Batman Observations- Part 3

The final viewing of Batman offered few new observations. However, there were many elaborations of previous deductions.

1. Batman's sense of "the greater good" is greatly elaborated upon in the final hour of the movie. After the Joker escapes from Gotham's prison, he threatens to blow up a hospital if a specific individual is not killed within the hour. This forces the town into a state of panic. One of Gotham's police officers is in the vehicle with Commissioner Gordon as well as the targeted individual. Bruce Wayne pulls through the red light to save Gordon, the individual, and the officer from getting hurt. After this, in the climax of the movie, Batman has Joker at his finger tips. He could easily do away with him, but he can't because the good in him overpowers the small amounts of evil that conflict him.

2. Vengeance plays a large in the transition of Harvey Dent from Gotham's "White Knight", to "Two-Face". This also elaborates on the Joker's ability to manipulate. He manipulates Dent's mind in believing that Batman and Commissioner Gordon were somehow involved in the death of Rachel Dawes. This is the driving force in the movie's climatic ending.

3. Chance is introduced in this section of the movie, as well. Since the beginning of the Joker's reign, there has been a simple cause and effect relationship between the choices citizens of Gotham can make. Simply stated: if the citizens choose a certain way this will happen, but if they choose another way this will happen instead. Harvey Dent however, relies solely on chance. His father's lucky coin is his aid, and with this coin he almost takes the life of Batman as well as Commissioner Gordon's son. This variable in the post-modern villain "Two-Face" is quite an interesting variation of the typical villain.

4. The question of the Joker's sanity has been questioned since the beginning of the movie. He truly seems mad, yet his plans are clever, devious, and evil. His physical appearance leads us to plead insanity, but his mental capacity goes far beyond that. He explains himself when he converses with Harvey Dent in Gotham General Hospital. He claims that he is an "agent of chaos". He doesn't like to follow the rules, and therefore kills atypical victims in unprecedented ways. This "breaking of the rules" is what causes the chaos that Gotham is constantly experiencing.

5. The most ironic observation made in "The Dark Knight Rises" is that Gotham fervently believes that there is good to be found within the city. Whether it's due to Batman's imminent presence or simply the town's collectively subconscious idea, the idea is very clearly there. Sadly, we don't get to witness this extraordinary feat until the Joker's final game. His "social experiment", where there are two boats in the middle of the river. One is filled with innocent civilians, and the other is filled with criminals. Neither boat detonates a bomb, and thanks to Batman the Joker doesn't detonate the master switch either. This incident then raises the question, is "real-life" society this forgiving?

Batman Observations- Part 2

After a second viewing on "The Dark Knight" there a few more crucial observations.

1. The joker enjoys games. Along with his showy attitude he feels that his senseless killings are a game. After he is captured the Joker still makes a game of killing Rachel. He knows that Batman wants to save her, and therefore purposefully switches the addresses so that Batman's weakness is exterminated. Another step his extermination game is implanting a cellphone inside one of his minions. He then insists on having his one phone call which detonates a bomb inside the police force allowing him to escape.

2. Secondly, Batman has a large sense of the greater good. At one point in the movie he is faced with a dilemma. He can either pursue 100 members of the mob or capture the joker. He chooses to pursue the mob because it's the greatest good the greatest number of people. Sadly, this sense of greater good is clouded by person decision when he tries to save Rachel.

3. Another observation, or rather anticipation, is after Harvey is rescued from the burning building. Half of his face is burnt as well as his lucky coin. With a common knowledge of the Batman comics we know that he is to become two-face. At this point, the viewer doesn't know what Harvey is going to add to Gotham's crime scene.

4. The saddest observation is lost love. Rachel finally decides between Batman and Harvey and then is eliminated by the Joker. Batman and Harvey both lose love. This crucial turning point in this post-modern classic is apparent, in some form, in every post-modern adaptation which adds to the theory of the "troubled hero".

5. My final observation was simple manipulation. Part of the jokers aforementioned games is manipulating Batman, commissioner Gordon, and all the rest of his victims. This is apparent in the Rachel scene. His main goal is manipulate Batman's weakness. He also does this at an earlier point in the movie to get Batman to reveal his true identity.

Batman: The Dark Knight- Initial observations. Pt. 1

Today, after watching The Dark Knight, I made a few initial observations:

1. The character of the Joker is presented to the audience as a character who enjoys a show. The beginning scene in the film portrays that perfectly. Joker has his minions break into a bank, kill each other, and leave him with the cash. This unique way of carrying out his dastardly deeds repeats itself over and over, from the pencil trick to the iconic "why so serious" scene.

2. Ironically, the hero of our story is the complete opposite. While Joker makes a show of what he's done, Batman prefers to stay in the shadows of Gotham City. All of his heroic actions are done in the dar, like a bat.

