Batman and the Joker: Two Sides of a Coin Spoilers

On January 22, 2008, the list of nominations for the 81st Oscar Academy Awards was announced. What became the big news was that "Batman: The Dark Knight", the 2008 global box office champion, only got a few irrelevant nominations.

The judges, though, can take the film lightly, but not the Joker in the film. Heath Ledger, who played the role, was expected to be nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Analysts generally agreed that the award was for Heath Ledger.

There is no doubt that his performance in "Batman: The Dark Knight" is unparalleled, which is destined to be one of the most famous villains in film history.

On the same day of the release of the list of nominations, at the age of 29, he was found suddenly dead in a rented apartment in New York. That happened one month before the ceremony, on February 24, 2008.

In order to commemorate this genius, I wrote this article to analyze "The Dark Knight" movie.

I’ve heard such stories countless times in my life.

Two people love each other, but one keeps breaking through the bottom line of the other. The underlying logic of this person is: you say you love me, but I don't believe it. If you really love me, you will do whatever it costs.

This is also the core logic hidden in "Batman: The Dark Knight".

In Gotham City, where gangsters and drug dealers are rampant, Batman is constantly fighting criminals, and he has a well-known rule – no killing.

With the help of Batman, the District Attorney of Gotham City Harvey Dent, known as "The Knight of Light", tries to bring all these criminals to court. With irrefutable evidence, it seems that they are destined to stay in prison. Gotham seems to be able to restore peace and light.

At this moment, the Joker appears. He is insidious and cunning, who would go to any lengths. He leads the rest gangsters to kill at will, forcing Batman to take off his mask and reveal his identity.

However, this is only a superficial thread of the film. The real thread is that the Joker continues to stimulate Harvey Dent and Batman, hoping that they will kill him. Because in this way, the justice they believe in is just a superficial performance. The logic of the Joker is what really controls the world – “Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.”

Everyone thinks that his logic is correct and that the world operates according to the logic he believes. If the world is not like this, we will think that the real deep logic must be the logic we have mastered. To prove this, you only need to give others a "little push", and these people will fall into their own logic.

For example, a beautiful woman believes that men are only interested in her body and will not love her at all. Then, she'll use her body to seduce men, and she'll find that all she has to do is to give a "little push", and they'll turn into greedy lechers.

For example, a rich person believes that everyone is greedy. Then he would use his money to give countless people a "little push", and they will fall into his clutches.

Back to the Joker, he believes that everyone is evil, he just needs to give them a "little push", and they will become selfish.

In the film, the Joker's weapon is people's inner fear. He believes that everyone loves themselves. As long as you threaten their lives, they will give up their original bottom line and become demons.

When he tells the gang bosses that he can kill Batman, most of them are impressed. He just uses the power of fear. At this time, the gang bosses are cornered by Batman and Harvey Dent, so when the Joker offers this bait, the Gotham City underworld quickly turns to him.

Throughout the film, the Joker often uses the weakness of human nature to give multiple-choice questions. There are three multiple-choice questions that impressed me.

The first one is for the underworld. A gang boss hates him and issues a hunting order, but he is killed by the Joker. Then, the Joker throws a stick to each of the two surviving underworld minions, saying that only one of them can survive, so they should kill each other. In this way, he easily breaks through the bottom line of the gang.

After all, the bottom line of them is not very reliable. What the Joker really wants to prove is that the bottom line of a good person is also easy to be broken.

After gaining the support of the gang, the Joker makes simultaneous death threats to Harvey Dent, the commissioner of the Gotham City Police Department, and the female judge who is about to try the gang bosses. He kills both the judge and the commissioner at the same time.

However, it’s not that easy to kill Harvey Dent because his fiancée Rachel is Batman's ex-girlfriend. Batman is Harvey Dent's idol, and Harvey Dent is Batman's savior.

Two men are in love with the same woman, which usually means that the two men are either very similar or different. So, what are the similarities and differences between Batman and Harvey Dent?

Harvey Dent is Bruce Wayne's rival in love, but Wayne is still moved by his determination to protect Gotham. He wants to use his wealth to help him and make the citizens of Gotham completely “believe in Harvey Dent” (that's Harvey Dent's campaign slogan).

Of course, this selflessness hides a great deal of selfishness. Bruce Wayne still loves Rachel, and Rachel just wants to live a peaceful life with Bruce Wayne instead of marry "Batman".

Therefore, "The Dark Knight" wants to hand over the burden of saving Gotham City to "The Light Knight", so that he can live a happy life with his beloved.

Women often do things like this: they fall in love with a hero, but say to the hero “I will marry you only if you become an ordinary person”. However, is this true?

