When we speak of Christopher Nolan, we observe his characters symbolizing something in a human being's nature especially of the protagonists as the symbol of good ultimately or at least belonging to that ballpark.
A retrospection - Nolan made 'Following' in the year 1998, his first directional feature, a neo-noir thriller about a guy who takes interest in random people and follows them hoping to find intriguing stuff about their lives. When we look at the protagonist, he's just a random guy we see everyday on roads who apparently represents good for at least some part of the film and ultimately he falls into the category of the good at the end even after he goes out of the line in between. In Following, we have another character who is as important and as genius as the hero but we give him 'the bad guy' credit, 'cause we know of the job he does. See now, this is the point in all of Nolan's films - Nolan creates a character which dignifies 'the good' nature and then creates another character in contrast to 'the good' who obviously is tagged as 'the bad' or at least not good.
In Memento, even though we know that Leonard is going to kill someone, we pity him because we know his condition and his past. we identify him as the guy who is out for justice and not vengeance of any kind. Opposite to him we see Teddy, the corrupt police officer, who at the very first sight comes off as a negative shade. Even when Leonard conducts mistakes or crimes of any kind sometimes, we don't see the negativity in his deeds 'cause that negative impact is buried deep inside covered by his general character.
In The Prestige, we observe that Alfred Borden is out on a mission to win and we see Robert Angier on a mission to defeat his opponent - here lies the whole point of winning and losing, the core philosophy in this interpretation of two magicians is revealed in the climax - Borden wins because he never thought of defeating his opponent, he only thought of winning whereas Angier always strives to shoot down Borden with his ill activities. Though, Borden jeopardises Angier's efforts sometimes, the audiences are given a feel that it is being done for justice or rather the reflection of justice in his acts.
In Insomnia, the brilliant performance by Al Pacino steals the show. Same as other films, Pacino is the idol for truth and good and guilt too whereas Robin Williams being the opponent. At the end of the game, the good half of the character wins and the other half dies trying.
In the Batman trilogy by Nolan, the Batman is always the symbol of hope and trust whereas characters like Joker, Ra's Al Ghul, Bane etc represent the Chaos and as the people who want to see the world burn. The interesting theme in the Dark Knight trilogy is that even few unethical aspects like lying, hiding the truth, exploiting people or technology doesn't sound so bad because ultimately everything is done to save something valuable. For example, when Harvey Dent is dead, Gordon thinks of letting people know of what Harvey did, but Batman doesn't want the people of Gotham to lose hope in Harvey, so he takes the entire blame onto himself - hiding the truth/lying to save the reputation and maintain justice. The Joker represents the evil that is present in everybody's mind and apparently Joker knows this fact well, so, he does something out of the box to prove his point. But ultimately the good wins showing that truth and hope prevail. There are many other points in this film where 'lying' becomes the important part of the film and the characters in identifying themselves among others - one other such situation is Harvey Dent turning himself in to the police as Batman to save the true identity of Batman and obviously to get to the Joker. And yet one other such situation that includes is when Wayne saves Coleman Reese from being killed using his lamborghini which makes the police appreciate his effort but then Wayne acts simply strange that he din't know who he just saved making a serious situation humorous yet taking the film forward. They say that 'lying only makes it worse', well, not in a Nolan movie.
Alongside Batman, people who represent the good are Gordon. Though Harvey Dent is also on the same side, he decides to switch sides once he faces his two-face structure literally.
Inception which deals with the dreams also contains the good guy, bad guy routine where Dom Cobb takes the side of guilt and pain gaining pity and Mal being the evil structure that jeopardizes his job and life. The pity towards the character of Cobb is added when we meet Arthur and Ariadne who show their perception on Cobb when they get to know his past.
The depth of the ideas that Nolan incorporates into his films will make him stand out of the crowd. All the recurring themes are part of the ideology of Nolan where the characters are either good or in the feel of guilt or experiencing a mental disturbance.
When we discuss about the philosophy that Nolan drops in his films, the philosophy of the negative characters are as intriguing and intense as the heroic characters. Joker believes that people show who they really are in their last moments, meaning, that they are not living their life the way people have been thinking all along. There is no change in people's characters but only there is a mask on their original character which they get rid of before they die according to joker. In depth, this philosophy and idea by Joker sounds right when we look at the society we live in. But then we'll want to accept the statement of Batman and his optimism when he proves that Joker is wrong.
The hero will be only as great as the villain. This statement by Nolan makes him build negative characters as great as heroes. That is why we've got great villains like Joker, Walter Finch, Bane, Ra's al Ghul and Cobb.
