Dark Knight Analysis
Taylor Cave
1/18/08
Professor Rich
Film Analysis
The Darkness Piercing the Knight:
A Critical Analysis of The Dark Knight
In the 2008 film, The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent with an exasperated look on his face, sits up in his chair at dinner and speaks the words that help define not only his character but those of Batman and the Joker as well. “You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.” These words portray the inevitable corruptibility of heroes in the Batman universe, that the triumph of good over evil has numerous complications that are not always solved. The film shows in several roles how people are so easily corrupted that even an initial desire to do good can ultimately lead to evil.
The presence of corruption is essential not only for the villains in The Dark Knight, but for the heroes and citizens as well. What do people do when they are put in the worst of situations? Human nature is tested all throughout the movie. Probably the most obvious role of corruption would be the rise and dramatic fall of Harvey Dent. In the beginning of the movie Dent represents absolute good. A good that is so pure, that has so much potential to change Gotham, that even Batman is thinking of hanging up his mask. Throughout the film, Dent is referred to as the “White Knight,” of the city, a public figure who begins putting crime lords and mobsters behind bars. Yet, for all the work Dent accomplishes he is pushed over the line by the Joker and is transformed into Harvey Two Face. The Joker’s ability to destroy that which Dent loves and turn him to the evil that he becomes is sad in a way that can only be experienced by seeing the film. The apparent relative ease with which Joker does this is what makes the Dent storyline strike so close to home, another reason why I found this film so intriguing, especially for being dubbed as just another superhero film. The Dark Knight reflects that we, as humans are limited, and that our capacity...
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