Specialist Contexual

Within this blog, I’ll be looking at scenes from the trilogy which I can dissect and look into how it represents the theme that I believe to be obvious throughout the films. Order vs chaos.

BATMAN BEGINS:

For Batman Begins, the theme is ever so slightly different. This is almost order vs too much order which ultimately leads to chaos. I think the best scene though however which represents the theme of order v chaos is towards the end of the film where the panic toxin has been set loose on Gotham city. Here the people of Gotham are under the influence and are hallucinating, they see Batman as a monster, a demon figure almost.   

This is telling us that when people are in chaos, our mind and interpretation of things aren’t accurate. This is the same way that the people of Gotham see Scarecrow, however, his appearance doesn’t different too much from his natural state as he is already a monster, without the toxin. 

This tells us, the viewer, that the only thing from keeping Batman, and Bruce from becoming a monster is himself. Not allowing all of the chaos and anger than he has experienced during his life to take over and consume him. Bruce has allowed becoming Batman to restore and keep order in his life, in contrast to the start of the film were he was understandably lost and void of hope. Batman has given Bruce order in his life. He is the order that Gotham needs to defeat chaos. Bruce has overcome his fear, Bruce has become his fear, to maintain order.

THE DARK KNIGHT: 

In this film, the theme of order vs chaos is when its at its most obvious. Batman, Gotham’s watchful protecter, keeping order in Gotham without allowing himself to be corrupted. A complete contrast to the Joker. Someone who has nothing to loose, nothing to have held against him, “an agent of chaos.” One of the most famous scenes within The Dark Knight is the interrogation scene between both Batman and Joker. With this scene its not exactly what you see, but its the understanding we get from the two characters.

What I take from this scene is that Joker takes Batman to his complete limit. Joker wants to corrupt Batman proving that they aren’t so different. Batman cannot kill, Batman won’t kill. Joker knows that Batman won’t kill him so he continues to take him as far away from order as he can. On the flip side of this though, Joker doesn’t want to kill Batman, simply because he’s just too ‘fun’. Joker wants to prove that everyone can fall victim to chaos saying “when the chips are down, these civilised people, they’ll eat each other” what he’s saying is that no matter how good people think they are, everyone is susceptible to chaos. You also getting the understanding that Joker doesn’t think he’s as bad as everyone thinks he his. To him this is all just a game in which he’s trying to prove that everyone is just like him. When Batman grabs Joker, the camera switches to Gordan at which point he says “he’s in control.” And he might be right, until Joker mentions Rachael. At this point Batman looses control, consistently punching and yelling at Joker, loosing order and creating chaos. Joker at this point just starts to laugh, “you have nothing, nothing to threaten me with, nothing to do with all your strength” Joker knows Batman won’t kill him, that he can’t kill him. However, Batman could let chaos overtake him here, Joker has threatened Gotham’s best chance for a bright future in Harvey Dent, along with what Bruce saw as his best hope for happiness and order in Rachael. He doesn’t, yes he beats The Joker with every inch of his anger, but his code is still intact, he still has order in terms of his aggression, but he feels as if he’s loosing order of his life with Rachael’s life under threat. This is why through the history of Batman comics and films, The Joker is the perfect villain for Batman because, their polar opposites but at the same time, so similar.

THE DARK KNIGHT RISES:

The best example of chaos vs order in The Dark Knight Rises is the final battle between the police & mercenaries, Bane & Batman. This is a direct fight between good and evil.With this scene, its not so much about whats said or what you can see, like with Batman Begins & The Dark Knight. This scene is just a classic representation of evil vs good, or in this case, chaos vs order. One thing I can see from this scene, if you look beyond Bane and Batman, you see the officers fighting the mercenaries. This shows that in order to beat chaos, you have to exact chaos. The fighting also hints at desperation from both sides as they both fight for what believe to be order. Bane believes that Gotham needs to be destroyed and Batman is Gotham’s protector.