Dark Knight: Gothic Theme

Gotham City: Jokers Wild
Twentieth century versions of the Gothicism have many characteristics of emptiness, threatening settings and dangerous creatures to a city, as exemplified in numerous films. The Dark Knight is a movie directed and co-written by Christopher Nolan. The character of Batman is a dark and empowering figure. He does not wear the colourful apparel of Superman and lacks the light-hearted sarcasm of Spiderman. Out of all of the original superheroes of the past, Batman is the only one that obtains all the right imagery, atmosphere, and settings to be believed as true Goth.   The movie is a dark and Gothic tale, with the title and Heath Ledger’s terrifying role as the Joker alluding to that.   Batman is once again forced to save the city of Gotham from the malicious Joker. The battle for Gotham City’s soul has been jeopardized by the Joker and his plan to destroy Batman.   The Joker evokes terror in the city through the depiction of physical and psychological violence. With his clown like make up, green hair and intimidating laugh, he obtains the ideal image of a gothic villain.
The Jokers demonstrates his controlling nature in the opening scene of the movie, as he instructs the bank robbers individually, to kill the last person before loading the truck.   The robbers all believed that they were given specific instructions by the Joker, but consequently they had entered a death trap.   The joker has no remorse or repentance for his actions as he kills anyone who interferes with his money.   An example is when the Joker is thought to be killed, and is thrown on top of the pool table.   He attacks the man who had put out a reward for his body, and holds a knife to his face and states:
Want to know how I got these scars? My father was a drinker and a fiend. And one night, he goes off crazier than usual. Mommy gets the kitchen knife to defend herself. He doesn’t like that. Not one bit. So, me watching, he takes the knife to her, laughing while he does it....