Would be curious your thoughts on Heath Ledger's Joker who doesn't fit in as nicely into the "neat" aesthetic and draws one more to the human body through the facial scars than other characters. I think that's maybe what makes that character so magnetic in the Dark
Good point! I think if I hadn't already been two weeks late to posting this essay I would've spent more time trying to unpack character along these same lines. Often, I think Christopher Nolan characters are rendered with the same level of minimalism as the set design, props, art direction, etc. with the glaring exception of the Joker. Two things there: first, I think credit for that aspect of the movie goes partially to Christopher Nolan but primarily goes to Heath Ledger. Sometimes that construction "Nolan's film" (which I've used liberally here) gets in the way of acknowledging what an actor brings to a movie (a topic I'm saving for another essay). So I don't think of the Joker as much a part of Nolan's creativity as Heath Ledger's. Second, the Joker is not an original Nolan character. And I think this is why he stands out so much! The traumatic backstory. The perverse sense of humor. The nurse outfit. The scars. Ledger's performance. All of it. He's a much more thrilling character than Bruce Wayne and I think that's why that film really stands out. Maybe Nolan's otherwise orderly aesthetic also creates some deep hunger for disruption that the Joker really satisfies. Magnetic is a good way to put it.
Would be curious your thoughts on Heath Ledger's Joker who doesn't fit in as nicely into the "neat" aesthetic and draws one more to the human body through the facial scars than other characters. I think that's maybe what makes that character so magnetic in the Dark
Knight!
Good point! I think if I hadn't already been two weeks late to posting this essay I would've spent more time trying to unpack character along these same lines. Often, I think Christopher Nolan characters are rendered with the same level of minimalism as the set design, props, art direction, etc. with the glaring exception of the Joker. Two things there: first, I think credit for that aspect of the movie goes partially to Christopher Nolan but primarily goes to Heath Ledger. Sometimes that construction "Nolan's film" (which I've used liberally here) gets in the way of acknowledging what an actor brings to a movie (a topic I'm saving for another essay). So I don't think of the Joker as much a part of Nolan's creativity as Heath Ledger's. Second, the Joker is not an original Nolan character. And I think this is why he stands out so much! The traumatic backstory. The perverse sense of humor. The nurse outfit. The scars. Ledger's performance. All of it. He's a much more thrilling character than Bruce Wayne and I think that's why that film really stands out. Maybe Nolan's otherwise orderly aesthetic also creates some deep hunger for disruption that the Joker really satisfies. Magnetic is a good way to put it.