"...some men aren't looking for anything
logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated
with. Some men just want to watch the world burn" [1]
To what extent are on-screen Hollywood villains, such as ‘The Dark
Knight’s 'Joker', having an impact on the audience?
Despite the world's fandom for the critically acclaimed ‘Dark Knight’
trilogy, there is a profound shift in the tone and feel of Hollywood characters
especially those in the superhero genre. This is particularly apparent in
Christopher Nolan's highly commended ‘Dark Knight Trilogy’ where the character-
Joker and even Bane do just that. In Nolan's film, the Joker has seemed to be
one of the best performances ever given by Heath Ledger. It has been praised as
one of the ‘best acting portrayals’ in cinema history [2], and this is very much
influenced by the fans reaction. Fans and film viewers in general were very
pleased with the portrayal of the Joker they demanded more of it, unfortunately
the actor Heath Ledger died shortly after the film’s release. Conspiracy was
generated after the passing of Ledger where it was believed that the actor
could not tell the difference between being a psychopath like the Joker; and
being a normal man. A moral panic is essentially fear within the community over
a wide spread of problems that can pose a threat to the moral standards of
society. A moral panic had launched in the media which got people including
parents concerned whether this type of portrayals are really suitable for a younger
demographic especially when it is for a 12A certificate in the UK. What
also was controversial is the fact that an incident had took where a member of
the audience (who was watching the final instalment of the franchise), got up
and killed many viewers who were watching the last Dark Knight movie in Aurora
cinema [3]. Articles floated the
internet, but one in particular drew out links between the shooting itself and
the man involved claiming he was the Joker [4]. This is what essentially
spared the idea that there was a possible link of the actions on screen being
mimicked by an audience member. This should not come off as a surprise as in
‘1961 Bandura’ [5]
conducted an experiment to see if young children would re-enact on screen
violence, and the results were positive. The young consumers of the violent
text had in fact inflicted similar violence to a doll as was shown in the text
itself- this is what is known as the social learning perspective. The fact that
“portrayals of violence in various media (e.g. television, movies and video
games) are linked to actual are linked to actual violent behaviour for children
and teenagers... has placed the topic of aggression at the fore of much social
discourse” [6]
is something not to ignore as it is a fact. When "The Dark Knight became
the fourth highest grossing film of all time. Clearly something about the film
appeals to viewers… " [7]. This critical
investigation is trying to dig deep in to the link and possibilities that the
media believes; that media texts such as films, has an impact on audience
member. Content such as violence, sexual content are often of interest to the
younger audiences, fuelling concerns regarding just how much power the media
truly holds.
The most prominent movie out of the Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy
was ‘The Dark Knight’, simply due to the long wait for another actor to reprise
the role of Batman’s greatest foes; The Joker- played by Heath Ledger. The
character of Joker is known for his psychopathic and disturbing comic book
moments, everything to skinning a man alive to ripping someone to shreds is the
norm of every Joker fan. There was no doubt that this was the direction that
the film wanted to take the character on in ‘The Dark Knight’ theatrical film. After
the release of the film, it was critically acclaimed for the legendary
performance Heath Ledger had while playing the Joker. Fans believe it to be the
perfect portrayal of the character since Jack Nicholson’s adaptation. However,
shortly after the film’s release it was announced that the actor Heath Ledger
died and there was a lot of conspiracy surrounding his death. Like William H. Macy said, “people have demons. Sometimes it is
hard to see them” [8],
this quote says it all. What made the film so controversial were the clues left
behind by Ledger himself. Clues that showed that the character of the Joker had
created an influence in to his daily life and caused him to commit suicide. This
form of ‘influence’ had also occurred with previous actors who were in line to
playing the role, such as Jared Leto for the upcoming Suicide Squad movie,
where it was said that he was showing off some form of off psychopathic
behaviour which made one colleague of his think if he were actually “crazy” [9].
