The Dark Knight and other odds and ends
It's been an interesting couple of days, I guess.
I drove home at 1 in the morning after the Late-Nite show on Friday, because it was just too damn hot to attempt sleeping in my room.
Saturday then became The Most Useless Day Ever, as I watched baseball and then went to Jason's with Laura and watched Penelope. I now understand the James McAvoy obsession. :)
On Sunday, after trying all weekend (!), I got to see The Dark Knight.
*flailspasmfreak*
1) It's as good as you've heard. Possibly even better.
2) Heath Ledger's performance is as terrifying as you've heard. It's also quite extraordinary. His physicality in this role is astounding. Gone are the revenge plot-line and comic book conventions. Even his rage is more akin to gleeful malice simply to terrify; he gets much more out of provoking others into a rage (Batman, Harvey Dent, some other minor characters) than getting angry himself. This Joker is purely insane and has absolutely no reason for doing anything, other than, as Alfred says, to watch the world burn. He calls himself an agent of Chaos, and he's Loki come to life in the most frightening way imaginable.
3) However, despite all that, I was even more disturbed by Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. His storyline shows the potential for madness and evil that lies in all of us. He goes from being, quite literally, the best of men to a vicious murderer (it's the Sweeney Todd effect all over again). The paralleling between him and Bruce Wayne was so compelling.
4) Likewise, the rest of the cast was solid, as they were in the first film. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a much better actress than Katie Holmes, but, unfortunately, her character doesn't have much to do. Still, I'm glad that she was on board instead.
5) (I just thought of a LitCrit reading of Rachel's death, so hold on tight, kids)
The fact that Batman rescues Harvey and not Rachel is pretty amazing. Batman subverts the idea of being a knight at every turn (obviously, even the title of the film/nickname is a subversion of the idea of The Knight in Shining Armor), and this is the most obvious example: The Dark Knight does not rescue the Damsel in Distress. Instead of rescuing the person most important to him, he rescues the person most important to Gotham City. And it subsequently blows up in his face. When Batman rescues Harvey, he emasculates his romantic rival (The White Knight), but this is done unwillingly to Harvey. This, again, is a subversion; a knight can be domesticated or even emasculated in a Knight's Tale-esque love triangle, but only through the submission to love/marriage of the woman, (as with Palamon and Emily). Only through death in a noble battle may a knight retain his honor and masculinity at the hands of another knight (as with Arcite),** which could explain why courtly love rarely ended in the consummation of the lovers feelings. If the other knight rescues him, honor and masculinity are gone, but not replaced by domestic bliss; animosity will grow between the rivals, and, in this case, send the Rescued Knight over the edge. Add into the mix that the Damsel in Distress is not rescued by the Rescuing Knight, and you have totally disrupted the triangle. This ends with the Damsel dead, the White Knight on a murdering rampage where he's even willing to murder innocent children, and the Dark Knight having to take on the mantle of wickedness to give the public the icon(s) they need in order to survive and retain hope. But, in a city ruled by an Agent of Chaos, the total subversion of this motif is completely appropriate.
I might expand on this analysis. To Be Continued...
6) I love how...realistic this film is. Granted, it's not realistic in that it would ever happen, but it's grounded in a reality that no other comic book movie ever has been. People aren't turned mad by being hit acid. There isn't even some grand mastermind plan to spray a chemical upon Gotham and make everyone go insane as in Batman Begins (though I do so very much love that movie). The Joker is a bank robber and a terrorist. He kills people with bombs and manipulation, not the typical Cunning Plans in every other comic book movie. His is a real world evil. Harvey Dent's downfall is a real world destruction. As others have said, this is an grown-up movie that just happens to be based on comic book characters. For the first time, we have a comic book movie that wasn't made for kids or the kids inside all of us. And the results are pretty astounding.
7) Disappearing pencil. This will now be my answer anytime someone asks me, "How do I deal with [fill in person]?"
**You could say spared after a noble battle as well, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but I don't think this is applicable. The Green Knight is basically doing himself a favor by showing compassion and breaking the curse when he spares Sir Gawain's life. They both get something out of it, thus allowing Gawain to retain his masculinity and heroic status).
Edited to add: Richard reminded me that Batman actually wanted to save Rachel and have Gordon and the cops rescue Harvey, but the Joker lied about the addresses. But, for my thesis, Batman's intentions are kind of irrelevant; he still subverts the motif, even if it wasn't his intention.
Phew!
Yesterday was also the masquerade party, in which I dressed as Bellatrix Lestrange, and I wasn't the only one! One of the apprentices dressed as her, too, so we made our Judges Table show together (with a Professor Trelawney). I actually totally upstaged her, which is kind of sad, seeing as I'm not an actress and she is. But I like to let the freak flag fly. :P Oh, and Justin, you'll be so happy. Since I couldn't find a wig, I did dye my hair; it's now a dark auburn. Though, it was so hot yesterday and I was running so late to get to the party, I didn't get to tease it up at all. It just hung like curtains, really, so I was as much a female Snape as Bella. ;) Anyway, I got drunk on wine and danced a lot and had Neighbor Boy hovering for a bit, so it was a fun evening (well, the hovering part was awkward, but otherwise the party was fun). :)
And this morning? Not hungover, though, since I took a shower before bed last night (to get rid of the make-up and cool off before bed), I feel really gross right now. So lunch will be showering, actually.
