The Dark Knight

Whilst wanting to see the latest Batman film, I was dreading it.  How could Heath Ledger beat Jack Nicholson?  Why does Batman suddenly develop a silly voice when he puts on the Bat Mask?  What's with the Karate?  And the car!  I could go on.  However, there was one reason more than all the others, why I thought it was going to be terrible. 

That is, it got the unanimous praise for being "gritty and realistic".  Usually, that is the death knell for a movie.  It could mean one of two things.  First, it could be like with the new James Bond films which are "gritty, realistic" and just downright awful.  Take away anything interesting or "out of the ordinary" about the character; make the character an out-of-control but quite plain "hard man"; be a bit more graphic than normal; and make a convoluted or confusing plot that no-one understands. 

The second way to be "gritty or realistic" is the way of any good drama by the time its gets to its fourth series or so.  Like casualty, say.  Starts off with interesting self-contained stories but eventually (to be more realistic) start to focus on the characters.  We start to learn about their 'private lives', their troubles and the turbulent nature of their existence which has zilch to do with the present story.  In other words, it becomes a soap.  The main character can't do his job because he slept with his cat's second cousin-in-law and his son is playing truant.  I don't care.

Thankfully, however, I did enjoy the film.  The very reason I enjoyed the film was because it wasn't realistic in any shape or form.  It was utterly unbelievable, very comic book and you couldn't have any characters identical to those in the real world. 

It wasn't just entertainment though, as it's unrealism made it myth.  It's story-in-a-vacuum (thank G-d) and distinct characters unbogged down by the 'realities' of life (once again, thank G-d), meant you were projecting onto a blank canvas.  You only look at just the one element of reality and use this simplified model to ponder the ultimate thought experiments about our very own lives.  The film asked "What happens when a person's liberty is absolute, without any control or order restricting it?"  "Is it rational to choose to co-operate with a group who you don't trust to co-operate?" And many more.  Whilst the 'medium' is unrealistic (as with all myths), the questions are extremely relevant.  This is why, by the end, "The Dark Knight" could sound profound.

Of course, it's attempt at exploring such questions got things all wrong.  Never mind.