This shows how much of an impact that the character of the Joker had on actors
who were trying to give the best portrayal yet. In addition to this, during the
release of the final instalment in ‘The Dark Knight trilogy’- ‘The Dark Knight
Rises’, a shooting had taken place where a young man had gone out of his way to
shoot audience members stating that he ‘was the Joker’. He even mimicked the
characters portrayal in his real life by boobie trapping his room similar to
how the Joker would trap his victims, this can be linked to “Uses &
Gratification” theory of personal identity [10]
where Mr Holmes is presenting his new identity of being a psychopath. Furthermore,
after the gun shooting “gun sales in America rose by 43%” [11],
and it was because of all these events that a “moral panic” (Stanley Cohen) [12]
was created because citizens were concerned that such character’s and content to
be allowed for public audience members. The gun empire in the United States is
in itself of big controversy due to thousands of American losing their lives
due to the fact that such weapons are still open to the public. The fact that
weapons of mass destruction are available to purchase is extremely worrying, as
this event is one of many incidents where a young man creates a massacre. However,
it is in question in to why and what had caused such attack…
Nolan’s Batman trilogy is known to be one of the greatest
and prominent trilogies of all time in cinema history, but what made ‘The Dark
Knight’ so special that the other films did not have? Despite it being the
first film out of the two to have received “$1 billion at the box office” and
an “Oscar for best supporting actor” [13],
it was the portrayal of the Joker that really blew people away, especially the
fans. The fans were eager to see his big screen debut after so long and were
blown away with what Ledger had achieved in that film, making it one of the
most prominent theatrical acting of all time. But what made it so controversial
was the fact that an on screen character; the Joker had, had an influence on an
audience member and had caused him to go out and mimic his on-screen actions in
the real world. The film was said to connote "images of the 2001 attracts and their
capacity to elicit emotional effect and incite trauma in viewers, and second, ‘The
Dark Knight's’ potential to revoke such effects through flashbulb memory, the
arresting image, or a simulation of traumatic memory" [14].
The reason why such a moral panic emerged was because of
one of the most infamous cases ever to have created a moral panic for films
which was the James Bulger case. This case is very much similar to the Joker
case where audience members were influenced by what they watched on screen and
mimicked it in real life to harm other people. The Aurora shooting had
resurrected that moral panic and had been brought back once more. The media
played a large part in forming forcing that the media is injecting information in
to the consumers mind, like a “hypodermic needle model” [15]
which essentially meant that society believed that the media is at fault for
these crimes as they are constantly interacting with the media, thus gaining an
influence from it. A theorist known as ‘Todd Gitlin (2003)’ [16] stated that there should be careful attention towards
the violence selected and what is absent (mediation). He believed that
fictional violence was a target for criticism not only from the media, but from
society; a form of “scapegoat” [17] for societies worries. Furthermore,
a more recent event similar to this had occurred late 2016, where it was proven
that the cause of the infamous ‘killer clown craze’ had “originated from the
new poster for the upcoming it remake” [18].
These examples as well as the main text itself are proof that there is some
capacity of films and characters having an influence on audience members,
whether that is good deeds or bad. The reason why good deeds can be originated
from moving text is because incident have occurred where audience members mimic
the on-screen actions for the greater good. For example, “people dressed up as
batman and went hunting for clowns in order to deter people from ding such
hideous acts” [19].
The problem
that these occurrences had on society was it made people especially parents
question whether or not such content and characters should be allowed to viewed
by children especially if it is related to iconic superhero characters which
are largely associated with the children demographic. Over the years, films
(especially) superhero movies had begun taking a darker approach as a theme for
these movies. DC films in particular were best known and were quite successful
in delivering great dark themed superhero movies, batman being the most
prominent. Dark themed superhero movies have become the norm, allowing for more
darker and graphical stories (and characters) to be brought to the big screen,
because it is said to be ‘acceptable’. As a result of this dark and gritty
theme the superhero genre adopted characters like the Joker made their way to
be more violent and dark for young viewers which also resulted in the “age
certification” [20]
for such films to be 12 and over; way above the traditional superhero certification
rating. Moral panics are generated as a form of concern from audience members
as such characters may have an influence on their children similar to the way
the children who watched Chucky mimicked what they watched on an innocent
child- James Bulger. The fear of the media’s influence on people and families
has been under research since the 1950s, where there were anxieties about a ‘Televisions
influence on family life’ [21].
