What Is A Feminist Analysis Of The Dark Knight

When I was eleven years old, I perused through the video store looking for the perfect movie to watch. Having just rented all three Pirates of the Caribbean movies, I needed something new to quench my thirst for action movies. The dark, mysterious cover of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight had me instantly hooked; I needed to watch it. After watching the movie for the first time, my life was never the same again.

I chose to watch and write about this film because I think it is interesting and puzzling how a movie that portrays women in such disrespectful ways continues to exist as one of the history's most iconic films. It is important to mention one major flaw in the film's many gender-based stereotypical messages. Perhaps the most obvious negative message in regards to women is the portrayal of the character played by Olivia Newton-John. As the movie begins, Sandy is depicted as an innocent and virtuous young girl. Her love for the boy she meets at the beach is pure and romantic. As the story progresses, the character continues to carry herself in a pure and honorable ways despite being pressured into engaging in not so innocent activities. It seems, however, that despite Sandy's rejection of becoming one of the ‘bad girls,' her whole existence is so desperately focused on getting back with the boy who not only rejected her, but also continued to act inappropriately throughout the rest of the story. In the end, Sandy changes her attitude and her image and accepts the ‘bad girl' ways in efforts to recover her relationship with Danny. The message here is quite negative as it reinforces the notion that women should lose their individuality and succumb to certain pressures and expectations to achieve their goals. In the film's case, it is a girl who wants

The moral ambiguity created through the conflict between Batman and Bruce Wayne makes him a much more conflicted character, diverging from the righteous image of the

Throughout “The Dark Knight” by Christopher Nolan crime and deviance is seen throughout the film. Crime and deviance in The Dark Knight has two faces as society accepts crime for those whose are helping them and at the same time punishes those who are punished. Society in Gotham accepts crime when the Batman commits it to help for the betterment of society; however, crime is not accepted when it is committed by mob bosses, gangs, criminal cops, and most importantly through the joker. The forms of deviancy/crime which are seen throughout the film is the Labeling Approach, Human Rights Approach, and Human Diversity Approach.

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 Dark Knight" is grimly magisterial. It's a summer blockbuster that contemplates near-total civic disaster: Crowds surge, tractor-trailers flip, and buildings explode, but the pop violence feels heavy, mournful. Light barely escapes the film's gravitational pull.

For example, Hillary Clinton was the first female presidential nominee and Carla Hayden was the first female to serve as librarian of congress. These notable women empower others in society because of their intelligence and hard work. Yet, there are still conflicting attitudes toward women. On one hand, women are glorified as wives and mothers. On the other hand, there is an underlying distrust of female sexuality and independence. This has led to the traditional subordination of women to secondary status as desirable women with a lesser value to crime fighting. This continues in superhero films today, making this sexism very influential in our

Even though Hitchcock presents women as heroes and has taken them outside the so-called “norms,” women still tend to fall in line with gender-role stereotypes at one point or another. For instance, in Rear Window, Lisa is introduced as this beautiful, a high-society fashion consultant in New York City. She is in love with Jeffries, but Jeffries insists that they cannot marry because she cannot live his lifestyle, which involves traveling around the world and living

Batman: The Dark Knight 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

When you think of psychology what is the the first name that comes to mind? My guess is that you thought of Sigmund Freud. Even though none of his theories of dreams or sexuality have any empirical evidence, he is still one of the most influential figures in all of philosophy. One of Freud’s ideas that does have substance is the idea that our minds are dynamic and contain both conscious and unconscious memories, thoughts, and desires. Freud labeled these phenomena the id, ego, and superego. While the nuances of this theory are complex and somewhat monotonous, they are brought to life in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight. The chaotic and childish joker (id), the pure and valiant Harvey Dent (superego), and the one responsible for finding a balance between the two, Batman (ego).

It is very clear that all of the movies about teenaged girl cliques are passing the Bechdel Test based on these three questions. It would improve the feminist analysis of film if there were to be a proposition to adding one more questions to the Bechdel Test. When watching films that have a female dominated cast, a fourth question could be; “Are the women talking about each other?” It would be interesting to see how many films would pass. If they did pass, there is the question of how either intriguing or stereotypical the content of those conversations would be. The main topics addressed in these movies have to do with the subject of the plot, which is heavily involved around gossip, friendship, and

The Bechdel test determines whether or not a television program or movie uses the presence of women appropriately and it serves as a helpful reminder to viewers that maybe the programs they’re watching don’t influence them in the appropriate way. Moreover, the exposure to these sources of entertainment that don’t

Smith’s article notes that they, all of O’Connor’s female characters, deserve sympathy because: “they’re all faced with an impossible task in having to synthesize aspects of both gender roles in order to maintain their livelihoods” (Smith 35).

Philosophical Analysis of The Dark Knight The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, is an action-packed movie set in the fictional city of Gotham. It is a real-life film based on the marvelous comic book hero, Batman. Throughout the movie, there are many philosophical themes portrayed. After closely analyzing the film, I found that some of the most distinct ideas would be that of Hobbes’ theory of human nature. More specifically, Hobbes’ idea that without the security that society offers, humans will become fearful and chaotic. Humans are prone to look towards an authority figure that can provide them protection, and when that figure is taken away, they go into anarchy.

Filmmakers use traditional gender stereotypes to produce characters audiences can easily identify with by portraying conventional images of a person with identifiable characteristics. In previous years, the dominant representation of a women in film has been the passive, subjugated protagonist. However, through the development of female empowerment and added feminist representations of film, the female heroine transformed to become strong and independent women in her own right, as an individual character.