The Faces of Gotham: Myth and Morality in "The Dark Knight"

In 2008, THE DARK KNIGHT, Christopher Nolan's second film in the rebooted Batman franchise, was released to an anxious yet unsuspecting public. A stark departure from BATMAN BEGINS, the movie presented a battle between three legendary icons, fighting for the right to guide Gotham City into the future: Batman, quickly losing control of his influence over citizens and criminals alike; Harvey Dent, the city's new district attorney, a white knight who promises bring hope to the hopeless; and the Joker, a villainous cipher who aims to make civilization itself come crashing down. They were familiar characters operating in a familiar world, but the film touched a vital nerve on the cultural landscape. The movie earned over a billion dollars at the worldwide box office, and became a phenomenon whose bleak vision of modern life changed the way we look at superheroes and cinema. In THE FACES OF GOTHAM, film critic Ian Pugh dissects THE DARK KNIGHT scene-by-scene, offering an in-depth look at the film's themes of chaos and moral uncertainty, Batman's influence on popular culture and his place in the modern pantheon.