Batman: The Dark Knight (2008) - Character review

Figure 1. Movie poster (2008)

Figure 2. Batman 

Batman


Personal history 

• He is from a wealthy background 
• He witnessed his Mother and Father die when he was a child
• He has grown up being cared for by his butler Alfred
• He has inherited his Mother and Father's fortune

Personal world view 

• That there is a lot of injustice in the world.
• That criminals and murders need to be stopped so that people do not have to face the same issues that he has faced. 

Inherited world

• Bruce Wayne (Batman) has inherited Wayne Manor from his Mother and Father, allowing him both the money and access to technology for his suit, vehicles, etc.

Wants (goals) 

• Justice in Gotham for his Mother and Father's murders as well as the frequent crimes and murders in the city.
• To stop Joker from destroying Gotham and killing the residents on the boats.
• To put an end to Joker.

Needs

• Cooperation from the citizens or Gotham, Commissioner Gordon and the police force.
• To stop Joker.

Internal vs external worlds

• Internal: Strong willed, instinctive, Powerful, Psychologically fragile
• External: Strong, Confident, Brave, Protective, Intelligent, Psychologically strong

Flaws 

• He saved Harvey Dent rather than is love interest Rachel in Joker's 'game' causing the death of Rachel Dawes and the introduction of Two Face. 

Overall story arc 

• At a young age Bruce Wayne's (Batman's) parents were murdered in front of him. Due to this Bruce decided that he wanted to protect the people around him and fight for justice so that murders and other criminal acts do not happen. Batman fights a lot of different villains in Gotham but Joker is one of the most notorious. Due to Bruce Wayne's intelligence he is able to out wit the Joker in a lot of his attempts, making it so that Joker fails.

Joker

Figure 3. Joker 

Personal history

• At a young age his Father cut the sides of his mouth because he would not smile at him.
• Tries to make everything a game, including murders and planned attacks on Gotham.

Personal world view -

• The world needs to be more entertaining.
• The government are mocking the citizens.

Inherited world - 

• The mental and physical scaring that his Father has left him with.
• Believes that hurting and killing people does not actually harm or affect anybody apart from Batman.

Wants (goals) - 

• To play psychological games with Batman and Commissioner Gordon.

Needs - 

• Everybody's attention.
• To destroy Batman and for Batman to watch and participate in the games that he has set up.

Internal vs external worlds - 

• Internal: Outcast, Psychologically fragile, Unpredictable, Alone
• External: Psychologically unbalanced, Psychotic, Sadistic, Mentally disturbed

Flaws - 

• He does not care about the lives of other people and how death and destruction can effect the citizens of Gotham.

Overall story arc - 

• The Joker was abused mentally and physically as a child which has resulted in him being both physically and mentally scarred. 
• His main aim in life is to do what he thinks is right and as a result takes his childhood traumas out on the people surrounding him. This has also caused for him to revert back to childlike behavior believing that everything that he does is a game and that hurting/murdering people does not have any effect.
• Due to this Batman has seen that he is a threat and has tried to resolve/stop different situations that Joker has caused but in doing so has made it so that Joker now focuses on Batman or people that Batman loves as a prime target in order to get his attention. 

Conflicts (in the film)

• Batman interrogates the Joker about where Harvey and Rachel are after Commission Gordon has found that they have not returned home.
• Joker explains that he has trapped Harvey and Rachel in two separate locations where they are both surrounded by explosives. Batman is able to save only one of them, he saves Harvey and due to this Rachel dies.
• Joker finds that somebody is also trying to get Batman to show his identity and decides to kill him, take hostages from a hospital and then explode the hospital.
• Joker then explains that Gotham will need to be under his ruling otherwise he will explode two ferries full of citizens. A remote explosive trigger has been given to each boat. They then find out that the remote explosive device will explode the other boat. Joker explains that if one of the boats does not explode by midnight then both boats will be exploded. Batman finds the Joker and they begin to fight.

Value change in scene (in the film)

• At the end of the film Batman becomes stronger in himself knowing that he has stopped Joker once again. The Joker's plans have been ruined and he is taken into custody. Rachel has died and Harvey Dent becomes burnt across half of his face, introducing Two Face.

Illustrations:

Figure 1. (2008) Movie poster. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0468569/

Figure 2. Batman. https://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-reviews/the-dark-knight

Figure 3. Joker. https://uk.ign.com/articles/2018/07/18/the-dark-knight-how-heath-ledgers-joker-was-born