It was due to the outcry of society that lead to ‘the amendment of the Video
Recordings Act 1984’ [22]
which forced all media related content to receive age certifications before and
after release.
There have been many different portrayals of the Joker on
both the big screen and on TV, however none come close (not even Jack
Nicholson) to how Heath Ledger portrayed his Joker. The character subverts the
audiences expectations in a way no villain in superhero history has done till
date. The way in which the audience praise and side with the villain is
something very unusual and very unique. The twist of course, “is that this is a new breed of criminal (and not just
because he shoots his fellow thieves), one who dislocates himself from the
narratives sterilised notion evil that characterises the mobsters" [23]. What audience don’t know
is that there is more than just the portrayal audience enjoy, they enjoy the
characters mind-set and how he detaches himself from other characters. The
psychology of the Joker presented in the film gives off a horror feel to the
character and a very menacing character is presented before the audience. Scenes
where the Joker “tortures Rachel by talking about how he got his scars” [24] really brings out this
psychopathic approach to the character. The more the Joker speaks through-out
the text, the more the audience begin to feel a bit unease with the character
as if he is more than just a ‘typical’ villain. There is more than just
dialogue that comes in to play when an audience can feel influenced by a
characters on-screen actions, and one of the major things that had an impact on
the audience, was the mise-en-scene and camera presentation to capture these
horrific moments. “The Jokers make-up, his purple suit, and his absurdity can
still seduce the objectivity-minded guardians of good” [25] which all present him in a rather unusual and
comedic way, similar to his natural counter part of being a ‘funny’ character;
like in the comics. However these props and make-up seem to juxtapose the idea
of comedy and bring out a more scary and horror-like tone which give the
character more seriousness and creates intimidation towards the audience.
Furthermore, the shots used to capture the moments the Joker had on
screen also played a part in building this theme of dark humour, for example,
when Gambit is being tortured with having a knife in his mouth and the Joker
tells his story about how he gets his scars, the shots used were selected very
carefully. This scene used a lot of close-ups especially when the Joker was
intimidating Gimbal, the intention was to make the audience feel as if they
were the ones being intimidated, and Gimbal is essentially the audience in the
movie, whatever Gimbal was feeling and facial expressions, the audience felt
the same way. This effect in turn would create this sense of fear within the
audience. They feel as if they were interrogated by the character despite the
fact that they are just watching it passively. It shows how the pros and camera
shots used were carefully selected to bring forth a powerful, yet intimidating
scene out of every Joker appearance. One thing that the “Joker
makes clear in The Dark Knight is the success evil can enjoy when we naively
ignore the presence of evil" [26] which is true to a large
extent. Audience members are blinded by the shear horror that the character
holds and enjoys the scenes he is in, despite how evil his actions are. And finally, "The Dark Knight's cinematography and
mise-en-scene continually operate to slightly aspects of 9/11" [27] which
plays a key factor with every character within the films, especially the Joker.
‘The Dark Knight’ uses this ideology of post-9/11 through-out the film, and
uses characters to portray certain aspects of this. The scene where a hospital
is blown up by the Joker is very reminiscent of the twin towers explosion, and
the Joker is presented as the terrorist in the story. This links deeply in to
the narrative of the film where there is a link between the 9/11 event and how
this film tries to reinvigorate it as a core story element within this film.
The Joker playing the terrorist, he is the one who uses persuasion to get his
way, for example when he tries to brainwash Harvey Dent in the hospital. This
scene above all else was what really connected with the audience. This is when the
Joker justifies his actions by essentially manipulating and hallucinating the
viewers in to falling in to his trap of being an ‘honest guy’ a man who is not
like others, who wants people to show their inner-self. It really splits the
audience in two minds, whether to hate the Joker or agree with him, and this
can have affect with the way audience members view their real lives.
An example of another real life copy-cat crime that was influenced by
the Joker would be Christopher Clancy who allegedly committed arson by setting
fire to his school while having the Joker make-up applied to his face. His
reasoning for committing such a crime is similar to that of the Joker stating
that the school ‘is run by hypocrites’ [28] which is similar to the
ideological thinking the Joker had towards society when talking to Batman face
to face in the prison cell. Another act of this crime that mimicked the Jokers
on screen portrayal was that in the film the Joker is seen to be burning money,
which is evident when the young boy is burning his school. There are many more crimes
and influences that the character of Joker has had on audiences and it may not
be the end of Hollywood’s influential characters; like the Joker.
