The Joker is to blame for Harvey Dent’s turn to evil in Christopher Nolan’s, The Dark Knight. The Joker targets Coleman Reese, an employee of Bruce Wayne who is about to expose the secret identity of Batman, threatening to blow up a hospital if Reese is not dead within the hour. Amid the chaos, police evacuate hospitals in the city. The Joker disguises himself and gains access to Harvey Dent’s hospital room, leaving them alone in the evacuated hospital. After the Joker unties Harvey’s wrists from the hospital bed, the Joker shares with Harvey his views on chaos. Ultimately, the Joker twists Harvey’s anger towards the established order and turns Harvey to the side of evil. The conjunction of the cinematography and the mise en scene of this scene (1:49:39-1:51:10) reinforce the Joker’s control over Harvey’s morality.
The scene begins with a low angle shot from over Harvey’s shoulder, looking up at the Joker. The angle of the camera and the blocking …show more content…
The blocking of Harvey on the left side of the screen foreshadows that Harvey will take on the ways of the Joker, and the Joker above him to the right, signifies that the Joker is in power and is manipulating Harvey’s morality to perceive that the Joker’s beliefs represent good. The lack of lighting on Harvey’s face also foreshadows his turn to darkness and evil. Their civilian costuming suggests that chaotic morals are inside all people, it just takes the correct stimulus to bring them out. The lack of a shot of the flipped coin at the end of the scene proves the that Harvey has been transformed into a being of chaos, since the audience does not know which way the coin could have landed. In the broader sense, Nolan uses all of the elements of mise en scene and cinematography in this scene to strengthen the idea that the Joker can find chaos in even the most benevolent of
The scene begins with a low angle shot from over Harvey’s shoulder, looking up at the Joker. The angle of the camera and the blocking …show more content…
The blocking of Harvey on the left side of the screen foreshadows that Harvey will take on the ways of the Joker, and the Joker above him to the right, signifies that the Joker is in power and is manipulating Harvey’s morality to perceive that the Joker’s beliefs represent good. The lack of lighting on Harvey’s face also foreshadows his turn to darkness and evil. Their civilian costuming suggests that chaotic morals are inside all people, it just takes the correct stimulus to bring them out. The lack of a shot of the flipped coin at the end of the scene proves the that Harvey has been transformed into a being of chaos, since the audience does not know which way the coin could have landed. In the broader sense, Nolan uses all of the elements of mise en scene and cinematography in this scene to strengthen the idea that the Joker can find chaos in even the most benevolent of