I drove home at 1 in the morning after the Late-Nite show on Friday, because it was just too damn hot to attempt sleeping in my room.
Saturday then became The Most Useless Day Ever, as I watched baseball and then went to Jason's with Laura and watched Penelope. I now understand the James McAvoy obsession. :)
On Sunday, after trying all weekend (!), I got to see The Dark Knight.
*flailspasmfreak*
1) It's as good as you've heard. Possibly even better.
2) Heath Ledger's performance is as terrifying as you've heard. It's also quite extraordinary. His physicality in this role is astounding. Gone are the revenge plot-line and comic book conventions. Even his rage is more akin to gleeful malice simply to terrify; he gets much more out of provoking others into a rage (Batman, Harvey Dent, some other minor characters) than getting angry himself. This Joker is purely insane and has absolutely no reason for doing anything, other than, as Alfred says, to watch the world burn. He calls himself an agent of Chaos, and he's Loki come to life in the most frightening way imaginable.
3) However, despite all that, I was even more disturbed by Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. His storyline shows the potential for madness and evil that lies in all of us. He goes from being, quite literally, the best of men to a vicious murderer (it's the Sweeney Todd effect all over again). The paralleling between him and Bruce Wayne was so compelling.
4) Likewise, the rest of the cast was solid, as they were in the first film. Maggie Gyllenhaal is a much better actress than Katie Holmes, but, unfortunately, her character doesn't have much to do. Still, I'm glad that she was on board instead.
5) (I just thought of a LitCrit reading of Rachel's death, so hold on tight, kids)
The fact that Batman rescues Harvey and not Rachel is pretty amazing. Batman subverts the idea of being a knight at every turn (obviously, even the title of the film/nickname is a subversion of the idea of The Knight in Shining Armor), and this is the most obvious example: The Dark Knight does not rescue the Damsel in Distress. Instead of rescuing the person most important to him, he rescues the person most important to Gotham City. And it subsequently blows up in his face. When Batman rescues Harvey, he emasculates his romantic rival (The White Knight), but this is done unwillingly to Harvey. This, again, is a subversion; a knight can be domesticated or even emasculated in a Knight's Tale-esque love triangle, but only through the submission to love/marriage of the woman, (as with Palamon and Emily). Only through death in a noble battle may a knight retain his honor and masculinity at the hands of another knight (as with Arcite),** which could explain why courtly love rarely ended in the consummation of the lovers feelings. If the other knight rescues him, honor and masculinity are gone, but not replaced by domestic bliss; animosity will grow between the rivals, and, in this case, send the Rescued Knight over the edge. Add into the mix that the Damsel in Distress is not rescued by the Rescuing Knight, and you have totally disrupted the triangle. This ends with the Damsel dead, the White Knight on a murdering rampage where he's even willing to murder innocent children, and the Dark Knight having to take on the mantle of wickedness to give the public the icon(s) they need in order to survive and retain hope. But, in a city ruled by an Agent of Chaos, the total subversion of this motif is completely appropriate.
I might expand on this analysis. To Be Continued...
6) I love how...realistic this film is. Granted, it's not realistic in that it would ever happen, but it's grounded in a reality that no other comic book movie ever has been. People aren't turned mad by being hit acid. There isn't even some grand mastermind plan to spray a chemical upon Gotham and make everyone go insane as in Batman Begins (though I do so very much love that movie). The Joker is a bank robber and a terrorist. He kills people with bombs and manipulation, not the typical Cunning Plans in every other comic book movie. His is a real world evil. Harvey Dent's downfall is a real world destruction. As others have said, this is an grown-up movie that just happens to be based on comic book characters. For the first time, we have a comic book movie that wasn't made for kids or the kids inside all of us. And the results are pretty astounding.
7) Disappearing pencil. This will now be my answer anytime someone asks me, "How do I deal with [fill in person]?"
**You could say spared after a noble battle as well, as in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, but I don't think this is applicable. The Green Knight is basically doing himself a favor by showing compassion and breaking the curse when he spares Sir Gawain's life. They both get something out of it, thus allowing Gawain to retain his masculinity and heroic status).
Edited to add: Richard reminded me that Batman actually wanted to save Rachel and have Gordon and the cops rescue Harvey, but the Joker lied about the addresses. But, for my thesis, Batman's intentions are kind of irrelevant; he still subverts the motif, even if it wasn't his intention.
Phew!
Yesterday was also the masquerade party, in which I dressed as Bellatrix Lestrange, and I wasn't the only one! One of the apprentices dressed as her, too, so we made our Judges Table show together (with a Professor Trelawney). I actually totally upstaged her, which is kind of sad, seeing as I'm not an actress and she is. But I like to let the freak flag fly. :P Oh, and Justin, you'll be so happy. Since I couldn't find a wig, I did dye my hair; it's now a dark auburn. Though, it was so hot yesterday and I was running so late to get to the party, I didn't get to tease it up at all. It just hung like curtains, really, so I was as much a female Snape as Bella. ;) Anyway, I got drunk on wine and danced a lot and had Neighbor Boy hovering for a bit, so it was a fun evening (well, the hovering part was awkward, but otherwise the party was fun). :)
And this morning? Not hungover, though, since I took a shower before bed last night (to get rid of the make-up and cool off before bed), I feel really gross right now. So lunch will be showering, actually.