The
historical text chosen to compare against ‘The Dark Knight’ text would be the
1960’s Batman TV show starring ‘staring Adam West’ [29].
The reason why this is the perfect text to compare with ‘The Dark Knight’ is
because of the vast difference in time, of where these two texts have been
created as they both are based off of the original DC comic characters, but
presented in a much different way. What makes this text so different is that it
is built up of the ideologies and popular culture of the time period the shows
was created in- the 1960’s. During the “late 1940’s, censorship became a
prominent way of trying to stop certain information being consumed by the
public” [30],
and comic books were no exception. This in turn had a major impact on the 1966
TV show as censorship had to be a key role within this show. Batman was known
to be quite dark than its Marvel comic counterpart, that being more in line
with kids. Batman was a character more suited and relatable to adults than
children’s as the topics that the comics dealt with were real life situations
such as losing parents etc. Obviously, showing such crude content on TV
(especially during the 1960’s) would be deemed unforgivable and would create
major anger amongst society. Such censorship had forced publishers like DC
comics to tone down their content which resulted in the “disappearance of
horror and gritty books from the mainstream” [31].
So in turn, the 1966 Batman TV show captured the zeitgeist of that era, by
dealing with the issues of censorship at that time. Alongside “nostalgic
currents there was an emphasis on escapism in the post-9/11 American popular
culture. For instance, the ratings for the long-running New York-based sitcoms
Friends increased by 17 percent in the wake of the terrorist attacks” [32]
showing how people want a form of escapism who are not much interested in the
story, but just want a visual source to escape to.
What has made
this Batman (1966) so unique and interesting is the fact that there is such a
vast difference between the two time periods. This is largely to do with society’s
expectations and ideologies of such content at the time. This is because since
the since world war two was the major shock to the world and the world was in
the process of recovering, to read or watch any particular content that would
reinvigorate that sense of horror or stress would be deemed unfit for society. People
wanted a source of escapism, to watch content and forget about their real life
issues. Batman 1966 was one of many shows (at the time) that aimed to be ‘just
another’ TV show to act as a form of audience pleasure. The 1966 interpretation
of the Batman is camp and rather more comedic to fit in with society’s popular
culture and ideologies at the time. Furthermore, the way the Joker was
presented in the show is completely different to that of Ledger’s Joker. The
Joker (played by Cesar Romero [33])
too was more suited for the audience of that time period, acting more camp and
comedic rather than the intimidating Joker we know of the modern era. Furthermore,
the key theme that is played-out through all three seasons would be the sense
of comedy and campiness and the less serious approach that the show takes. It is
as if it deliberately is trying to be less about the story and more about the
visual entertainment that audience members can enjoy. It really shows the vast
difference in culture and audience mainstream between the two texts time
period.
What makes
these two texts so different from each other is the perception of the source; superheroes.
Since the birth of superheroes ‘stereotypes’ [34]
of this content has been largely associated with children, and was not until
there was major changes in audience expectations and change in society where
something largely associated with kids, will soon be an attraction for adults. This
shows how much audience demands and expectations have changed over time. The
norm and mainstream can be common for so little time, until it becomes something
hated upon rather than loved. This all changed when Tim Burton revived the
Batman and superhero genre as a whole by providing audience with a new and
unique twist on the genre by giving a more serious and gritty approach to the
character. And it wasn’t until Christopher Nolan took directing duties to
deliver the very best of what the real batman truly was. It is said that a film supervises “both their construction by the film maker,
and their reading by an audience” [35] which shows how the auteur [36] effect gives plays a major part when
telling a vast and immersive story like this where characters who are meant to
be hated- are actually loved and enjoyed defeating the entire purpose of a
villain; this actually goes against Propp’s theory of the role of the villain [37] as the
Joker doesn’t abode by his theory of a typical villain in narrative. This opened
doors to fans and non-superhero viewers for something more than just a kiddy
action-packed film. The typical demographic range for such content was between
the ages of 7+, whereas due to the sheer changes in this genre, it has opened
the age groups to a more adult range (15+). This is because this demographic
share a similar interest of dark humour and more serious tone movies which is
the approach the industry is taking this genre to. Then from that moment on, superhero films has
been dominating the box office with large amount of success and carry different
themes along with them, some with dark humour (Batman V Superman) and some more
humorous (Captain America Civil War). This links to the ‘psychographics’ [38]
that the films are appealing towards where the ‘new’ audience for superhero
movies has essentially shifted to a more serious tone and a sense of realism
which are beliefs and interests that this new audience share.
