Bibliography
The New York Times
By: Manohla Dargis
Showdown in Gotham Town
July 18, 2008
Accessed: April 22, 2011
Related article: Film: Batman’s Burden: A Director Confronts Darkness and Death, March 9, 2008
“The Batman movie feels like a beginning and something of an end,” according to Christopher Nolan. This movie is darker and deeper than any Hollywood movie of its comic book kind. “Ambivalence mistaken for pessimism,” according to Nolan. The director of the movie found a way to make Batman relevant to our time. Investing him with shadows that remind us of the character’s troubled beginning, but without lingering mustiness. This article states, “Batman turns into a villain’s sidekick.”
The Joker is described as; a self-described agent of chaos, a tease who taunts criminals, tries to burn the world down, isn’t fighting for anything or anyone, a terrorist, just terrifying, and finally, likes to linger in the dark, but he doesn’t want to live there. Have I said enough?
Gotham City is described as a city of distorting and shattering mirrors.
Batman himself is described as darker, and less obviously human. He is more of a gargoyle, than a savior, and a demon in a stealthy menace.
In this film, the moment belongs to the villains and madmen.
With ‘The Dark Knight,’ Film Noir Still Lives
By: Lewis Beale
Newsday
July 14, 2008
Accessed: April 29, 2011
So far this critique speaks comparing classic noir with how it is used today. Although the review’s main topic is of the movie of The Dark Knight, it does some comparisons and contrast with classic films like Double Indemnity, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. The critic mainly states that a lot of the old ideas of noir, still exist in neo-noir. For example, being a dark story in which “Batman deals with his own convictions,” as stated by the director of film, Christopher Nolan. The critique also does a nice job in describing how classic noir was based around the era of the time, which was the “cultural dislocations of World War II, and the role of women in society, to the ways in which returning veterans attempted to fit in post war world.” This critique also mentions that “science fiction, allows us to discuss dark territory.” For example, “allowing for a more emotionally charged discourse.” In science fiction, theres some sort of evil out there. Batman was the first noir superhero. Nolan states, “the dark streets of Gatham City filled with twisted crazy criminals.” Dark Knight is a crime story. Desire in storytelling to have moral ambiguity, which is the basis for film noir. The fear of anarchy invading society – that’s a very contemporary fear.
Cinefantastique Online
The Review of Horror, Fantasy & Science Fiction Films
Sense of Wonder: The Dark Knight – Gotham City’s Politics of Noir
Accessed: April 29, 2011
By: Steve Biodrowski
September 21, 2008
This critique talks about the movie being a “cultural phenomenon,” instead of a “box office phenomenon.” What is based around the era of this time is…a positive picture of Bush’s Administration’s War On Terror. Dick Chaney and company never doubt their moral righteousness, believing ends justify any means, however despicable.
Joanne Weintraub of the Milwaukee Journal states, “This film is compared to two different kinds of genres, film noir, and western genre. The critique implies that this movie is more for guys, calling it a “macho heroic” – “men trying to save the world, being serious work.” Unlike Mama Mia, being a chick flick – a feel good feminine – friendly. “A frothy chick flick.”
The Dark Knight is a scenario of a male dominated world, and calling the character of Rachel – the significant female character, “reduced to the stereotypical female role of emotional anchor and damsel in distress.” “The Dark Knight is far more than your typical action film.”
According to the critic, this movie uses a hard-boiled plot, lines laced with machismo. Its how a man defines himself in a hostile, usually corrupt world. A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.” What a man’s gotta do is often not nearly enough. The Joker is described as…madness unleashed. Unstoppable. Dark and pessimistic. A inexplicable villain. His aim is to make things unravel. His agenda is to corrupt the forces that are trying to save Gotham. He turned Batman’s world upside down.
The Dark Knight celebrates the struggle – the effort against all odds. A reluctant warrior forced into action. Worries about the moral and ethical dilemmas that face him. Acting outside the law. Gotham City is describes as “a lawless environment.”
Batman & Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul
By: Leon H. Brody
Library Journal, LLC
August 15, 2008,
Volume 133, Issue 13, Pages 87-88
EBSCOHOST
This article looks at the philosophical questions;
· The nature of personal identity and responsibility, or lack of it.
· The nature of moral acts, social obligation, political commitment, ethics of right from wrong.
Dark Was The Knight, Cold Was The Clown
By: Ryan Gilbey
New Statesman
July 28, 2008
This critique describes the Joker as;
· Chalky face with charcoal eyes
· Obscenely smudged kisser and untamed tongue that doesn’t stay in his mouth.
· Creepiness from hunched posture and scutting dance-like movements.
· Hops up and down.
· Offers a contrasting story of how he came to have his mouth slashed into a gruesome grin.
The director describes;
· Broken laws of back story in the film – making the Joker’s history a blank.
Batman’s struggle is…to defeat the Joker, the enemy without becoming his equal in savagery.
New Political Science
Volume 31, Number 2
The Dark Knight (Warner Bros Pictures, 2008) Film Review
By: Bruce Baum
June 2009
Provides a hero and an anti-hero for our specific time, who embody current political and economic contradictions. The movie is a vivid allegory for our post – 9/11 political economic moment of financial crisis, widespread anxiety, ongoing turmoil in Iraq, and the run-up to the recent presidential election. The Joker is a haunting psychopath-terrorist.
Batman frets about the limits of his powers as a vigilante crime-fighter to achieve lasting civic order. He understands that if justice and civil peace are to last, they must be won by authorized public officials.
At the end of the movie Batman confronts the reality that his solitary vigilante justice will not bring lasting civil peace and order. Therefore, he makes up a lie to save the reputation of Harvey Dent, Gotham’s District Attorney, who had been the courageous public face of Gotham’s hopes for civil order and legal justice.
