by Paolo Braga
BOY
Batman! Batman! Why’s he running,
Dad?
← 212 | 213 → GORDON
Because we have to chase him.
BOY
He didn’t do anything wrong.
GORDON
Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves,
but not the one it needs
right now. So we’ll hunt him… because
he can take it. Because he’s
not a hero. He’s a silent guardian.
A watchful protector.
(a beat)
A dark knight.
As the title of the film is said, the screen goes black and the credits roll.
Gordon’s lines create a surprising contrast filled with subtext. Batman flees, not because he is being chased, but because he wants them to start chasing him. He wants to look guilty. The goodness of many citizens would be rewarded to know that Batman were innocent (the hero that Gotham deserves), but it wouldn’t help them. Finding out that Dent had become evil would have been far worse. Batman is not a hero in the sense that he does not represent a role model for the people, even if he does personify the most radical sense of heroism (in the sense that he decides to suffer so that others do not have to).
After a series of well-established frames have been completely reversed, there is one, last reversal, that of the most important frame, that creates the greatest amount of effect.
The audience finds out that the key metaphor of the film, an overt idea mentioned for the first time, perfectly corresponds to the image on the screen. What is seen on the screen gives greatly unexpected and authentic significance to the metaphor – the image of the dark knight, the title of the film.
The events throughout the entire story led the audience to associate the image of the dark knight to many different things, such as the fear ← 213 | 214 → that Batman instills in criminals by acting on the limits of the law. Before the end of the film, the metaphor led us to think of the protagonist as a hero who had turned wicked, who had lost his sense of balance and now acts outside the law to strike the adversary. These associations are, in fact, intrinsic to the original inspiration of Batman’s character and his saga. Now, however, with Batman fleeing to make the police hunt him down, the word “dark” no longer gives the connotation of fear, threat or a clandestine underground power. It now suggests unknown sacrifice.
After the twist in which the protagonist takes the blame for someone else’s crimes, the use of this information to reveal the unexpected meaning of the title of the film is yet another twist. It is another surprise that reaffirms the moral message already expressed by Batman’s crucial decision, making it even more incisive.
At the same time, the film ends. The audience is amazed at the burden the protagonist has taken on and is left with intense emotions, with the acute sensation that their hero was touched by the story in the essence of the character.
The immediate end gives the audience the time to digest this new idea of the superhero. The desire to know what will happen to Batman through this transformation is mixed with the audience’s impulse to think back to the story just seen and to appreciate how such a radical change was developed.
_______
54The notion of abduction, due to Charles Sanders Pearce theory of signs, is key in pragmatics. On this specific topic cfr. Armando Fumagalli, Il reale nel linguaggio. Indicalità e realismo nella semiotica di Peirce, Vita e Pensiero, Milano 1995.
55The frequent problems of exposition and screenplay solutions are mentioned by McKee, Story, cit., pp. 334-345 and Blake Snyder, Save the Cat, Michael Wiese Productions, Studio City 2005, pp. 123-125 and 128-130.
56For further analyses on screenwriting methods of TV series, focused on American productions, see Paolo Braga, ER: sceneggiatura e personaggi. Analisi della serie che ha cambiato la TV, FrancoAngeli, Milano 2008. See also Luisa Cotta Ramosino, Distretto di polizia. Dalla serialità americana a quella italiana. Storia e analisi di un genere e di una serie di successo, Dino Audino, Roma 2010 and Paolo Braga, Armando Fumagalli, “La malinconia del multistrand”, in Link, special monographic issue Focus 2007, pp. 195-200.
57The idea that the best result is obtained when each member of a group does what is best for himself and the group (the idea that the five friends can achieve the maximum level of utility possible only if they don’t get in each other’s way), was, before being associated with the Nash equilibrium, first related to a solution called “Pareto efficiency”, named after the Italian economist who theorized the idea (the most rational solution from a collective point of view in a way that resources are not exhausted. Efficiency is the result for which the allocation of resources – the girls in the courtship example – cannot be modified to the benefit of one player without making another worse off – the young men left without the blonde). Pareto efficiency, thus, as is the case in the scene in question, constitutes a Nash equilibrium (if one young man should choose to leave the brunette and go for the blonde, it would lead the other young men to behave in the same way, with the complications Nash indicated). The main question still remains unanswered. In the end, who does the blonde go with? Like Martin poignantly points out, Nash, suggesting that all the others go for the brunettes, will hit on the only one who is left, the blonde. The result would still be a Pareto efficiency and a Nash equilibrium (none of the young men would be alone, each of them would reach their objective all the same, if this is the only way that no one is left disappointed. The only difference is, the efficiency and equilibrium would be more advantageous for one of the players. For a better understanding of these mathematical considerations within the scene, see Li Calzi Marco, Un eponimo ricorrente: Nash e la teoria dei giochi, in Mirella Manaresi (ed.), Matematica e cultura in Europa, Springer-Verlag Italia, Milan 2005, pp. 189-206. Anyway, it doesn’t matter as much if the audience really understands the specialized material in the story as much as it thinks it has. The film gives a lesson on human nature, not something technical.
58Cfr. especially Truby, The Anatomy of Story, cit., chapter 5, and pp. 391-406. Conflict is used even when the theme is developed through a speech – speaking in great length about something in order to motivate a group. In these cases, the contrasting theory – the countertheme – is usually incorporated into the words of the speaker as a warning or a threatening risk in order to shock the audience. Some examples are found in the memorable speeches of the characters interpreted by Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday and in Scent of a Woman.