To conclude, although this investigation may not prove definitively
that audience members are affected by what they see, there is an extent to
where they feel influenced, or even emotionally connected to what they have
viewed and is something they will not forget. It surely shows that
"...Nolan's nightmarish version of the Joker persistently suggests his capacity
as an agent of chaos" [39] and this is implied both
on screen and off screen. The fact that the director can try and aim for a
specific take on a character can really create something innovative and iconic,
similar to the way that Joker was represented. There have been past encounters
with on screen violence being re-enacted off screen including other media
outlets such as video games, this was proven by ‘Gentile and Anderson’s’ [40] experiment (2006) that
video games (a form of media text) affected aggression and emotions within
children because such content is engaging and rewarding- and therefore show
that there is some degree of influence upon audience members.
Bibliography;
Works cited:
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A tweet
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Ledger’s
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Jared
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http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/39/pdfs/ukpga_19840039_en.pdf
Man
dressed as Batman to fight clown craze: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/12/man-dressed-as-batman-chases-killer-clowns-in-cumbria/
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Heath
Ledger death conspiracy: http://www.hindustantimes.com/hollywood/what-killed-heath-ledger-documentary-reveals-chilling-details/story-INYcak19qwQOeYeLuuwyGN.html
Joker
influences in real life- whatculture.com/comics/9-horrifying-real-crimes-inspired-joker
Print
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News-paper
article on IT (film remake) and its influence on the killer clown craze
influence: London Evening Standard (broadsheet) - Page 5
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R. (2015). Many more Lives of Batman. United Kingdom, Published by British Film
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M. (2004). Hollywood Abroad: Audiences and Cultural Exchange. United Kingdom,
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Jared Leto’s psychopathic off-screen
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Journals
Media Magazine regarding Dark Knight Trilogy (MM44)
Do fictional characters on screen have
an impact on audience members?- https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-mind-stage/201211/do-fictional-characters-affect-our-real-life
Kirsh Olczak (2002). https://www.geneseo.edu/~kirsh/vita/kirsh%20olczak.pdf
[1] Cain M, 2008, The Dark Knight
[2] Wharton W, 2013, MoviePilot
[3] Quinn L, 2016, Mail Online
[4] Rayner G, Telegraph
[5] Bandura A, 1976
[6] Rosenberg R, 2008, p. 135
[7] Heit, J, 2011, p. 177
[14] Pheasant F, 2013, p. 132
[16] Gitlin T, 2003
[17] Wright D, 1987, p.15-74
[18] London Evening Standard, Davenport J, 2016, p. 5
[21] Livingstone S, 2009, p.2,
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/36987/1/Half_a_century_of_television_in_the_lives_of_our_children_(LSERO).pdf
[22] Parliament, 1984, Chapter 39
[23] Heit J, 2011, p. 175
[24] Ledger H, 2008, The Dark Knight movie
[25] Heit J, 2011, p. 186
[26] ibid, p. 186
[27] Pheasant F, 2013, p. 132
[28] What Culture, 2014, whatculture.com/comics/9-horrifying-real-crimes-inspired-joker
[29] IMDB, 1966, Batman
[31] Ibid
[32] Russel S, 2002, pp 1-15
[33] IMDB, 1966, Batman
[35] Burke L, 2015, p. 30
[36] Santas C, 1992, p. 18
[37] Propp V, 1968, p. IX
[38] Senise J, 2007, issue 48
[39] Pheasant F, 2013, p.
132
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Tuesday 18 April 2017
Final Critical Investigation Draft
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