In “The Batman’s Gotham City: Story, Ideology, Performance” by William Uricchio, Uricchio points out how New York City was originally Batman’s home until he moved to Gotham in The Detective Comics #48 in 1941. It’s no surprise that Gotham was designed from images and places within New York City. From the comics, it seems as though Gotham City is only portrayed at night which explains why Batman is only illustrated fighting crime in the nighttime. I like that the Uricchio makes it a point to state how DC says that Gotham and New York City exist separate from one another. I was under the impression that Gotham was a darker version of New York City that replaced New York City.
In “Batman: The Dark Knight” movie produced by Christopher Nolan, Nolan demonstrates a realistic, comical and frightening interpretation of Batman. Nolan did a great job with staying true to Batman not using commercial weapons but instead fighting his opponents using only his combat skills and inventions created for him by Lucius Fox. Although the comics said Batman invented his own inventions, we see through Nolan’s perspective Lucius Fox, research head of Wayne Enterprises makes them for Batman. Something I found funny during the movie was in the beginning when the police are discussing how capturing Batman is an ongoing investigation and it’s shown that the possible suspects are Sasquatch, Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley. By adding that, it makes the movie a little less dark and brooding. Just like in Frank Miller’s, “Batman: The Dark Knight,” Nolan uses the concept of Batman’s army as we see in the beginning, they lure the bad guys in, in an attempt to help Batman fight crime. As the movie progresses, we see that Joker uses Batman’s followers against him by using killing one of them to send a message to the public and Batman.
Batman at first supported Harvey and called him a symbol of hope that Batman could never be. As a public figure, Harvey can do what Batman does without hiding or being a vigilante. We see Two-Faced become created, Harvey Dent’s coin depicting who lives or dies by leaving it up to chance, and Batman saves Harvey resulting in half of Harvey’s face being burned off. Nolan introduces the idea that Harvey Dent came up with the name Two-Faced because of what police officers call him behind his back. I like that Nolan took into consideration “The Joker” in the comic Batman No. 1 from 1940 when using the Joker in the movie. The Joker in the comic, made his demands via the radio, placed his signature card on his victims and killed his victims before police were able to get to stop him. Similarly, in the movie, the Joker gives his demands via video clips shown on the news, as well as a judge being blown up in her car and commissioner Gillian Loeb with a poisoned scotch glass. However, in the movie Nolan uses creative ways for the Joker to let the cops know who his new victim is whereas in the comic he named his next victim on the radio. In the movie, the Joker uses DNA of his next victims and puts Rachel’s name on a name tag of one of his captured men. Joker tells Gambol he got his scars from his father asking him why he was so serious, cutting his mouth saying, “Let’s put a smile on that face.” Yet the Joker also explains to Rachel that he gave himself those scars to make his wife feel better about her scars, resulting in her leaving him.
We discussed duality and whether or not Bruce was more of Bruce Wayne or Batman. Nolan touches on the subject when Alfred tells Bruce to know his limits and Bruce responds by saying Batman has no limits. In this specific scenario, we see Bruce as being more Batman than Bruce. Alfred needs to remind Bruce that unlike Batman, Bruce has limits. We see Rachel as being the damsel in distress similar to Lois Lane in the Superman comics. Rachel is seen as Batman’s weakness which the Joker figures out. I found her character to be pointless within the movie considering she died about half way into the movie. We see that Batman has a soft spot for Rachel because they’ve known each other their whole lives and ultimately want to be together but she can only be with him if he lets go of being Batman. It’s unfortunate that they don’t end up together yet Batman made it his duty to fight crime to make Gotham City a better place for people to live. Another similarity I found was the Joker bringing out homoeroticism in the open which Klock stated in, “The Revisionary Superhero Narrative.” We see in the movie that Nolan demonstrates this through the Joker telling Batman “he completes him.” Overall, I really enjoyed watching Nolan’s interpretation of “Batman: The Dark Knight” because of how close he stayed to the comics story lines. He didn’t change it significantly but simply enhanced it in his own creative way.
In “Batman: The Dark Knight” movie produced by Christopher Nolan, Nolan demonstrates a realistic, comical and frightening interpretation of Batman. Nolan did a great job with staying true to Batman not using commercial weapons but instead fighting his opponents using only his combat skills and inventions created for him by Lucius Fox. Although the comics said Batman invented his own inventions, we see through Nolan’s perspective Lucius Fox, research head of Wayne Enterprises makes them for Batman. Something I found funny during the movie was in the beginning when the police are discussing how capturing Batman is an ongoing investigation and it’s shown that the possible suspects are Sasquatch, Abraham Lincoln and Elvis Presley. By adding that, it makes the movie a little less dark and brooding. Just like in Frank Miller’s, “Batman: The Dark Knight,” Nolan uses the concept of Batman’s army as we see in the beginning, they lure the bad guys in, in an attempt to help Batman fight crime. As the movie progresses, we see that Joker uses Batman’s followers against him by using killing one of them to send a message to the public and Batman.
Batman at first supported Harvey and called him a symbol of hope that Batman could never be. As a public figure, Harvey can do what Batman does without hiding or being a vigilante. We see Two-Faced become created, Harvey Dent’s coin depicting who lives or dies by leaving it up to chance, and Batman saves Harvey resulting in half of Harvey’s face being burned off. Nolan introduces the idea that Harvey Dent came up with the name Two-Faced because of what police officers call him behind his back. I like that Nolan took into consideration “The Joker” in the comic Batman No. 1 from 1940 when using the Joker in the movie. The Joker in the comic, made his demands via the radio, placed his signature card on his victims and killed his victims before police were able to get to stop him. Similarly, in the movie, the Joker gives his demands via video clips shown on the news, as well as a judge being blown up in her car and commissioner Gillian Loeb with a poisoned scotch glass. However, in the movie Nolan uses creative ways for the Joker to let the cops know who his new victim is whereas in the comic he named his next victim on the radio. In the movie, the Joker uses DNA of his next victims and puts Rachel’s name on a name tag of one of his captured men. Joker tells Gambol he got his scars from his father asking him why he was so serious, cutting his mouth saying, “Let’s put a smile on that face.” Yet the Joker also explains to Rachel that he gave himself those scars to make his wife feel better about her scars, resulting in her leaving him.
We discussed duality and whether or not Bruce was more of Bruce Wayne or Batman. Nolan touches on the subject when Alfred tells Bruce to know his limits and Bruce responds by saying Batman has no limits. In this specific scenario, we see Bruce as being more Batman than Bruce. Alfred needs to remind Bruce that unlike Batman, Bruce has limits. We see Rachel as being the damsel in distress similar to Lois Lane in the Superman comics. Rachel is seen as Batman’s weakness which the Joker figures out. I found her character to be pointless within the movie considering she died about half way into the movie. We see that Batman has a soft spot for Rachel because they’ve known each other their whole lives and ultimately want to be together but she can only be with him if he lets go of being Batman. It’s unfortunate that they don’t end up together yet Batman made it his duty to fight crime to make Gotham City a better place for people to live. Another similarity I found was the Joker bringing out homoeroticism in the open which Klock stated in, “The Revisionary Superhero Narrative.” We see in the movie that Nolan demonstrates this through the Joker telling Batman “he completes him.” Overall, I really enjoyed watching Nolan’s interpretation of “Batman: The Dark Knight” because of how close he stayed to the comics story lines. He didn’t change it significantly but simply enhanced it in his own creative way.