Sub-genre analysis - The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight

     
The Dark Knight is a hybrid sub genre of an action and crime thriller which uses specific generic conventions to empashise the action and crime sub genres.
The narrative of the film centres around crime and action between the protagonist; Batman/Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) who is also known as the hero of the film, and the antagonist; The Joker (Heath Ledger), who are fighting against eachother, with Batman trying to save the city they live in, whilst the Joker is trying his hardest to destroy it. The antagonist has a motive, and this is money, as the narrative focuses on a bank robbery. This scene involves lots of explosions and fighting.

The protagonist (Batman) is seen as weak and falliable in a few of the scenes, one being when the Joker takes the woman he loves, therefore putting her in danger. This is making the antagonist (Joker) in control, with more strength and power over what happens next.


The narrative presents ordinary sitautions, where extraordinary and unexpected events occur, for example the party scene. This is an ordinary event, which changes when the Joker and his sidekicks appears with guns. This shows the audience a lot of violence, which is expected in action crime thriller films, and ends up in the Joker taking the woman that Batman loves.

There is a main protaganist and a main antagonist, but both also have many people on their sides. For example, The Joker has many sidekicks who join him in his crime, who are also dressed the same as him, with very similar make up to make it obvious to the audience they are the antagonists. Batman has the government and public behind him, trying to defeat the Joker.

The title of the film gives the audience an idea that it is going to be a thriller, with crime and action, as by using 'dark', it gives us the impression that there might be mystery and puts a scary twist on the film.


The micro elements also help construct the crime and action sub genre. There is a lot of short shot duration throughout the film, especially in the fighting and explosion scenes. This is creating fright and danger to the audience. There are many establishing shots throughout the film to show the city, and this happens mostly just before a big explosion. By using fast camera movements it creates urgency and suspense to the audience, which also helps create the sub genre of action as we can see that a lot is happening in the scenes. There is fast paced music to add to the action of the scene. This occurs mostly when something bad is about to happen, which then leaves the audience in suspense for the next big bit of action; e.g. a big explosion or a fight between the protagonist and the antagonist. The lighting also has a huge impact on the sub genre of action and crime. The lighting is mostly very dark and gloomy, which also relates to the title of the film; The Dark Knight. The dark lighting adds suspense and tension to the audience, which could also make them feel scared and anxious to what is going to happen next. The dark lighting also then makes the explosions stand out more to the audience, and more realistic. The fact that it is dark suggests most of the crime and action takes place at night time, making it even more scary for the audience. The costumes that the characters are wearing add detail to the sub genre. The Jokers costume and make up looks frightening, and suggests to us that he does not want his real identity revealed, and we can tell that violence is about to occur when Batman is in his costume. 


Batman is known as two people in the film, Batman and Bruce Wayne. When action is about to take place, he changes from Bruce Wayne; a normal man, into Batman; a hero.