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Howdy all, welcome to Freeze Frame, the show where we take small moments in film and show how they penetrate our minds.
I'm Trendin Van Der Click, and enough has been said about The Dark Knight and it's virtual perfection as a comic book adaptation -- and, I suppose, as an action movie, a crime drama, a character study and maybe even a horror movie at times.
I'm almost reticent to cover the movie at all, as it has been lauded and applauded by comic book fans, stuffy self-important critics and general popcorn munching audiences alike.
But there's this one scene in The Dark Knight that stands out as simultaneously brutal, shocking and humorous, while still moving the narrative forward and establishing character.
Yep guys, you guessed it, today we're gonna to talk about the "magic trick" scene in The Dark Knight.
First, let's a take a moment to pay respect to the late great Heath Ledger. I didn't know the guy and didn't really follow his work, but I was raised in a social media culture, so am compelled to virtue signal to you that I'm a caring and respectful person.
But then I acknowledged it self-deprecatingly, so it's ok...
Every villain needs a good introduction scene, and while this isn't the first time we've seen The Joker in the movie, it is the first time we've heard him speak. It's the establishing moment of one of the most iconic villains in comic book lore -- so while you already know he's brutal and capable of violence, in this scene we learn how his real underlying psyche plays out.
As he walks into the supposedly secure meeting between all the crime bosses of Gotham -- the very worst and most dangerous men in the city -- he gives off an air of both watchful caution and confident authority. His demeanour alone establishes the Joker as erratic but completely unafraid -- or perhaps just totally insane -- but either way, it's clear he's here to make an impression!
To dispel the idea that he's crazy and not in control, to the audience at least, the Joker sizes up the room and demonstrates he's able to judge it perfectly. Heath Ledger plays this scene with an incredible mix of power and insanity, underscored by the visible distraction of identifying who is going to be the one to stand up to him and become the victim of his magic trick.
You can see him thinking it through, searching the room as he speaks for that one guy he knows will inevitably try to take him down physically. But it's clear he has been planning for it from the moment he enters the room, and, like a bullied kid in a playground, he knows he needs to set an example.
The poor hapless red-shirt has barely left his chair by the time the Joker has his pencil set up and, while the room is full of intimidating criminals, you never really feel like the Joker is anything but in control.
Magic tricks are proven to be irresistible, so when the Joker offers to perform one for the group, the child in them comes out and they can't help having their eyes light up, just a little, even though they are busy trying to be tough, hardened crime bosses.
And BOOM! Pencil to the head and no one saw it coming -- or at least I didn't and won't believe you did even if you claim it, because it would necessitate acknowledging you're smarter than me! There's no blood or gore here and Christopher Nolan doesn't need it. You can feel the excruciating pain of the pencil pierce your skull as you watch the sudden movement.
More than just being a clever and brutal visual gag, making the pencil disappear is on-theme for a character called the Joker. Despite the horror of it, the trick is pretty funny, in a sick sort of way, and as an audience we don't know whether to laugh out loud, be delighted by the sheer visceral brutality, or recoil in horror.
Like many brilliant scenes in movies, this one even reveals things about incendiary characters. For instance, you can tell by the way the crime bosses interact that one doesn't particularly mind that the other has had a pencil embedded in his brain and the other cares a whole lot more.
In fact, this all reflects the Joker's genius -- he has already understood this interplay and plays up his erratic theatre to the one who is responding. He converts this one guy into his advocate, and he is the one who eventually demands that the rest of them hear the Joker out.
This small interaction just enhances the scene as it demonstrates the complex and controlled shift of power from the crime bosses to the Joker.
If you think about how much you learn about the Joker in this scene, and this single motion, it's pretty much all you need to know about the movie's main antagonist.
But most importantly, it allows you as an audience member to understand that the ride you are about to take with this character is going to be terrifying, violent and unpredictable... but also utterly compelling and completely fascinating.
And, at the end of the day, isn't the study of the insane, brilliant and brutal character of The Joker the single most important way this film justifies it's ticket price?
Thanks for listening to another episode of Freeze Frame, starring me, Trendin Van Der Click, and with any luck, we'll catch you next week!