The Joker!!
There are times when a certain character influences you so much
that you totally sink yourself into that character. The heroes are usually the
glorified ones in films but when I saw "The Dark Knight (2008)", I
feel in love with "The Joker". I rarely watch latest movies and when
it comes to English flicks the rarefaction is even higher. After a lot of
persuasion from my friends, I saw "Inception (2010)" about a
year ago and was taken aback by the film. Christopher Nolan's dialogues,
narration, casting, screenplay and the enormous amount of research pumped in
crafting that film was truly phenomenal. Then, recently one of my friends gave
me The Batman Trilogy and Nolan didn't disappoint me in this either. All three
movies were fast with a lot of science and I enjoyed watching every second of
it.The second part was the BEST.
Coming to "The
Joker", played by Heath Ledger, his dialogues were the ones that caught my
attention first followed by his acting. He has lived that character in the
movie; not just acted.Though, he isn't alive now, he continues to live in the
minds of people as "The Joker". All his dialogues, are like quotes
which are to be inscribed in a stone and make people understand the reality of
Life.He was rightly rewarded the in the Academy Awards (also called as Oscars)
as "The Best Supporting Actor" but sadly he couldn't collect it
himself.
I restate some of his dialogues
here and for some I give my opinions about it. Some are harsh, some might not
apply to all, some could be very extreme but all these are in a way true and
are unobjectionable.
1."If you're good at something, never do it
for free." - This quote is self-explanatory.
2. "Oh, you. You just couldn't let me go,
could you? This is what happens when an unstoppable force meets an immovable
object. You truly are incorruptible, aren't you? You won't kill me out of some
misplaced sense of self-righteousness. And I won't kill you because you're just
too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever."
- This
quote was addressed to "The Batman" in the movie and "I"
refers to him. But, I look at it otherwise. I see "I" here as our
conscience. All of us have this battle of decision and to always do the GOOD
things in our lives. Our mind raises an enormity of questions as to "What
to do?" when a tinge of EVIL starts infecting us. No human is immune to EVIL in
this world. This is a harsh reality but true. What keeps us incorruptible as
it's mentioned here is "the misplaced sense of self-righteousness".
The unstoppable force meets an immovable object is an omnipotence paradox. And
this battle of choosing the right over wrong have to be done by us
forever.
3. "All it takes just one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day."
-This quote is not from the movie "The Dark Knight" but it substantiates the previous quote. We need to keep thinking good and doing good always and every time. We are vulnerable to EVIL.
4. "Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just... do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds! "
4. "Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know, I just... do things. The mob has plans, the cops have plans, Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are.You know what I've noticed? Nobody panics when things go "according to plan." Even if the plan is horrifying! If, tomorrow, I tell the press that, like, a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will be blown up, nobody panics, because it's all "part of the plan." But when I say that one little old mayor will die, well then everyone loses their minds! "
- This is an interesting observation. We lose our minds
when the sequence is missed. Most of us want to lead a structured life or
rather a limited life, in the words of Steve Jobs. We want our life to be the
way we have visualized it to be. When a little anarchy sets in, we lose almost
everything. There are many external factors which influences our Life apart
from our thoughts and actions. We can't channelize our life based on any
algorithm. We just have to let it flow through the meanders and with the hope
that it will definitely reach the sea.
5. "Don't
talk like one of them, you're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're
just a freak, like me. They need you right now. But when they don't, they'll
cast you out, like a leper. See, their morals, their code... it's a bad joke.
Dropped at the first sign of trouble. They're only as good as the world allows
them to be. I'll show you, when the chips are down, these... these civilized
people will eat each other. See, I'm not a monster, I'm just ahead of the
curve."
- This is my
favorite "The Joker" quote. It explains how people in reality use
you. I find most of the people in our world will be in conformance to the above
quote. "They will drop you at the first sign of trouble" is the
bitter reality which is existing in our world. Most of them want to keep
"their hands clean". Darwin's theory of Survival of the fittest has a
different explanation now.
6. "You see, madness, as you know, is like
gravity. All it takes is a little push!"
- Wonderful explanation as to how people
become lunatic very easily. Also explains the vulnerability of human mind in
getting eclipsed with EVIL.
7. "Why so serious?"
-The smallest
quote but can be interpreted in many ways. I don't want to get serious with
this :P Try to be calm and lets coexist with this world and accept certain
realities instead of fooling ourselves by not believing it.
Love,
Ram Thilak
We see him as the Joker and not Heath Ledger. The performance was one of a gem. and about the quotes... nice observation. interesting post :)
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely :) :) Thank you for stopping by and commenting.. :)
DeleteThis is awesome!! Relived the dialogue deliveries. Whatte performance.. Miss him
ReplyDeleteI miss him too!! He should have entertained us with more characters :(.. And Thank you Anna for stopping by and commenting :)
DeleteBrilliance, I say !! Sheer brilliance
ReplyDeleteThank you!! Prashanth.. A very satisfying comment. :)
DeleteYou really have a Classic Taste! :)
ReplyDeleteYou really have a Classic Taste! :)
ReplyDelete