G321 Task 3 - Thriller Scene Analysis - "The Dark Knight" (1 of 3)

"The Dark Knight" Thriller Scene Analysis:

"It's Simple. We Kill The Batman."

"How is the antagonist represented in the scene?"

I will be exploring how one of the most infamous characters in the thriller genre, The Joker, is presented in the scene in "The Dark Knight" where he is introduced to the mob during their meeting.

Firstly, "The Dark Knight" was directed by Christopher Nolan and released on 18 July 2008 (USA). The production companies were Warner Bros., Legendary Pictures and Syncopy, with a budget estimated to be $185M and a gross profit of around $533M as of February 2009. The intended target audience of the film would capture a wide range, mainly containing those who have read Batman comics or seen previous films, but also those who enjoy action-packed thriller films, or a potentially younger audience. The audience received it very well, with countless 10/10 user reviews on IMDb, with titles such as "Surpasses the hype" and "Certainly dark - worth the wait".

The scene begins with the sound of estranged, drawn out, and menacing laughter for a few seconds as the men sitting at the table, who appear to be divided into two sides from the start, one side formally dressed, the other not so. At 0:06, an over the shoulder shot identifies the source of the laughter to be coming from a man walking towards the table, yet we do not see any of his clothes or facial details as he covered by darkness, suggesting a character who is secretive and prefers to remain hidden, representing him as a mysterious, indistinguishable character. The laughter then seems to become sarcastic, and then the camera flips so we see the characters face for the first time in the scene. We instantly recognise that his face is covered with makeup in such a way to present him as menacing and somewhat delusional, with the blacks around his eyes and red around his mouth to form an eerie grin. The make-up also helps to conceal facial expressions and de-associate him from the "normal" people in the scene, suggesting independence and anonymity. As we see him, he confidently chirps, "and I thought my jokes were bad" - this insult shows him to be a confident character, who can simply stroll into what appears to be a crime lords meeting and mock them. Almost predictably he receives a violent retaliation from who we assume to be a leader of the group due to his authoritative tone and the camera focusing on him repeatedly, as he says, without showing emotion, "gimme one reason...". The mysterious man's response to such a vivid threat, "How about a magic trick?" seems so unordinary a response, any usual character in such a situation would likely panic, yet this clown-like character seems dominant and in control with his friendly response.

As the men respond to this absurdity, the Joker flips this impression of insanity that we immediately assume as he shows his power, and smashes the man down onto the pencil, promptly removing him from the equation. Yet he immediately resumes a friendly persona when he exclaims, "Ta-da!", but the way in which he talks, with pauses in his sentences, i.e. "it's..ahh..it's gone" hints at an unstable character. Immediately we are presented with an enigma in the representation of this character, one regarding his sanity. This theme continues throughout the scene. The Joker once again resumes his taunting of the men ("You ought to know, you bought it") to provoke a retaliation once more, yet this time, after proving his authority, the men are less hostile and wish to hear his proposition.

"The Joker" is immediately represented as unstable but confident character, but then proceeds to show a much more sincere tone when explaining the faults in the criminals work. He is represented as some kind of fool, to tell these powerful men what they're doing wrong would be considered a strong insult, yet the men seem nervous to react as they are unsure of what the response will be; the deranged look created by the make-up and costume makes him seem insane, yet the way in which he addresses them is sincere but condescending: "What happened, did'ya balls drop off?". A key section that reveals part of his character is when the criminal leader calls The Joker a "freak" (1:03). This causes some unsettlement from the other characters but the Joker doesn't show any signs of retaliation, he repeats his last sentence in a slightly more drawn out way before moving on; he shows no sign of breaking from his  persona. He receives more and more sincere and questioning looks from his audience as he goes on before he sighs, "The Bat-man", with a clear separation in the name and eye movements that hint at despise towards the character. This reveals a lot about the Joker as a character, as to his motives and his persona; it reveals that he does have anger within him despite remaining calm when threatened and giving little emotion away. When the Joker continues to address the thugs, he speaks in an authoritative and confident tone, i.e. "as for the television's so-called "plan"" which represents him as a powerful character who knows precisely what he is doing. He re-iterates this by breaking from his monotonous, sincere tone when he says how Batman will make the man "squeal" and how he knows a "squealer" when he sees one, and so not only mocks the man for his plan but for his strength also, and considering the fact he is relatively anonymous to the thugs the sequence conveys him in a sincere manner.

However, when asked for his plan, we see this sincerity in a different manner. The line, "It's simple. We, er, kill, the Bat-man." is greeted by a chorus of laughs and the criminals seem to lose their respect for the Joker at this point; we can only assume from the laughs that this is deemed to be an impossible task, yet the Joker does not show only signs of breaking, he remains serious. This further enhances the representation of strength of mind, but also, insanity, as he is deemed to be this by the rest of the room at this point, shown in the response, "If it's so simple, why haven't you done it already?" which is spoken by one of the suited men in a very condescending tone, to show the disapproval, but the Joker remains sincere and confidently retorts with "If you're good at something, never do it for free." This is a very important sequence in analysing the representation of the Joker as the dialogue here and the Joker's actions and tone solidifies the representation of the Joker as a probably insane man who strongly believes his own ability and plans, with a tactical mind set - a perfect persona of a madman for an antagonist.

We really see this madness in the Joker's character at the end of the scene. First he asks for half of the cut, which is greeted by a round of laughter, then we hear one of the men say "You're crazy", which is the impression the audience is given throughout the scene. The Joker quickly replies with "I'm not" in a very bland and dull tone, showing a hint of disgust towards the men who don't seem to acknowledge his criticisms and advice, enhancing this representation of a tactical mind set, and confidence is shown again when he insults the presumed leader's ability again, provoking a strong reaction. The scene concludes with more madness as the Joker swiftly stands holding a pin, connected to several grenades on the inside of his jacket. This representation portrays him as a unstable character and a threat, causing everyone in the room to react. Yet he maintains his calmness as he speaks "let's not blow this out of proportion". The man shows visible anger and questions him, and when the Joker bluntly replies with "Yeah.." it shows nerve and once again confidence in his own ability, that he can walk in and steal from the thugs and get away with it. He completely ignores the death threat, hinting that he knows it won't happen, and leaves his "card", a plain Joker card, conveying his insanity one final time before he comically leaves the room.

In conclusion, the combination of costume and make-up to create an estranged, disturbing and indistinguishable character with the Joker's authoritative tone, confidence to insult and criticise and unpredictability in the scene, the Joker is represented as a very unstable antagonist throughout the scene through various techniques and through the narrative.