Daily Dialogue — August 21, 2015

“Want to know how I got these scars?”

— The Dark Knight (2008), screenplay by Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan, story by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer, characters by Bob Kane

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Callback.

Trivia: Unlike his counterpart in both the comics and Batman (1989), the Joker in this film does not have his hair and flesh permanently bleached by toxic waste. His trademark grin was never definitively identified in the comics as a disfigurement. However, its appearance here, as scars deliberately carved into his flesh, echo the character’s original inspiration, the character Gwynplaine from Victor Hugo’s novel The Man Who Laughs (1928).

Dialogue On Dialogue: Three times. That’s how many times Joker references his facial scars. Twice he provides an origin story, each one different. The third time with Batman, he doesn’t get to finish his story before Batman answers, “No, but I know how you get these.”

The fact Joker tells two differing stories about the cause of his scars is yet another sign of his trickster ways. Great use of a callback.