Although Christian Bale has been widely regarded as the most faithful representation of the caped crusader to grace the silver screen, it is safe to say that in this summer's release of "Dark Knight," the two villains he so passionately fought to subdue grossly upstaged him. While this occurrence isn't so much of an anomaly that it may be called rare, it is certainly one of the more significant examples of this event.
The concept of the morally ambiguous hero isn't a novel invention in film. The movies of the 1920s and early 1930s created before the morally restrictive Motion Picture Production Code featured rowdy gold diggers and underhanded gangsters scheming their way to victory, and the 1950s brought the introduction of the hard-hearted and violence-prone detectives of film noir.
However, it is a more recent development that the audience member should so strongly gravitate toward the incarnation of evil in the face of such dedicated and warranted valor.
The days of mustachioed melodramatic baddies lurking in a black cape for collective boos and certain failure have passed. Today's villains play more effectively to our cynical worldviews and our need for instant gratification. Horror novelist and master of the inner demon, Stephen King, once remarked that "It's better to be good than evil, but one achieves goodness at a terrific cost." Has our refusal to so much as get up off the couch and turn off the television manually, instead of by way of a remote control now translated into our identification with role models and idols?
Perhaps the most evident and well-executed instance of this transition exists in the entirety of HBO's "The Sopranos." As he packed on the pounds and the layers of his pervasive North Jersey accent, Tony transformed into a lumbering behemoth, killing close relations and endangering others without so much as looking up from his ziti.
Viewers were placed in a moral dilemma almost comparable to their protagonist's as they struggled with whether or not they should feel for and identify with this monster presented before them. I felt almost shameful admitting to my friends who also watched the show that my heart was still with Tony, even as he continually sank into oblivion. As our lines and acceptances of right and wrong blurred, Tony took full advantage of invading our senses and judgment, acting not as the villain that we love to hate but as a facet of our own selves.
While Tony was never a typical heroic figure, he experienced the gradual fall from grace that becomes the conclusion of many of our more noble legends. The difference is that, unlike others originally held in high regard, Tony was able to evolve and persuade viewers to embrace his descent. We often expect too much of our heroes, like when rock stars whose misadventures we live vicariously through fall into self-destructive patterns, and when fictional protagonists, such as Marvel superhero Spiderman, feel pressure to toss out their costumes and give in.
On the flip side, we have little established expectations for our villains - only that they should temporarily cause as much annoyance as possible to their nemeses, and eventually fail in doing so. A hero loses a great deal of relevancy once they are shown to be fallible in ways that we deem "inappropriate." If a hero were defeated, the only way for him to regain his glory would be a full-out redemption, whereas in a villain's case, the effort itself would merit approval. Even goodness is judged on a relative scale for the baddies; Catwoman can steal from as many banks and scratch up Batman as much as she likes, but still "has a good heart" since once every blue moon her misdeeds somehow lead to an act of morality. Any logical observer can therefore make the evaluation that villainy not only pays but also doesn't require you to show up for work every day.
I've seen more than one Facebook status of late declaring something to the effect of, "The country is going down the crapper," so where's the man or woman in tights to save it? America, what are you sitting around waiting for? A hero? You can stare at the skies all you want, but those who are audacious enough to allow their eyes to break from that never-ending gaze may see another path all together. So - do you dare to look away?
You can reach this columnist at thescene@theeagleonline.com.
