The Joker-Christopher Nolan's Mastermind Villain
The Evolution of Evil in The Dark Knight Director's Movies
Aug 9, 2008
Writer-director Christopher Nolan seems fascinated with questions about ethics and the problem of evil in his movies. He often presents a strong, (almost) invincible villain, demonstrating the difficulties of fighting evil in the modern world and accentuating and underlining the shadier parts of human nature.
Playing with Fire in “Following”
In the movie “Following” (1998), a would-be young writer (Jeremy Theobald) decides to follow and shadow random people on the streets. During one of these encounters he meets Cobb (Alex Haw) who appears to be a con-artist, but turns out to be more of a mastermind thief and murderer. What the writer does not realize that he will be used as a pawn in an evil scheme of life and death.
The most striking element about the movie is how the adversary Cobb manages to manipulate other people in a cold-hearted and brilliant manner and how he sets traps for the writer. In the end, evil prevails; the writer finds himself at a loss because all the evidence planted against him becomes irrefutable and he is guilty under eyes of the law.
Chasing an Intelligent Killer in "Insomnia"
In "Insomnia" (2002) we have another clash between good and evil, where Detective Will Dormer (Al Pacino) is trying to hunt down an author of fictional crime novels and killer Walter Finch (Robin Williams) in the Alaskan landscapes. The killer actually engages in a cat and mouse game with the detective and is very astute.
It does turn out that the lines drawn between good and evil are rather blurry since the detective himself has made some questionable choices in the past. At one point of his career he had engaged in framing a murderer to get him arraigned. This act is reminiscent of the Machiavellian steps Batman undertakes to catch the Joker.
Two Almost Equally-Matched Obsessed Magicians in "The Prestige"
In the movie "The Prestige" (2006), we encounter two hardwired characters, played by Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, who constantly scheme against each other. In this case both of them are equally clever and set each other traps. It is less about good versus evil as we find two obsessed magicians who get caught up in a brutal, bloody and escalating game of revenge.
The Joker as Culminating Point of Previous Villains in “The Dark Knight”
The Joker (Heath Ledger) in "The Dark Knight" (2008) shares many characteristics with each of his evil precursors. Primarily, he becomes the driving force who plays games with Batman (Christian Bale), as did both Cobb and Finch. At times the crime-fighting superhero actually resembles the perplexed writer in "Following" since the Joker has his way with Batman and often comes out victorious.
Both the Joker and Batman are strongly opposed to each other, the same way the two magicians keep battling each other in "The Prestige". Each of them is extremely capable, and Batman uses his skills and strengths, whereas the Joker is the more inventive and craftier.
The Joker’s defeat is not due to a lack of abilities, but because of misjudgment. His only miscalculation lies in underestimating humanity; although he was right when it came to Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) managing to turn him into an evil companion, it did not work with the rest of humanity as can be evidenced in the scene of the ferry. The Joker strongly believed that the ordinary people would decide to kill the convicts on the other ferry based on their feelings of superiority and utility.
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