Dialogue Dive: The Best Written Scene in the Dark Knight

480 1629 that is precisely how many video essays there are on YouTube about the Dark Knight can you even call yourself a video essayist if you haven't done a 13 minute breakdown of that film well regardless of the answer I don't call myself a video essayist so it doesn't matter to me it is true though The Dark Knight has been dissected in almost every way conceivable but I thought I would toss my hat into the ring to just maybe produce something that is unique instead of looking at constructing an antagonist or elevating conflict or just stating how much I love the movie which I do I thought I would take a dive into the dialogue of the Dark Knight and look at the technical writing aspects used to create such a standout narrative you don't need to be an editor to enjoy the movie as anyone off the street can tell you but because I am an editor I think I can offer a perspective to people that might one help increase their own skills in critically assessing fiction and to highlight some of the great writing techniques within the film that might go unnoticed what we can do now is look at a scene that I feel offers a lot in terms of great use of dial that scene being Joker and the mobsters if you need a refresher on the scene and want to watch it all the way through beforehand without my commentary there is a link below in the description if not we can jump right into it so in my last dialogue dive with Tywin and Joffrey I was focused on pointing out writing techniques like subtext that won't be happening in this video and instead I'm going to be focused on the execution of a writing technique that this scene does exceptionally well character introduction now I know that technically the Joker was introduced during the bank heist however this scene with the mobsters is really when we as the audience get the first introduction to who the Joker is as a character what he thinks how he acts what he wants what I'm looking for from a critical editing perspective is how well the dialogue in the scene works to introduce the character of the Joker but you may be thinking how hard is it to introduce a character well actually kind of difficult just throwing info crammed dialogue at the audience during an introduction will get you a mess like this Floyd Lawton aka Deadshot is the most wanted hitman in the world let's say he has an elite clientele but everyone has a weakness and a weakness can be leveraged his is an 11 year old honor student in Gotham City his daughter mama says I can't live with you because you kill people info dumping during a character introduction is just as bad as not giving any information at all giving too much info removes that mystery and allure of naturally finding out more about a character as the narrative progresses the best introductions show you glimpses of a character's personality traits motivations all the things that make them them this is what I'm going to be paying close attention to in this scene how well the seeds of the Joker's character are planted through dialogue in order to be able to grow into something more as the narrative progresses I don't want too little information but I don't want too much either so let's dive in to see what we find give me one reason why I shouldn't have my boy here to pull your head off how about a magic track so a great aspect of Joker's dialogue is how unpredictable it is this is our first little character trait seed planted through dialogue and the Joker as a character is all about unpredictability because that is effectively all chaos really is and to show how this seed grows the Joker flat-out States his relationship to unpredictability and chaos later in the movie you know I just do things I'm an agent of chaos even his expressed backstory is unpredictable sticks the blade in my mouth let's put a smile on that face I speak over here in my mouth and do this to myself another great aspect of Joker's unpredictable dialogue is that you never know quite what is going to come out of his mouth next it works to keep the audience laser focused on it lastly for something more internal to the narrative it also instantly puts the Joker in control of the flow of the conversation gamble attempts to grab hold of the conversation by threatening Joker give me one reason why I shouldn't have my boy pull your head off but Joker completely diffuses that by asking his own strange question how about a magic trick so real quick even though this is a super small detail I love the dialogue that the Joker gives after performing the pencil trick it shows he absolutely does not care about killing and the loss of life it is all literally just a joke to him this is of course a defining character trait we see throughout the film oh and by the way the sued it wasn't cheap you ought to know you bought it one of the golden rules of storytelling is give the audience what they want just not how they expect it this rule applies to dialogue as well the Joker could have just said yeah I stole from you guys but that's really straightforward and really bland instead he says you ought to know you bought it which is a much more fascinating way of delivering information through witty tight dialogue it's consistent use of little details like this that add up to separate a boring script from an engaging one [ __ ] I don't want to hip position let's wind the clocks back a year these cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross any of you I mean what happened you do balls drop off huh you see a guy like me Frank guy like me look listen this is a really cool piece of character development that comes by way of the dialogue gamble calls Joker and it actually knocks the Joker out of his rhythm something like this actually happens again later in the scene