3. Competition is a huge driving force in this installment in the batman series. First and foremost is the competition between Joker and Batman. They both compete to be one step ahead. Batman strives to catch the Joker, and the Joker strives to always keep Batman at arms length as if to taunt him with his actions. Secondly, the competition between Harvey Dent and Bruce Wayne is subtle at this point, but it is most definitely present. Bruce obviously loves Rachel, but sadly she had found solace on the arm of Harvey Dent.

4.Once again darkness is a main factor in setting the stage for The Dark Knight. As stated earlier, most of Batman's actions happen in the shadows. Also, the physical setting of Gotham city always seems dark. This in turn mentally manipulates the viewer into a mental state of depression. It always feels as if there is no hope for Gotham.

5. My final observation was how dependent Bruce Wayne, or rather Batman, is. His costumes come from Morgan Freeman's character Luscious Fox and Alfred takes care of "Master Bruce" medically. The original Batman character never seemed to age or experience pain. This crucial difference in the Post Modern hero is apparent in this adaptation.

Sherlock: A Study in Pink

Throughout the course of Sherlock's complexing case about 4 murdered individuals who are thought to have committed suicide, there are numerous symbols that symbolically add to the plot of this immensely suspenseful story! Five of these symbols, in my opinion, were much more important than others.

1). Cell Phones: One aspect of this adaptation of Sherlock Holmes that differs greatly from Arthur Conan Doyle's original is the use of cell phones and their technology. Throughout the movie however, these phones are a key factor on the road to justice. The dead woman's cell phone is also the key factor in solving the crime, because she left the phone with the cabby and scrawled the password to her GPS services on the ground. This up-to-date cell phone technology then leads Sherlock to the murderer, and ultimately wraps up the case. However, not all cell phone use in the movie is centered around the crime. Sherlock is an avid user of his text messaging, weather, and GPS capabilities. This allows him to access a wealth of knowledge with the touch of a button, and the flick of a finger.

2). War: War plays a tremendous part in Dr. Watson's subplot. As an injured war veteran, Watson believes he is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD). This is how we first meet the good doctor. He is sitting in a psychiatrist's office listening to "rubbish" about his mental stability and how much damage the war had on him. At this point, Watson has a distinct limp and hands that constantly tremble. We learn however, that the answer to his problems may not be PTSD but something simpler: he misses war. After Sherlocks profound deduction, Watson struggles with the validity of his statement. The viewer struggles as well with this new possibility. In the end, it's Watson who proves Sherlock to be completely true. When faced with the possibility of capturing the "killer" in the cab, Watson completely forgets his cane (and his limp) whilst on the battlefield. He also shoots the cabby with a very risky shot, which the medical examiner on scene claims was done with "a hand that did not shake".

3). Further education: This important setting from the end of the movie, has the greatest symbolic existence. After the cabby picks Sherlock up from his home at 221B Baker Street, he takes him to a further education facility in London. This setting winds up being a "play" on both character's motives for being in the cab. The cab driver plans to reveal to Sherlock what it is that he said to the 5 "suicidal" individuals to get them to poison themselves, therefore further educating Sherlock to the genius behind his plan.In turn, Sherlock plans to further his own, as well as the cabby's, education by trying to find the cabby out and put an end to his sick plan. However, it turns out to be a game in which Sherlock plans to win. After the cabby present the challenge of the two identical pills, Sherlock plans to show him how a real genius works. Both characters, in a sense, plan to further educate each other wether it's in the science of deduction or the thrill of murder.

4). Death: It almost seems humorous to include this motif, since "A Study in Pink" is a murder mystery. Therein lies the beauty; death is the driving force. Obviously, if there were no victims there would be no crime. Therefore, Sherlock would have no connection with these people at all. The death of the woman in pink is the 5th in a string of "serial suicides". These repetitive deaths set up the tone and backbone of the story before any real action ever begins. Therefore, death is the catalyst in the impending domino effect in this movie.

5). Light: Although the movie is based solely in London, it almost feels as though it's Forks, Washington from the "Twilight" series (gag). This is thanks to the ever-present clouds that cast a complete dreary feeling across London for the duration of the film. Thanks to this there is never any "true" light present. Due to this lack of light, the viewer automatically knows that this story isn't a happy one. Murder never is, dearie. It is also symbolically representative of Sherlock's stand-point throughout the case as a whole. He is always only one step behind, and therefore never fully exposed to the "light". Slightly enshadowed, if you will. This is where those clouds come in. Since most of them cover the sun, the whole city is then in shadows to symbolically reflect Sherlock's personal lack.

Here we go again!

Okay,


Major dilemma. Shall I explain? For Dr. Mason's english 2100 class, we were assigned the task of starting a "Blogfolio". With that being said, I started on a website called 'Posterous". If that name is short for preposterous they've hit the nail on the head. after starting and posting my initial blog, I decided to customize the blog. Easier said than done. No matter how hard I tried there was nothing that allowed me to fully customize my blog, and that's why I'm here!

Now, on with the show!