The Analysis of Christopher Nolan’s Film “The Dark Knight”

The Dark Knight

In Christopher Nolan’s film, The Dark Knight, while Batman is struggling with internal conflict, the Joker is seen as more enlightened. Early on in the film, the audience is left a little confused as it seems that the Joker is telling two different stories of how he got his scars. For a character that is typically creative, it is almost unusual that the Joker would make a mistake. Specifically, it is complex that Nolan left the audience with this. The Joker could be telling people these stories to maintain his identity. With a reputation for being crazy, the Joker seems to embrace his manic creativity. By telling a variety of stories, each time the audience is left with the idea that this is typical Joker-like behavior.

The idea of identity is quite different for Bruce Wayne as he struggles between being himself and being Batman. Although there is a difference in how they approach their identity, it could be that Nolan wanted to show that both characters, despite being on opposite sides of good and evil, long for the same reaction. Since the Joker takes time to craft and create his actions, there are always strong reactions. Batman prefers to remain extremely anonymous, which almost causes more attention. For example, when the film begins they are trying to track down possible suspects that could be Batman. With Batman being cast as the superhero, it is difficult to see him as a character that is helping the community while also enjoying the attention received from his efforts. However, if he really is a character that is portrayed as purely good, it is confusing that Nolan had Batman encourage people not to copy him. Some can argue that it is evil that Batman would not support people that are willingly trying to help the community.

The Joker tries to constantly explain to Batman that they are similar even though they notoriously represent evil and good separately. This is seen frequently throughout the film as if Nolan is referring to the philosophical idea of the state of nature. The state of nature explores how individuals would act among each other if there was no structure. Some believe that in the state of nature, we would all just kill each other until we could conclude that in order to coexist there would have to be a sort of agreement.

The Joker seems confident that if this were the case, Batman would abandon his morals like most probably would. Batman refuses to believe that he is similar to the Joker in this case. In order to prove this to himself, the Joker, and the city of Gotham, this could be why he saves Harvey instead of Rachel. By saving Harvey, Batman is benefiting the greater good which would be seen as more morally sound than saving Rachel. However, the way Nolan structures the scene it seems as if Batman is forcing himself to comply. This idea further supports how Batman is constantly struggling between two identities, while the Joker is in tune with himself.

Batman and the Joker are both widely known characters that represent good and evil independently. Christopher Nolan uses The Dark Knight, to challenge previous thoughts or beliefs on the legendary superhero and villain. Superheroes are typically seen as brave, while villains are scary. Nolan creates a fairly brave Batman, but his constant internal struggle makes him seem like a very ordinary and human-like superhero. With this in mind, the Joker becomes a stronger character because of his beyond human-like qualities.