“Holy Moly Batman! It’s the Joker!”, who can’t forget the sheer cheesiness of the 1960s and Adam West’s Batman television show? Nowadays it’s laughed at, but back then it was immensely popular and was considered a huge success and a big deal. It’s hard to imagine Robin saying that line a more modern Batman film, but alas times change. Yet Batman is still just as popular as ever.
So as you know this month I’m focusing my blogs around DC Films, and the last blog was dedicated to the gritty film-noir superhero flick, Watchmen.
This blog is another new series of blogs focusing on Heroes & Villains in film franchises, and what a better way to start off than with the classic rivalry between Batman and the Joker? Their feud on the big screen has been ongoing to this very day. So let’s take a look at how they’re portrayed.
Nanna-nanna-nanna-nanna … BATMAN! Yes, I just did another cheesy throwback with the iconic theme to the Adam West show. Timelessness is a common quality when looking at Batman. When looking at his common book origins he was a symbol of fear, but with a gothic quality of rogues after him such as Scarecrow and the Riddler. The next film, titled The Batman, is going to focus more on his origins with a detective feel to the story and to the character. This will be a departure from the brooding Batman performance that both Ben Affleck and Christian Bale gave to the character.
It was Tim Burton who pushed Michael Keaton’s Batman and Jack Nicholson’s Joker together on the big screen for the first time. Joker stands for chaos and Batman for order and justice. The clash of ideals is what makes their fights memorable, you root for them both despite both of their agenda’s.
Then in the 2008 film, The Dark Knight, that is more iconic with Heath Ledger’s oscar-winning performance as Joker that sold the pure instability of the character. He was like a dog let off the leash, in his words no doubt too. This was a superhero cinema at its peak.
Recently, in 2019, we had Joaquin Phoenix playing the role of Joker in a standalone character-driven film. This was the first time we saw Joker as a human and not a caricature, and Phoenix’s performance helped to sell the emotional journey of a man becoming a villain. Joker is at the end of the day a villain, but with no motives. This is where the Suicide Squad failed in attempting to make the Joker more of a gangster, and with a love interest. Harley Quinn and the Joker in the comics feel one and the same, but Suicide Squad made it feel like the opposite. But luckily the legacy of the Joker is in good hands thanks again to Joaquin Phoenix.
In ten years' time there will probably be another chance to see Batman and the Joker fight again on the big screen again, and it will have high expectations after the brilliance of The Dark Knight. But the age-old battle between order and chaos will always be there, in the form of the Clown Prince of Crime and the Dark Knight of Gotham.
Thanks for reading today's blog!
Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions
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