Reposted from Guangzhou Daily, Psychology column Wu Zhihong, on the
22nd, the nominations for the 81st Oscars in the United States were announced. What is surprising is that the 2008 global box office champion and the second best-selling in Hollywood history "Batman·The Night Rider" Only a few trivial nominations have been received.
However, the judges can despise the film, but they cannot despise the contradictory clown in the film. The actor Heath Ledger, who played the clown, was nominated for best supporting actor, and analysts generally believe that this award is determined. It’s Heath Ledger, not because of how influential Heath Ledger, who has performed well in films such as "Broke Arms", but just because the Joker is in "Batman: The Night Rider" The performance is unparalleled, and this is destined to be one of the most famous contradictions in film history.
The 22nd is also the anniversary of the first anniversary of Heath Ledger's death. On this day in 2008, when he was only 29 years old, he was found to have died suddenly in a rented apartment in Manhattan, New York.
On this special day, I wrote a psychological analysis of the movie "The Night Rider" to commemorate this talent in the show business. (This edition of the text Wu Zhihong)
In my life, I have heard and seen countless stories like this, two people who love each other, one constantly breaks through the bottom line of the other.
The underlying logic of this person is that you say that you love me, I don’t believe it. The so-called love of me is just to add brilliance to your life. If you really love me, you will love me desperately, and you can do it. A little bit?
This is also the core logic hidden in the movie "Batman: The Night Rider" (also the sixth part of the "Batman" series).
In this film, in Gotham City, where gangs and drug dealers are rampant, Batman constantly strikes at criminals, and he has a well-known rule-don't kill. With the help of Batman, the "night knight", Gotham City Sheriff Gordon wiped out the underworld bosses, and Gotham City Attorney General Harvey Dent, known as the "Knight of Light," tried to send them all. Going to court, the evidence is solid. It seems that they are destined to live in prison, and it seems that Gotham City can finally restore calm and light.
At this moment, the Joker appeared. He was sinister and cunning. He had no bottom line and no dogma in his mind. He united the gang around him on the grounds of killing Batman and led them and the schizophrenia he had recruited. The sick people kill people as they please, in order to put pressure on the citizens to force Batman to take off his mask and announce his identity.
This is just a superficial context of the film, and the core context of the film is that the Joker keeps stimulating the two "incarnations of justice" Harvey Dent and Batman, and even hopes that Harvey Dent will kill himself and Batman will kill himself. Kill. Because of this, they are just like him. The justice they believe in is just a superficial performance, and the real master of the world is the logic of the clown-"When there is no compelling, who doesn't want justice to be awe-inspiring? "
Everyone thinks that his logic is correct, and the world is operating according to the set of logic he believes in. If this world is not like this, we will think that this is just a superficial phenomenon, and the true deep logic must be It is the set of logic that you have mastered. To prove this, you only need to "push a little" on others, and these people will fall into their own logic.
If a beauty believes that men are not good things, men are only interested in her body and will not love her at all. Then, she will use her body to seduce men, and she will find that she only needs to "push" the men in this way, and these men will become perverts.
If a wealthy person believes that everyone is greedy, money can make ghosts persevere. Then, he will use his money to "push" countless people, and these people will fall into his grasp.
The clown believes that everyone is evil, and there is no trust. He only needs to "push" people. Everyone will give up justice and become very selfish and ugly, so he betrayed others and even killed his comrades in arms. In the film, the clown’s "push" weapon is the fear in people’s hearts. He believes that everyone loves themselves and their relatives. As long as you threaten their lives, everyone will give up the original. The bottom line, and become a demon.
The pursuit of the clown: breakthrough everyone's bottom line
The logic of the clown is shown at the beginning of the film. He lured several gangsters wearing clown masks to rob the bank of the gang, and told them to kill your companions so that you can get more money. As a result, these gangsters really slaughtered each other during the robbery, and those who hesitated a bit would be killed by their accomplices immediately, and the clown himself was the most decisive in this process, so he was the only one who survived.
In this regard, the head of the gang bank said: "The bandits in this city have always had faith." He said that they have a bottom line. This is the meaning of "theft is also right", but the clown proves that he only needs "Gently push", you can break the bottom line of the gangsters.
Under the leadership of the clown, his minions robbed multiple gang banks and robbed 68 million US dollars, but he broke into the gathering place of the gang bosses in a grand manner. Because he understands that as long as he "push a little", these gang bosses will unite around him.
Sure enough, when he said that he could kill Batman, most of the gang bosses were moved. This is both temptation and the use of the power of fear. At this time, the gang bosses were driven to a dead end by light forces such as Batman, Harvey Dent, and Gordon, so when he threw this bait, the Gotham City underworld quickly took refuge in him.
Throughout the film, the clown often uses the weakness of human nature to give multiple-choice questions. There are three multiple-choice questions that impressed me. The first one was thrown by him to the underworld. A gang leader hated him and issued an order to kill him, but he was killed by him, and he threw a stick to each of the two living underworld minions, saying that you only have one to survive, so let's kill each other. One of the important "Tao" in "Pirates also has Tao" is not to fight inwardly, but this bottom line, the clown easily made them break through.
