makeup like Marilyn Manson

'Good Fren' and I caught a good film on Saturday afternoon at Orchard Cineleisure. It has been a long while since I was last there. While going up and down the escalator, I kept thinking about the NS boy walking around in OC with a rifle in his bag, and how we as a society assume that physical age = some kind of credible indicator of maturity. Green light for adulthood. We forget to ask ourselves whether the maturity requirement in this current context has perhaps gotten more complex.

Back to the film, I must confess that I didn't expect the Dark Knight to be so enjoyable. I thought it was gonna be one of those 'boys' movies', i.e. loads of violence, loud noises, gore, breasts and, after all that, the good guys winning.

After 150 minutes (actually around the 100th minute), I fell in love with the villain.

Maybe it's because he wears makeup like Marilyn Manson.


What I am going to highlight next may give away crucial parts of the film, so if you haven't seen the movie, I am recommending that you do not read the rest of this entry.

Aesthetics & Contrast

The Dark Knight has casted the best-looking Batman and most charismatic Joker ever. In fact, they made sure that the key roles, including the goodies, looked somewhat dark. Best. This is then contrasted against a somewhat modern-, bright- and normal-looking Gotham City, as opposed to earlier gothic versions with loads of rain and lack of sunlight. I guess this is to prepare the audience mentally for the struggle between good and evil. Dark and White.

The Losing Good

The Joker is a terrorist. All baddies are. The goodies always have something to lose. Loved ones, Principles, Honour, Identity etc. All these 'good' things. Hence, the goodies always end up in a hostage situation. Can't be a true hero if you have too much to lose/protect. Drives you nuts. Even the Butler knew very clearly that some losses are too much for the depressed Dark Knight to bear.

After some thought, 'Good Fren' decided that the Joker had an Achilles' heel (Troy was showing on TV a few hours after we saw the Dark Knight). The Joker wanted something. He wanted to keep having fun with the goodies, e.g. Dark Knight. He wanted to rid Gotham City of its soul. So the story had to immortalise the Good. Erm... Ok... But it was so lame... They had to bend over backwards to do so... They lied to everyone. So much for honour.

The Good Loser

Somehow, the goodies are not as clever as the baddies.

Point #1: The Joker was a really good scenario planner and had many steps laid out in advance. The goodies kept playing catch up. In the process, the goodies lost a lot of what they started out to protect, i.e. hospitals, cars, lives etc. How silly and inefficient.

Point#2: The Joker, being the exploitative terrorist, sent some tapes to GCN (Gotham City News) to spread his message of fear and destruction.... And GCN aired it. Wow... I hope the story was trying to suggest how amoral the media really is. This is an interesting dilemma. "I have the right to know" vs "I am gonna panic after knowing".

The Joker's Truths

We walked away from the film agreeing with the Joker, and feeling as surprised as the Joker when no one pressed the damn button on the detonator. Of course, we must remind ourselves that this is fiction.

In real life, someone will press the damn button with much gusto. Just look at how self-righteous everyone is. I dun even think we can even get to laugh at the voting process, even though it was a brilliant touch. Nobody wants to be the bad guy and it's so convenient to hide behind an anonymous vote. Collective wisdom and decision, they call it. Share the blame, just in case.

A Note

Somewhere early in the film, the Joker said something like,