Harvey Dent has always been safe because of Batman's protection, but others have not been so lucky. The mayor of Gotham City is nearly killed, which continues to stimulate the fragile souls of Gotham people.

Ultimately, Batman decides to give in to the Joker's demands. The Joker says that as soon as Batman turns himself in, he will stop killing.

People are easy to be alienated, and they all call for Batman to show up. Harvey Dent asks them: "Are you really going to sacrifice this hero, who has always protected you?" They reply: "Yes".

At this point, Harvey Dent says: "I’m the Batman".

At this moment, Rachel feels hateful about Bruce Wayne, and decides to marry Harvey Dent. However, who on earth does she want to marry?

Obviously, she decides to marry the most heroic person.

Later, Harvey Dent will be sent to prison, and the Joker is planning to kill him on the way. Naturally, "The Dark Knight" will come to protect "The Light Knight". After a fierce fight, Batman hits the Joker with a high-tech motorcycle.

The clown doesn't dodge, but grins to everyone: "Hit me!"

At first, I'm puzzled by this plot, but then I understand that he is trying to break through his "no killing" bottom line.

"Only I am correct" is such a powerful feeling that the Joker would rather die to "defend" this feeling.

Batman soon understands what he thinks. In the nick of time, he dodges, and finally the Joker gets arrested.

Unexpectedly, the arrest is also a well-designed trap of him. He knows that Gordon will put him in a special cell, where a special person, who held all the money of the gang, exists.

But Batman and the police don't know the trick until his subordinates take Harvey Dent and Rachel.

In prison, the Joker gives Batman the second multiple-choice question in the film: “You can only save one, who will you save, Harvey Dent or Rachel?”

Batman chooses to save Rachel, which just falls into the Joker's trap. He deliberately gives a wrong place. It is actually Harvey Dent, instead of Rachel, who is locked up in the place that the Joker tells him. So, Batman saves Harvey Dent, but Rachel dies in the fire.

For that situation, Bruce Wayne reflects that he has made an "incorrect decision" and finally knows "what Batman can't do". This time, it also seems to have verified the logic of the Joker, "Why do we fall? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up?"

It's not just "what Batman can't do", it's also why all the good guys in the film change. The Joker's subordinates force their relatives to achieve his goal. That’s why the Joker is able to create a series of incidents, such as killing the judge and poisoning the commissioner.

In the climax, he threatens the entire city to make a choice: join him or else leave the city. And the last escape group take two boats. Here comes the third question of Joker: Only one group will survive, on the condition that the other boat must be detonated before 12 o'clock.

People once choose to abandon Batman; will they still choose to abandon others?

As a result, the Joker fails. They all decide not to kill others.

In Christian legend, Satan, the Devil, defeats others by capturing human souls. The Joker uses the same logic, and he has no interest in money at all. However, what he is really interested is imposing his logic for others.

In my opinion, this is also the desire of all criminals. They are not interested in money and power, instead, they want influence.

At this point, gangsters and heroes are often two sides of the same coin. What they really want is influence, not "absolutely right things" such as justice and fairness.

Harvey Dent is an example. After Rachel's death, Harvey Dent is in despair. Abandoning his "fanatical pursuit of justice", he becomes a total opportunist. He tortures everyone involved in Rachel's death, and flips a coin to decide whether he or she can survive.

It may seem heart-wrenching that "The Knight of Light" becomes evil, but it's not a coincidence. His "fanatical pursuit of justice" is only one side, and the other side has long existed. The Joker's logic can also be applied to him.

It can be said that Harvey Dent is pursuing influence by pursuing light. He becomes an icon of Gotham's citizens through his "fanatical pursuit of justice". In the end, he also gains Rachel's love by taking the blame for Batman.

However, when Rachel dies, his logic of survival is suddenly collapsed.

From this point of view, he has a lot in common with Batman, but is fundamentally different.

The difference is that Batman is not interested in influence, he is after justice. At the end of the film, he is willing to take the blame for Harvey Dent, even people think he has broken the rule of "no killing". This is a real hero.

It's not the form that matters, it's the soul, which is what the Joker and Batman have in common.

While Joker says he's an "agent of chaos", the world he wants to create is still orderly.

He wants people to become fearful, hoping that people would succumb to this violence as he had by his father. But in his mind, he is afraid that it really happens. So, when someone really wants to reveal Batman's identity, he orders his subordinates to chase and kill him.

In my opinion, even if Batman really lose his power, he will give up. Or, he'll kill this Batman and go find another one to play his game.

If there is only one Batman in this world, he would be reluctant to kill him.

It's what the “little boy”, who has been tortured by his father, really wants to speak out.