The underworld’s "pirates also have the right way" are unreliable after all, and being breached does not seem to be a big deal. So, what about the brightest gentlemen? Can their bottom line be broken? The following story shows that this is not very difficult.
After receiving the support of the gang, the clown issued death threats to Harvey Dent, the police chief of Gotham City, and the female judge who was about to try the gang boss at the same time, and almost simultaneously killed the female judge and poisoned him. chief Police officer. The chief of police was poisoned to death by drinking a glass of poison while talking to Gordon. At that time, Gordon said that there are ghosts around you, so you have to be careful. But at this time the chief of police had already lost his poison and alcohol.
Obviously the inner ghost gave the police chief poisoned alcohol, but why would the inner ghost obey the clown's command? The film did not give a direct answer, but it is not difficult to speculate that the clown issued death threats to the police officers themselves and their relatives. This is a method that the clowns have been using.
It’s not that easy to kill Harvey Dent, because Harvey Dent’s fiancee Rachel is Batman’s ex-girlfriend, Batman is Harvey Dent’s idol, and Harvey Dent is The savior in Batman's mind.
The heroine's game: Turn your beloved hero into a mortal?
Two men are in love with a woman, which usually means that the two men are either very similar or completely different. The combination of these two points has a more complicated situation, that is, they either look alike but are completely different, or look dissimilar but are actually the same in essence.
What are the similarities and differences between Batman and Harvey Dent?
Batman's real name is Bruce Wayne, the chairman of Wayne Enterprise Group, the richest man in the world. He first met Harvey Dent in one of his restaurants. The Gotham City prosecutor wanted to date his colleague’s fiancée Rachel, and he asked someone to book a seat in this restaurant, and happened to meet Bruce Wayne with a Russian ballerina on his arm. Harvey Dent, who didn’t know that Blues Wayne was Batman, talked about Batman. His words were full of admiration. He believed that Batman was a hero, and this chaotic city needed Batman’s care and was worried about bats. Xia’s pressure is too great, "either as a hero to die, or to live to witness himself being forced into a bad guy."
Harvey Dent is the rival of Blues Wayne, but Wayne is still caught by Harvey Deng Te was moved. He wanted to use his wealth to help the "Knight of Light" and make the citizens of Gotham "trust Harvey Dent (this is Harvey Dent's campaign slogan)", and he also yearned for Harvey Dent. Dent's wish came true, and he gave him the responsibility of "caring for Gotham City."
Of course, this selflessness hides great selfishness. Because, Bruce Wayne still loves Rachel, and Rachel does not want to marry "Batman" and live a life of fear. She hopes to live a dull and happy life with Bruce Wayne, so she was right before Bruce Wayne said that if you stop being Batman, I will marry you.
Therefore, the "night knight" wants to transfer the burden of caring for Gotham City to the "light knight" so that he can live a happy life with his beloved.
Women are contradictory. Women often do things like this: Fall in love with a hero, but tell the hero that I will marry you only if you become an ordinary person. However, is this true?
Harvey Dent has always been safe because of Batman protection, but others are not so lucky. The mayor of Gotham was almost killed by the clown’s conspiracy, and other bloody killings continued to stimulate the fragility of the Gotham people. soul. In the end, Batman decided to submit to the Joker's request. The Joker said that as long as Batman surrendered, he would stop killing. This is actually separating the relationship between Batman and the citizens of Gotham.
The public is more likely to be separated, they have called for Batman to show up. Harvey Deng asked the people: "Are you really going to sacrifice this hero who has been protecting you?" They answered one after another, yes.
At this time, Harvey Dent said that he is Batman.
It was at this moment that Rachel really hated Bruce Wayne for the first time. She reprimanded him for letting the Attorney General take the blame and decided to marry Harvey Dent. However, who does she want to marry?
Obviously, she decided to marry the most heroic person.
Joker’s torture: Who else is awe-inspiring when he is threatened?
The arrested Harvey Dent will be sent to prison, and the clown will kill him on the road. Naturally, the "night knight" will come to protect the "light knight". After a fierce battle, the Joker finally became a lonely man, and Batman ran into him on a high-tech motorcycle.
But the clown did not dodge, but grinned and said to himself: "Bump me! Bump me!"
At first, I was puzzled by this plot, but then I realized that he wanted to use self-sacrifice to lure Batman to break through his bottom line of "not killing", to prove that he was the only correct one.
"Only I am right", the temptation of this feeling is really powerful, in order to "defend" this feeling, the clown will not hesitate to die.
Batman also understood this. At the very moment, he dodged and was stunned, but the Joker was arrested by Gordon, who had cheated to death.
What's more, the arrest is also a well-designed trap for the clown. He knew that Gordon was not dead, and Gordon would definitely send him to Gordon's own special cell, where there was also a special person who held all the wealth of the gang. Around this point, he also designed many traps.
But Batman and the police didn't know this trap. They thought that by arresting the Joker, everything would be fine. But they soon discovered that this was an illusion, and the Joker’s people had captured Harvey Dent and Rachel. In prison, the Joker gave Batman the second multiple choice question in the film: Harvey Dent in one place and Rachel in another. Time is limited, you can only save one, who do you save ?