and I will dive into a deeper then I know why you choose to have your little group therapy sessions in broad daylight I know why you're afraid to go out at night this small section of dialogue is one of the most important in the whole scene a huge part of Joker's character throughout the narrative is a search for authenticity he believes that people when driven to the most authentic selves are just like him he believes that he truly knows people at their most genuine level I know your friends better than I know the squealers when I see them I know why you choose to have your little group therapy sessions in broad daylight I know why you're afraid to go out at night he yearns for people to show who they authentic Lee are you just take off your little mask and show us all who you really are does it depress you Commissioner to know just how alone you really are I think it was a great choice to plant this character trait seed in this scene using dialogue I think it allows the audience a great glimpse into a facet of the Joker that gets expounded upon later what people oppose it's simple we kill the battery if it's so simple why haven't you done it already if you're good at something never do it for free what you will half here we have some excellent pieces to include in any character introduction goal and conflict the Joker says he wants half of the mobs money which would be his goal and the thing he has to do to reach that goal is killing the Batman which would be the conflict however and what I consider to be a great decision the dialogue of this section of the scene delivers a false goal the Joker is not at all concerned with money or killing the Batman I'm gonna kill you what would I do without you false goals are utilized in narratives to keep a character unpredictable and unknown causing the revelation of their true goal to be a twist in the story as Joker's character is based on unpredictability and uncertainty this works very well in establishing his traits here it is again the Joker is called crazy and we can see that he's visibly displeased by it this is a fantastic departure from previous iterations of Joker who would have reveled in being dubbed insane melding really well with Nolan's grittier more realistic Batman universe this Joker honestly believes that he sees the world with a clarity that others don't if anything he probably thinks he is the only sane one in fact we get a little bit of this information from Joker himself you see this is how crazy Batman's made Gotham see I'm not a monster I'm just ahead of the curve The Joker sees himself as the protagonist he believes that he needs to open the eyes of all the people who live in Gotham to who they truly are this dialogue shows that being called crazy is an insult to the clarity he believes he has if we don't deal with this now soon little gamble here won't be able to get it a nickel for his grandma not so that last sentence is a great piece of dialogue to show another aspect of the Joker not only is the death of others a joke to him he doesn't even take his own death seriously none of it matters to him at all we see this characters he grow and blossom later in the movie as well when he has Harvey point a gun at his head and when he laughs after being thrown from a building it's just another small detail that connects to his character as a whole do you think you could steal from us and just walk away yeah I'm putting the word out 500 grand for this clown dead a million alive so I can teach him some manners first all right so listen why didn't you give me a call when you want to start taking things a little more seriously here's my card now I can't say with certainty but as an editor I want to believe that the last line of dialogue was intentionally included as subtle foreshadowing that the Joker never actually intended to work with the mobsters right before the end of the scene the Joker says when you want to start taking things a little more seriously of course the next time we hear the Joker talking about being serious he's holding a knife to gambles face why so serious I'd like to think that this whole business with the mob which is a ruse for the Joker to get access to weapons and Men his dialogue in the scene plays off of what we find out later or it could just be a complete coincidence I don't know anyway I hope I was able to point out a few things in the scene from a dialogue and character introduction perspective that might have gone unnoticed there were a dozen scenes that I could have chosen to dive into mostly because this movie is a freakin masterpiece but I thought this might be the best one to focus on if you guys have any suggestions for other scenes you want me to look at let me know in the comments also for anyone who might have missed the announcement I have opened myself up to do editing if you have a short story or a novel that you want edited or you want guidance and coaching on writing feel free to contact me through email I offer stuff like developmental edits where I work alongside you chapter-by-chapter novel critiques concept development first impression edits and as I said before coaching opportunities and if you're worried about pricing you can probably relax I want to make things as affordable as possible for you guys if you were interested email me with your Donna word count and name to get more information again thank you all for watching as always it was a pleasure and I will talk to you all again soon

Channel: Savage Books

Views: 2,729,317

Keywords: The dark knight, christopher nolan, batman, writing, narrative, editing, christian bale, why so serious, heath ledger, the joker, dark knight trilogy, dc comics, savage books, video essay

Id: 94nMPZBCJM0

Length: 12min 18sec (738 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 20 2019