A retrospection - Nolan made 'Following' in the year 1998, his first directional feature, a neo-noir thriller about a guy who takes interest in random people and follows them hoping to find intriguing stuff about their lives. When we look at the protagonist, he's just a random guy we see everyday on roads who apparently represents good for at least some part of the film and ultimately he falls into the category of the good at the end even after he goes out of the line in between. In Following, we have another character who is as important and as genius as the hero but we give him 'the bad guy' credit, 'cause we know of the job he does. See now, this is the point in all of Nolan's films - Nolan creates a character which dignifies 'the good' nature and then creates another character in contrast to 'the good' who obviously is tagged as 'the bad' or at least not good.
In Memento, even though we know that Leonard is going to kill someone, we pity him because we know his condition and his past. we identify him as the guy who is out for justice and not vengeance of any kind. Opposite to him we see Teddy, the corrupt police officer, who at the very first sight comes off as a negative shade. Even when Leonard conducts mistakes or crimes of any kind sometimes, we don't see the negativity in his deeds 'cause that negative impact is buried deep inside covered by his general character.
In The Prestige, we observe that Alfred Borden is out on a mission to win and we see Robert Angier on a mission to defeat his opponent - here lies the whole point of winning and losing, the core philosophy in this interpretation of two magicians is revealed in the climax - Borden wins because he never thought of defeating his opponent, he only thought of winning whereas Angier always strives to shoot down Borden with his ill activities. Though, Borden jeopardises Angier's efforts sometimes, the audiences are given a feel that it is being done for justice or rather the reflection of justice in his acts.
In Insomnia, the brilliant performance by Al Pacino steals the show. Same as other films, Pacino is the idol for truth and good and guilt too whereas Robin Williams being the opponent. At the end of the game, the good half of the character wins and the other half dies trying.
In the Batman trilogy by Nolan, the Batman is always the symbol of hope and trust whereas characters like Joker, Ra's Al Ghul, Bane etc represent the Chaos and as the people who want to see the world burn. The interesting theme in the Dark Knight trilogy is that even few unethical aspects like lying, hiding the truth, exploiting people or technology doesn't sound so bad because ultimately everything is done to save something valuable. For example, when Harvey Dent is dead, Gordon thinks of letting people know of what Harvey did, but Batman doesn't want the people of Gotham to lose hope in Harvey, so he takes the entire blame onto himself - hiding the truth/lying to save the reputation and maintain justice. The Joker represents the evil that is present in everybody's mind and apparently Joker knows this fact well, so, he does something out of the box to prove his point. But ultimately the good wins showing that truth and hope prevail. There are many other points in this film where 'lying' becomes the important part of the film and the characters in identifying themselves among others - one other such situation is Harvey Dent turning himself in to the police as Batman to save the true identity of Batman and obviously to get to the Joker. And yet one other such situation that includes is when Wayne saves Coleman Reese from being killed using his lamborghini which makes the police appreciate his effort but then Wayne acts simply strange that he din't know who he just saved making a serious situation humorous yet taking the film forward. They say that 'lying only makes it worse', well, not in a Nolan movie.
Alongside Batman, people who represent the good are Gordon. Though Harvey Dent is also on the same side, he decides to switch sides once he faces his two-face structure literally.
Inception which deals with the dreams also contains the good guy, bad guy routine where Dom Cobb takes the side of guilt and pain gaining pity and Mal being the evil structure that jeopardizes his job and life. The pity towards the character of Cobb is added when we meet Arthur and Ariadne who show their perception on Cobb when they get to know his past.
The depth of the ideas that Nolan incorporates into his films will make him stand out of the crowd. All the recurring themes are part of the ideology of Nolan where the characters are either good or in the feel of guilt or experiencing a mental disturbance.
When we discuss about the philosophy that Nolan drops in his films, the philosophy of the negative characters are as intriguing and intense as the heroic characters. Joker believes that people show who they really are in their last moments, meaning, that they are not living their life the way people have been thinking all along. There is no change in people's characters but only there is a mask on their original character which they get rid of before they die according to joker. In depth, this philosophy and idea by Joker sounds right when we look at the society we live in. But then we'll want to accept the statement of Batman and his optimism when he proves that Joker is wrong.
The hero will be only as great as the villain. This statement by Nolan makes him build negative characters as great as heroes. That is why we've got great villains like Joker, Walter Finch, Bane, Ra's al Ghul and Cobb.
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