Brokeback Mountain: Our Community's Common Bond > Heath Ledger Remembrance Forum
The Dark Knight: News, Reviews, your Views. "SPOILERS" welcome!
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: Elle on July 28, 2008, 10:26:58 am ---I went to K Mart yesterday (a large chain that sells everything from toys to clothes to shampoo), and the plastic bag the cashier put my stuff in had Batman/Dark Knight imagery on it.
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That's neat (FWIW, this seems to be exactly the kind of movie that will have tons of silly promotional stuff associated with it). What kind of imagery was it?
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on July 28, 2008, 09:28:50 am ---Here's a little Batman 101. There's lots more, including the "Is Batman gay?" discussion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman
Batman (originally referred to as the Bat-Man and still referred to at times as the Batman) is a fictional comic book superhero co-created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger (although only Kane receives official credit) and published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May 1939).[1] Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, a multi-billionaire industrialist, playboy, and philanthropist. Witnessing the murder of his parents as a child leads him to train himself to physical and intellectual perfection and don a bat-themed costume in order to fight crime. Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City, assisted by various supporting characters including his sidekick Robin and his butler Alfred Pennyworth, and fights an assortment of villains influenced by the characters' roots in film and pulp magazines. Unlike most superheroes, he does not possess any superpowers; he makes use of intellect, detective skills, science and technology, wealth, physical prowess, and torture in his war on crime.
Batman became a popular character soon after his introduction, and eventually gained his own title, Batman. As the decades wore on, differing takes on the character emerged. The late 1960s Batman television series utilized a camp aesthetic associated with the character for years after the show ended. Various creators worked to return the character to his dark roots, culminating in the 1986 miniseries Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, by writer-artist Frank Miller. The successes of director Tim Burton's 1989 Batman motion picture and Christopher Nolan's films Batman Begins and The Dark Knight also helped to reignite popular interest in the character. A cultural icon, Batman has been licensed and adapted into a variety of media, from radio to television and film, and appears on a variety of merchandise sold all over the world.
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Ah ha! Thanks Leslie!!! This answers one of my big questions about whether or not Batman has superpowers. It's also interesting to learn that the nickname "the Dark Knight" has much longer roots associated with Batman than just this movie.
I wonder when the Joker was first introduced as one of Batmans villains given the very long history of Batman?
MaineWriter:
More Batman 101
The Joker is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, the character first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). The archenemy of the superhero Batman, the Joker is a master criminal whose characterization has varied from a violent and murderous sociopath, causing chaos and committing crimes for his own amusement, to a goofy and virtually harmless trickster-thief. Wizard magazine rated Joker as the greatest villain of all time.[2] The Joker's real identity is unknown, and there have been different takes on his origin; the most common variation depicts him as falling into a vat of chemicals which bleach his skin, turn his hair green and his lips bright red, giving him the appearance of a clown.
The character has appeared in numerous Batman related media; portrayed by Cesar Romero in the 1960s Batman television series; Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman (Nicholson's version of the Joker ranks #45 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 film villains); voice actor Mark Hamill in the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series television series; and Heath Ledger in the 2008 Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.
His first appearance:
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(comics)
Brown Eyes:
--- Quote from: MaineWriter on July 28, 2008, 10:48:20 am ---More Batman 101
The Joker is a fictional character that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson, the character first appeared in Batman #1 (Spring 1940). The archenemy of the superhero Batman, the Joker is a master criminal whose characterization has varied from a violent and murderous sociopath, causing chaos and committing crimes for his own amusement, to a goofy and virtually harmless trickster-thief. Wizard magazine rated Joker as the greatest villain of all time.[2] The Joker's real identity is unknown, and there have been different takes on his origin; the most common variation depicts him as falling into a vat of chemicals which bleach his skin, turn his hair green and his lips bright red, giving him the appearance of a clown.
The character has appeared in numerous Batman related media; portrayed by Cesar Romero in the 1960s Batman television series; Jack Nicholson in the 1989 film Batman (Nicholson's version of the Joker ranks #45 in the American Film Institute's list of the top 50 film villains); voice actor Mark Hamill in the 1990s Batman: The Animated Series television series; and Heath Ledger in the 2008 Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight.
His first appearance:
More here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joker_(comics)
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;D Thanks again Leslie!! :-*
I'm feeling a strong urge to re-watch the Jack Nicholson Joker movie. It would be really interesting to see that again with TDK in mind. I remember I really liked the Nicholson movie, but at this point I recall very little about the specifics of that movie.
optom3:
--- Quote from: atz75 on July 28, 2008, 10:54:04 am --- ;D Thanks again Leslie!! :-*
I'm feeling a strong urge to re-watch the Jack Nicholson Joker movie. It would be really interesting to see that again with TDK in mind. I remember I really liked the Nicholson movie, but at this point I recall very little about the specifics of that movie.
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That is funny you should mention the Jack Nicholson joker. My whole family sat down to watch it last night.There is no comparison, IMO. The Jack version almost seems like a parody.I thought it was just my well known Heath bias, but no, all the family agreed. Much to my surprise my daughter went to seeTDK with a friend over the weekend. Iwould never have agreed but I did not know. Anyway she was not remotely scared, in fact she now wants to go to Tampa an hours drive away to see it on IMAX, she just loved it.
When we were watching the Jack version she went to her room half way through, having called it "lame" !!!! Both sons gave it the thumbs down.In fact it did me a big favour as they now can partly understand my Heath fixation.They were blown away by his joker. My oldest has watched Candy, but neither of the other 2, he loved that as well, and just said what a waste.
Brown Eyes:
Yes, I suspect that there really are huge differences (based on what I recall from the Nicholson version)... especially the overall style of the movie. As we see from some of Leslie's reporting... the Joker is sometimes portrayed in a goofy/ campy way and sometimes very sinister. In the Nicholson version it's clear the campy version is what they were after.
Having seen TDK twice now, I really do think there are moments when Heath is taking some vocal cues from Nicholson. Not necessarily specifically Nicholson's Joker... but Nicholson's general sort of raspy-airy way of speaking. And, even some of the sing-songiness of Nicholson's typical speech pattern comes through in Heath's Joker's voice I think. The way Heath does it, the voice comes out sounding very innovative... but I really do think he was probably occasionally making a little hommage to Nicholson (since I gather Heath really respected Nicholson anyway).
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