59Many of the considerations made in Chapter Two on subtext are quite relevant to this matter.
60All screenplay handbooks agree on the importance of “image systems” (McKee’s expression) or “symbol web” (coined by John Truby): visible, scenic elements with given symbolic meaning inside the film (plausible elements representative of the outside world and that make things more realistic) that echo the theme.
61Truby writes especially about taglines and key words in The Anatomy of Story, cit., pp. 376-381.
62The thematic line, that excludes revenge, is contradicted by Batman’s action. In fact, Batman leaves the antagonist on the train, consequently, killing him. This inconsistency was probably due to a production need of continuing the saga with a different bad guy and someone else to play the new role.
63Throughout the film, Mann encapsulates the idea of the wild, animalistic quality of the subway in the symbolic image of three coyotes walking right out in front of the cab, forcing it to stop. It is an intense moment. Time is briefly suspended and it is obvious that Max and Vince especially are forced to think of their own solitude in their fight for survival as they stare at the animals.
64In addition to the metaphor of the “Black Knight”, Dent’s face is another important metaphor in the film. In fact, Dent’s face represents a positive image of himself, of someone who helps others to hope. At the end of the story, instead, Dent’s half-figured face stresses how the defender of justice can no longer be a reference point for moralit
y.
← 214 | 215 →
Filmography
Any Given Sunday, directed by Oliver Stone, written by Oliver Stone and John Logan, USA 1999.
Batman Begins, directed by Christopher Nolan, written by David S. Goyer, USA 2005.
A Beautiful Mind, directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, USA 2001.
The Best of Youth (orig. title La meglio gioventù), directed by Marco Tullio Giordana, written by Stefano Rulli and Sandro Petraglia, Italy 2003.
Casino Royale, directed by Martin Campbell, written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Paul Haggis, USA/Czech Republic/UK/Bahamas 2006.
A Chorus Line, directed by Richard Attenborough, written by Arnold Schulman, USA 1985.
Collateral, directed by Michael Mann, written by Stuart Beattie, USA 2004.
Crash, directed by Paul Haggis, written by Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco, USA 2004.
The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan, written by Christopher and Jonathan Nolan, USA 2008.
The Devil Wears Prada, directed by David Frankel, written by Aline Brosh McKenna, USA 2006.
Drive, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn, written by Hossein Amini, USA 2011.
ER, created by Michael Chricton and John Wells, USA 1994-2009.
Erin Brockovich, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Susannah Grant, USA 2000.
A Few Good Men, directed by Rob Reiner, written by Aaron Sorkin, USA 1992.
← 215 | 216 → Finding Nemo, directed by Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich, written by Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson and David Reynolds, USA 2003.
Forrest Gump, directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Eric Roth, USA 1994.
Frost/Nixon, directed by Ron Howard, written by Peter Morgan, USA 2008.
Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, written by David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson, USA 2000.
The Godfather, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo, USA 1972.
House M.D., created by David Shore, USA 2004-2012.
The Insider, directed by Michael Mann, written by Eric Roth, USA 1999.
John Adams, directed by Tom Hooper, written by Kirk Ellis, USA 2008.
The Kennedys, written and directed by Joel Surnow and Stephen Kronish, USA/Canada 2011.
The King’s Speech, directed by Tom Hooper, written by David Seidler, United Kingdom 2010.
Kramer vs. Kramer, written and directed by Robert Benton, USA 1979.
Lethal Weapon, directed by Richard Donner, written by Shane Black, USA 1987.
Life is Beautiful, directed by Roberto Benigni, written by Roberto Benigni and Vincenzo Cerami, Italy 1997.
Little Miss Sunshine, directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, written by Michael Arndt, USA 2006.
The Lives of Others (orig. title Das Leben der Anderen), written and directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, Germany 2006.
Miami Vice, directed by Mann, written by Michael Mann and Anthony Yerkovitch, USA 2006
Moneyball, directed by Bennett Miller, written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin, USA 2011.
Munich, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Tony Kushner and Erich Roth, USA 2006.
The Next Three Days, written and directed by Paul Haggis, USA 2010.
Pour Elle, directed by Fred Cavayé, written by Fred Cavayé and Guillaume Lemans, France 2007.
← 216 | 217 → Saving Private Ryan, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Robert Rodat, USA 1998.
Scent of a Woman, directed by Martin Brest, written by Bo Goldman, USA 1992.
Schindler’s List, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Steven Zaillian, USA 1993.
The Silence of the Lambs, directed by Jonathan Demme, written by Ted Tally, USA 1991.
The Social Network, directed by David Fincher, written by Aaron Sorkin, USA 2010.
Toy Story, directed by John Lasseter, written by John Lasseter, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Johel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, USA 1995.
The Town, directed by Ben Affleck, written by Ben Affleck, Peter Craig and Aaron Stockard, USA 2010.
The Truman Show, directed by Peter Weir, written by Andrew Niccol, USA 1998.
Up in the Air, directed by Jason Reitman, written by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, USA 2009.
Valkyrie, directed by Bryan Singer, written by Christopher McQuarrie and Nathan Alexander, USA/Germany 2008.
Wall Street – Money Never Sleeps, directed by Oliver Stone, written by Allan Loeb and Stephen Schiff, USA 2010.
The West Wing, created by Aaron Sorkin, USA 1999-2006. ← 217 | 218 →
← 218 | 219 →
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