their
Batman’s violent actions in Frank’s Miller comic book demonstrated the darkness of his heroic personality. After ten year retirement, Batman became more troubled to Gotham City turning to a crime-ridden and a fugitive. According to Joseph Campbell words “everything begins with a story”. The beginning of Batman’s story started after the death of his parents. They were shot by some criminals because they were going to steal and hurt them. Having to experienced this horrible scene on his childhood, traumatized Batman
There are two main characters that the storyline revolves around, Batman and the Joker. Batman serves as the guardian of Gotham City. The Joker, however, stands as the villain who strives to create a world of chaos. Hobbes’ theory on state of nature says that society is the sole reason that humans act civilized. Hobbes’ believes in the “state of war,”, which is a way of life that is proven to be brutal and short. The Joker’s main goal is to prove that people have the natural capability to do evil. While he attempts to prove this throughout his many twisted plans, he is driven to eliminate the one thing that keeps Gotham City from turning hopeless and chaotic, Batman. Without its protector, Gotham City would soon turn to a “state of war.” Hobbes’ also says, “Fear makes natural man want to escape the
“Dark Knight” was a smash hit for it’s fame, explosions, and chase scenes, but what really had me on the edge of my seat was perhaps the most riveting villain I had ever seen. The Joker. The Joker is a mob-backed terrorist with suicidal tendencies and According to the DSM, the joker would be given the diagnoses of Antisocial personality disorder. He is not reasonable, he’s not afraid of anything, and the last thing he cares about in the world is himself. As Alfred explained to Bruce, “Some men just want to watch the world burn