Batman chose to save Rachel. This happened to the clown's trap. The Joker deliberately said the wrong location. He said that the location of Guan Rachel was actually related to Harvey Dent. So, it was Harvey Dent that Batman rescued, and Rachel was buried in the fire.
In this regard, Blues Wayne reflected that he made an "incorrect decision" and finally learned that "Batman has something beyond his power." This time it also seems to verify the logic of the Joker, "Who doesn't want to be awe-inspiring when it's not a last resort?"
This is not just Batman's "things beyond his power", but also the reason why all the good people in the film go bad. The clowns did not pull a policeman into the water. They did so by intimidating the lives of the police's relatives. For example, Rachel was kidnapped because a policewoman under Gordon received this threat, and Harvey Dent was kidnapped as well. The clown can unscrupulously kill the female judge, poison the police chief, and shoot. The mayor and the bombing of Gotham General Hospital were all because he used this threat to break through the bottom line of one good person after another.
At the climax of the film, the clown takes this trick to its extreme. He threatened people in the entire city to either "be my people" or leave the city. The last group of people who fled the city took two boats, one with good people, and the other with the underworld bosses and their subordinates.
When the two boats reached the river, they stopped abruptly, and a clown's threat came: each boat was loaded with a large amount of explosives, and there was a detonator, but the detonator controlled the other boat, only one. The people on the boat can survive, provided that the other boat must be detonated before 12 o'clock.
This is the third multiple-choice question that the clown puts out in the film, and the choice is the public. People once chose to abandon Batman, will they still choose to abandon others?
As a result, the clown failed. The boat carrying ordinary people voted not to detonate the detonator, while the boat carrying criminals, the detonator was thrown into the river by a triad boss.
In the
Christian legend, the devil Satan wins the world by capturing human souls, and the clown uses the same logic. He is not interested in money at all. He once burned the piles of money and said " This city is worthy of a criminal with good taste." He also said to Batman: "You should know that I am not interested in money. I am not that kind of person. Don't demote me to that kind of person." What the
Joker is interested in is that his logic "there is no compelling time." , Who doesn't want justice to be awe-inspiring?" Impose on the surrounding world. On this point, Alfred, the butler of Blues Wayne, found out at the beginning. He gave Batman an example of how bandits once robbed their gems, but they discarded them everywhere. They actually They are not interested in gems. They do it only because "They find it interesting. They will not be bought, they will not be intimidated, they will not be reasonable, and they will not accept negotiations. Some people just want to watch the world burn." .
In my opinion, this is also the common desire of all the most evil criminals. They are not interested in tangible things such as money, power, fame and fortune. What they want is influence, and they want to impose their will on the world. , Let the world tremble with their desires, it is not feasible to treat them with ordinary logic.
At this point, gangsters and heroes are often two sides of the same coin. What they want is influence, not justice, fairness, universal truth, or "absolutely right things."
Harvey Dent is such an example. The climax of the film is the third choice. In this choice, the Joker loses, but the Joker still laughs because he thinks he won in the "Battle of Gotham Souls".
What the Joker meant was that he defeated Harvey Dent with his logic, and finally let the "Knight of Light" subdue his logic.
This is real. After Rachel was killed, Harvey Dent was desperate. Although Batman rescued him, his left half of his face was burnt with gasoline, his skin fell off, his muscles and teeth were bare, and his pain was extremely painful, but he refused to accept any pain relief treatment. This is understandable, because this kind of physical pain is easier to bear than the heartache of losing a lover, and it can shift one's attention from the heartache to the physical pain.
The double pain caused Harvey Dent to give up his "fanatic pursuit of justice" and become a complete opportunist. He tracked down and tortured all those involved in Rachel's death, and decided by flipping a coin. The life and death of the other party.
The "light knight" turned into a "double-sided knight", which seems heartbreaking, but it is not accidental. The film shows that he had a nickname "two-faced man" very early, and he has always liked to toss a coin. The "crazy pursuit of justice" he showed is just one side, and his other side has long existed, the clown's Logic "Who doesn't want justice and awe-inspiring when there is no unavoidable situation" can be used to him without compromise.
It can be said that Harvey Dent is not pursuing "light", but he has discovered that he can pursue influence by pursuing light. He became the idol of the citizens of Gotham through the "fanatic pursuit of justice", and he finally got Rachel's love by taking the blame for Batman. This is a great advantage. However, when Rachel died, his survival logic was suddenly subverted.
From this point of view, he and Batman are just "like but divorced". In layman's terms, he looks very similar to Batman, but there is a fundamental difference in essence.
The difference is that Batman is not interested in influence, he pursues justice. At the end of the film, he is willing to take the blame for Harvey Dent and assume the killing of the "Knight of Light" on his own body, even though people think he has broken the killing ring. But he is willing to take on all of this and let the Gotham people welcome the light. This is not a hero that has been shown, but a real hero.
What is important is not the form, but the soul. This is what the Joker and Batman have in common.
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