Thoughts about The Dark Knight, plus a random tangent about badass presidents

[inmyriadbits]

I have to say, one of my first thoughts when reading this article was that there's really something missing nowadays. Just look at politics today: having a strong opinion is discouraged, and we're all about covering our asses and avoiding responsibility. I would love to see a president take credit for their failures as well as their mistakes, and then say "And here's what we're going to do next to fix it." Because instead of really striving for things in a larger sense anymore, all we see is a bunch of chasing our own tails and backpedaling and trying to appeal to the middle. It's sad. Not that I'm saying we need a president who duels constantly, can beat you to a pulp with their cane, or feels the need to continue giving a speech with a bullet wound in their chest. But, you know. A little more passion wouldn't be amiss.

Also, random, but this poll still wins everything: Which denomination would you sleep with? Go on, you know you want to take that poll. It's hilarious. (Hearts forever, C! I majorly owe you a phonecall.)

Anyway, the real reason for posting is actually because I posted a rather long reply to poisonivory's thoughts on the treatment of Jim Gordon's daughter in The Dark Knight (also here) and thought it was worth re-posting properly. I'd love to hear other opinions on the matter.

Comment #1: See, I just think they were being cowards, but not in the way you think. They were just trying to avoid the issue entirely; they couldn't just have one kid and make it be Jimmy, because people would start screaming about where Barbara was, and they didn't want to introduce Barbara as a character and then deal with a bunch of Batgirl speculation. It wasn't that they didn't want to tie themselves to an actress, it's that they didn't want to commit themselves either way when it came to Barbara/Batgirl. So they "solved" (i.e., avoided) the problem by not showing her face or saying her name or having her play a prominent role, but still having Jim Gordon have a daughter. Which, of course, still pissed people off, being a wishy-washy decision that had more to do with the consideration of a sequel than the inherent value of the story. It was stupid and short-sighted (and kind of pretentious, honestly, because sometimes I feel like they're going into these with a snooty, we-can-do-this-better-than-that-silly-beloved-original rather than reveling in the history), but it wasn't malicious or sexist. I say not malicious or sexist because, in fact, everything they did points to avoidance rather than opposition. They did include her, albeit in a wretchedly half-assed way. They named the mother Barbara, leaving the open-ended opportunity for the daughter to have been named after her like the son was named after Jim, even though they went out of their way not to say her name for certain. AND, they left themselves an opening to include Babs later, which was probably thanks to the suits wanting options after/if Nolan leaves the franchise and Nolan doing this debacle as a way of conforming to the word if not the spirit of the request.

I still agree that it was a failure on the part of the filmmakers, but I disagree with your interpretation of their motivations. I just think they were cowards and money-minded bureaucrats rather than sexist pigs, which is not really any better, IMO. They should've used Barbara -- it structurally suits the movie with the Two-Face theme, it resonates more with the audience for pop culture/intimate knowledge of the comics reasons, it would've been just as emotionally compelling in Gordon's storyline to have a daughter, it would've helped with the damned lack of female characters, etc. It was a bad decision, and their failure to commit one way or the other is what pisses me off. If you're going to leave Barbara/Batgirl out, leave her out. Don't include her only to avoid having to actually address her existence. It just reeks of Nolan being forced to include her, resenting her inclusion, and mistreating the story because of it.

Comment #2: Re-reading this, let me express something more clearly. I think if Nolan had his way, Jimmy would've replaced Barbara and "Gordon's daughter"/the possibility of Batgirl would've disappeared from the script entirely. I think the suits probably forced him to include her in some way for the sake of their precious franchise.

Comment #3: You know, what may be a better point about the sexism in the movie is, what the fuck did they do with Dr. Leslie Thompkins? Isn't she supposed to be his co-godparent with Alfred, rather than the odd double-replacement-father-figures of Lucius Fox and Alfred in the movies? Wouldn't she be a great solution to the logical question of "What the hell happens when Bruce gets a wound he can't fix himself?" (Like, you know, internal bleeding from the Joker beating him really hard with a pipe. I remember that happening.) Wouldn't she be an awesome female character to include, especially since you could have her continue to be an important part of the stories without needing to replace her every movie like they do with the Bond girls love interests? (which, okay, has some structural validity and makes sense in today's film industry, whether I dislike it or not, but that's a whole 'nother issue.) Wouldn't she be an interesting pacifist foil for Batman? I feel like they could've used a bit of that, to balance out the overly-martial waxing poetic over Batman and how awesome he is for the city. And she's not a sidekick, so Nolan shouldn't have a problem. I like this idea the more I think about it, actually...

Haha, oh man, I had no idea those comments were so long. But I still rather like my idea about Leslie, for the record.

I never claimed to be above narcissism. :)

Comments

[inmyriadbits.livejournal.com]

I voted for good ol' Abe Lincoln. He was awesome, intelligent, and kind of a sweetheart. And I've always had a fondness for $5 bills. :) You?

[joandarck.livejournal.com]

Hey, lady, did you see your vid review (http://community.livejournal.com/the_reel/119520.html)?

[inmyriadbits.livejournal.com]

No, I didn't! Thank you so much for the link! It's always a kick to get feedback on that vid, since it's such a tiny fandom. :D