Daily Dialogue — January 16, 2017

CHECHEN: Dog or not, what you do with all your money?
JOKER: You see, I’m a guy of simple taste. I enjoy, uh, dynamite… and gunpowder… and… gasoline.
CHECHEN: What’s this?
JOKER: Ah, tut tut! And you know the thing they have in common? They’re cheap.
CHECHEN: Said you were a man of your word.
JOKER: Oh, I am. I’m only burning my half. (Lights the money pile) All you care about is money. This town, it deserves a better class of criminal, and I’m going to give it to them. Tell your men they work for me, now. This is my city.
CHECHEN: They won’t work for a freak.
JOKER: (Mocking) “Freak.” Why don’t we cut you up into little pieces and feed you to your pooches? Hmm? And then we’ll see how loyal a hungry dog really is. It’s not about money, it’s about sending a message. Everything burns.

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

The Daily Dialogue theme for next week: Greed, suggested by Jenny McNabb. Today’s recommendation by Will King.

Trivia: Heath Ledger directed both homemade videos that the Joker sends to GCN himself. The first video involving the fake Batman was done under Christopher Nolan’s supervision. Nolan thought Ledger had done so well with that sequence, he felt there was no need for him to be there when it came time to film the scene where reporter Mike Engel reads the Joker’s statement. He put his trust in Ledger and let him do whatever he wanted, ultimately pleased with the result after he’d seen the outcome.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “The Joker uses greed to his advantage by using money to capture and eliminate The Chechen. In an odd way, both The Joker and Batman worked to eliminate the same problem: the mob underground of Gotham. But, where Batman sought justice and order, the Joker sees their obsession with money as a petty crime. His obsession, his greed, isn’t for money, but for what he sees as a higher purpose.

This scene also ties back into a running sub-theme about destruction through fire. The Joker’s last line calls back to two of Alfred’s comments. One was Alfred’s experience while trying to capture a bandit by burning down the forrest. It also references Alfred’s warning to Bruce that ‘Some men just want to watch the world burn.’”