Essay Question

How far do the American films we have studied, depend on well established narrative and/or genre conventions?

 The two American films that we have studied are the original Batman made in 1989 by Tim Burton and the Dark Knight made in 2008 by Christopher Nolan. Both of this films depend on a very established narrative because they are both based around the comics of Batman, therefore the directors for both of these films needed to follow the comic in order to keep it true to the comics, however they need to make it slightly different so that it persuades people to watch the movie, if it's exactly the same to the comics there won't be any point in seeing the movie because many people would have read it before. Also, the Dark Knight is a remake of the original Batman; therefore Christopher Nolan had to create a new film that is different to the last film but still staying true to the storyline, including The Joker and Harvey Dent within the film. I think that the Joker played by Heath Ledger was really effective because they have kept the fat that he is crazy and really enjoys all of the evil things that he does, however they have made his makeup seem a lot more realistic and frightening which I feel really helps build a horror aspect to the film.

For both of the Batman films we have studied the Genre is action. This is clearly evident throughout the film because of the several fight scenes including the one with Joker and Batman in the huge church at the end of the film, but also several uses of Guns also promote violence throughout the film.  Within both of the Batman films Joker is a very menacing Villain who enjoys violence and watching people fear for there life's, this is really effective in creating an Action film by having such violent Villains and also makes it easier for the audience to relate to the Genre.