Batman is my lifetime love. He is the first man I ever really understood. He was always there for me; we were compadres, and childhood sweethearts. I learned to read from his comic books. I imagined him into reality. He became my personal hero, saving Gotham from evil doers. On the small screen, he defeated Egghead by exposing his allergies and avenged the death of the Green Hornet by almost destroying the Joker. He was gorgeous, funny and human.
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On the silver screen, we shared brooding inner turmoils; the approaching aspects and issues of the day always excitingly resolved. As an old fart, I appeared to have outlived him. I am Batman's widow long before my time. What happened to him?
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The studio franchise released its Monster of Functionality (MF) to devour my Dark Knight. They want to bring back the Joker from fandom's sacred burial ground. I feel very alone. And can only voice my protest in this blog. The MF lives off past successes, citing money grubbing as its main creative tool, wasting time reconstructing the past to deconstruct its fond memories in the greatest of all goals: more profit.
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MF perverts his fans to gain more ticket sales. Purely format driven content. In a creative sense, in a memorable, in a legendary sense, the idea, its content, has always successfully driven its form, the format is secondary. Had we not had a history together the MF could not even hope to sucker my Batman this way.
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Batman Begins was a historical piece I enjoyed along with every kid allowed to see it; success was because it covered Batman's missing years. Nothing here was retold to us. The familiarity and acceptance of the fans remained. Logic dictates that this next incarnation "The Dark Knight" should involve any of the hundreds of villains not yet silver screened, to keep up audience interested. King Tut (very Bin Ladenesque)could not be more timely a topic. Or have Marsha Queen of diamonds and Egghead return (pick any politician). Or the MF should try to trick us and make a new villain, revealed masquerading as the Joker, but who really isn't.
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It makes no sense to bring back the Joker. Avid fans like me, in the audience, will quickly lose interest. The Joker is a known and twice-told tale already. No one watching TVLand will ever forget Caesar Romero's laugh. And as a Tim Burton fan, I am still fascinated by all his movies. He was an animator and his Batmans were so compelling, and so good, that none of the films that followed dared even breathe similarities to his work.
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Any mention of Batman just naturally gears the discussion up to his "Purpleness" and his beauty and the beast comment. He is a pop culture icon, still a king character reigning over all villainy. Plus, Jack Nicholson was paid $60 million dollars for the definitive role of the Joker, no one has since forgotten, it is one of the legendary roles in Hollywood, equal to "Chinatown" and comparable to the "Godfather" himself. It is way too soon to bring back the Joker!
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We are presently in an age where diversity sells, and the MF has given "The Dark Knight" an all-white cast. The MF will likely win because I don't think less of Heath Ledger as the Joker, but why waste talent on the script's also-ran roles when the cast you've got is more than up to the task of creating their own legendary parts.
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The MF's managerial skills have made decisions as bad as both the Clinton and the Bush administration, akin to brain-death. At age 27, Heath Ledger is way too young and still too new in his movie career to do any old fart has-been role. He may become the reverse of Dorian Gray by reprising this role.
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One can only hope the cast makes as much as Jack before this film is released so they, at least, have something when the MF tanks their careers and the franchise. The MF is bent on burying fond memories of my childhood and tainting the love of my Dark Knight. We can only hope this is a bad practical joke. And that our Batman will win over the MF and his actor-proof CGI relatives.
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