Tim Burton VS Christopher Nolan: Battle of the Bats

Among my friends, it’s no secret that I prefer Nolan’s portrayal of the Batman mythos to Burton’s. Hell, even ‘Batman Begins’ one of Nolan’s lesser films was probably better than Burtons 1989 film ‘Batman’. It just so happens that a Bruce Wayne/Batman origin story involving an interesting, if underdeveloped twist on Ras’ al Ghul, is significantly less aggravating than a facile gangster story that 1989 attached to the beloved Joker.

Thinking back to the 1989 version, I realize that it isn’t bewilderingly special to begin with, ignoring the cultural push, the masterful set/production design and laudable performance by Michael Keaton. Batman 1989 is severely crippled, thanks in part to writing of the Joker. It completely and utterly misses the point of the notions that made Alan Moore’s graphic novel so brilliantly poignant and insightful. I am of course referring to ‘Batman: The Killing Joke’ which Burton astonishingly cites as the key influence (It’s also the first comic book he ever ‘loved’ which is far more presumptive)

‘The Killing Joke’ constructs a sympathetic origin story, in which a sane Joker is an unlucky shmuck, and an unsuccessful comedian, who is struggling to support his pregnant wife. He is anxious and sincere, and in full belief that his comedy act will pick up. Conversely, in 1989, the Joker is originally a hackneyed gangster, who happens to be at the top of the food chain named ‘society’.  He is unctuous, and temerariously jumps into situations of murder and theft in his world of organized crime. He also happens to own a lavish house, inhabited by an equally lavish super-model looking wife.  The implication in 1989, The Killing Joke, and The Dark Knight, is that the joker is a product his environment, and exists to juxtapose batman, who in both 1989 and The Killing Joke indirectly causes  the Joker to fall into the pit of acid that results in his insanity. In ‘The killing Joke’ the Joker turns up for a theft job because he can no longer cope with the countless bills, and we get the sense that the crime job slot was only available to the weakling because of Batman’s prowling legacy scaring away most professionals.

1989, TKJ and TDK all proceed to belittle Batman to a psychopath like his murderous counterpart, reducing him to the ambiguous and emotionally lost men found in the hyper-masculine noir stories of self-gratification. He is on the same level as the Joker in psychological security, and merely existing causes the Joker to emerge from the other side of society.  Unfortunately this isn’t so abundant in 1989, as Batman’s intervention in the Joker’s accidental creation merely causes the misdirection of a dastardly top class criminal, and that doesn’t even begin to touch the level of tragedy found in a poor, desperate Joker driven to crime through desperation, or Heath Ledger’s broken and obsessive ramblings about his carved face, each of his explanations being a contradiction. TDK’s Joker is drenched in contradiction and mystery, projecting his retched past onto other faces. Even his gleeful cackle sounds disjointed, revealing inner pain. 1989 however presumes to spell out Nicholson’s Joker in a way that doesn’t equate to the desired effect. It also doesn’t have a thing to do with being a comedian, as if becoming the Joker is part of a ‘buy one get one free’ offer on comic-book insanity that night. The Joker is clearly a parody of his surroundings, however society doesn’t oppress 1989’s Joker, in fact the only reason he became the Joker was because his gangster boss wanted the Joker’s wife. Furthermore, they over-expose Nicholson, whereas TDK was more of a meticulously planned kaleidoscope, allocating the right amount of time for each of the main characters.

The rest of 1989 fares better, though I found it absolutely bizarre that Alfred would allow the clueless ‘Vicky Vale’ into the cave without Wayne’s consent.

I deeply admire the audacity 1989’s screenplay takes with an amoral and more introverted Wayne, however it still felt indecisive in what to make of his condition, particularly when compared to the Nolan brother’s script, in which Wayne’s arrogance is clearly a façade to gloss over his insecurity and desperate persistence in clinging to the thought that he and Rachel Dawes can still be together.

Coming to a close, the key non-joker moment that elevates Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Dark Knight’ beyond Tim Burton’s ‘Batman’ is for me, that one sublimely subtle moment of characterization, involving two addresses and a self-aware contradiction.

- Taha