‘Dark Knight’ premieres, draws long-time ‘Batfans’

By CASEY GILLIS
Media General News Service
Published: July 24, 2008

The fan boy world has been buzzing about “The Dark Knight,” which hit theaters this past weekend, since about, oh, the release of the last Batman movie in 2005.

“The comic book fan audience, they are so ready to go,” says Mike Robinson, a Lynchburg College pop culture professor and comic book enthusiast.

That excitement originates from the ending of “Batman Begins,” which foreshadowed the arrival of the Caped Crusader’s archnemesis, the Joker.

“It’s just, ‘Ohmigod, the Joker’s next,’” Robinson says about the scene, in which Batman turns over a playing card to reveal the Joker’s signature jester.

“People love the Joker. I don’t know why. He’s terrible, but we love him and think he’s hilarious.”

The character is widely identified with Jack Nicholson, who played him in Tim Burton’s 1989 “Batman.”

But the talk surrounding “Dark Knight” promised that Heath Ledger would be putting his own unique spin on the role and even predicted a possible Oscar nod for his work.

“It looks great. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that Heath Ledger is under (the Joker makeup),” Robinson says. “It doesn’t look like him.

“When Nicholson was the Joker ... you saw (the character) as Nicholson. You had that sense that Nicholson is in there. With this, it’s, ‘Where’s Heath?’ He’s really creepy.”

The buzz reached a fever pitch when, sadly, Ledger died in January of an accidental drug overdose. What would Warner Bros., the studio behind the film, do?

After some debate, they went ahead with their original marketing plan, which included using Ledger’s eerily made-up Joker in promotional materials.

“If Heath Ledger had died last week, this would be a real problem,” Robinson says. “There’s been enough time and enough space (now). ... I think it’s a good, safe distance.”

In today’s celebrity-obsessed climate, it’s entirely possible that an actor’s death will have an impact on any posthumous releases.

“The deaths of celebrities seem to create this outpouring,” says Robert Kolker, a media studies professor at the University of Virginia.

“There’s something about the attachment to celebrities, that feeling of awe at a life lived more fully or more crazily than our own.”

And when that life is finished, especially before its time, fans look for ways to honor the celebrity.

In some cases, a movie that would have otherwise tanked at the box office does well, buoyed by the fans who want to pay their last respects to a beloved actor or those who want to see the late actor’s onscreen swan song out of a general curiosity.

That happened with “Queen of the Damned,” which was released in 2002, less than a year after the death of star Aaliyah. It was widely panned by critics, but still opened at No. 1 at the box office — something many attribute to the R&B star’s loyal fan base.

“The Dark Knight” is a unique case because the film already has scores of people salivating over its release, and Ledger’s death has nothing to do with it.

“If it was a lesser-known superhero ... I don’t know, maybe it would have picked the audience up because people would go for the curiosity factor,” Robinson says.

But it’s Batman. Versus the Joker. Two characters that Robinson says are eternally intertwined in comic book lore.

“Batman and the Joker, they change over time,” he says. “They shift over time, and they shift together.”

The Joker, especially, can continually be reinvented because he has no definitive backstory, Robinson says.

“He’s this weird, chaotic, elemental force,” Robinson says. “Because he’s a little more open as a character, we can accept different interpretations of (him).

“He’s not a one-note villain.”

In Burton’s “Batman,” for instance, the Joker is a former mobster who killed Bruce Wayne’s parents, and, later on, Batman causes his disfiguration. Robinson says that was made up for the film and did not come from the comic books.

When the Joker showed up in the first Batman comic book, there was no personal motive behind his devious ways.

“He desired to beat Batman, but in a very public fashion,” Robinson says. “It’s about attention. It’s about the public paying attention to him.”

“The Dark Knight” presents the character in much the same way. He just shows up in Gotham and starts wreaking havoc, with no real explanation.

After Ledger’s death, many speculated that stepping into the character’s demented shoes had contributed to his downward spiral.

“There was this whole attempt to suggest that the Joker had driven him insane, which was so weird,” Robinson says. “They wouldn’t do that with any other character. ... I guess that just goes to show you how much we fear him.”

Casey Gillis is a staff writer for Media General’s News & Advance in Lynchburg.