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Dogs in the Dark Knight small spoilers.....

Posted : 7/26/2008 8:10:14 AM

SPOILERS

This is not a complaint thread, but more of something I found very interesting. If you have not seen the movie I will not reveal too many details but you may want to proceed with caution anyway--SPOILERS

I just saw The Dark Knight last night, and was struck by the number of dog appearances/references in the movie. There were so many that my English major brain could not help but think that this was not an accident.

--Batman is attacked but rotties in the beginning of the movie

--he specifically mentions that he needs a suit that will hold up against dog attacks after being badly bitten and stitched up

--The Joker hangs his head out the window like a dog after escaping jail

--The Joker actually refers to himself as "a dog chasing cars"--just "doing"--not really knowing what he would do with the car if he caught it

--one of the characters refers to The Joker as a "mad dog" that another character left off his chain

--The Joker tells another character he is going to cut him up, feed him to his dogs, and see how loyal hungry dogs really are

--near the end The Joker is guarded by rotties that all attack Batman

--Batman tells the police commissioner that they need to "set the dogs on him"

--at the end of movie there are police dogs lunging at the ends of their leashes that are eventually released to chase Batman

I was just wondering if I was the only one who noticed this? I have my own ideas as to why it was done this way, but I was curious what others thought......

Chuffy

Posted : 7/26/2008 8:49:38 AM

Yup I noticed it too, but I have no idea as to "why" either. Maybe it's just the dog-nerd brain type.... I don't think other, non-dog people in the cinema even noticed.

I was actually not bothered at all by the portrayal of Rotties in the film either.

VanMorrison

Posted : 7/26/2008 11:54:55 AM

I thought about how some, including idoggers, would feel about the rotties in the movie. BTW, they are the same rotties that belong to the same bad guy throughout the movie and the Joker ends up with them through his wily, evil ways. I don't think any of the dogs were portrayed badly, other than doing what their baddie owners commanded them to do.

I did think that the police dogs were gorgeous although I'm no GSD or Mal expert.

Dog_ma

Posted : 7/26/2008 2:51:57 PM

I think the dogs are meant to portray, for the Joker, what people are or should be under all the pretension towards being "civilized."

What do you think?

Sunshinegirl

Posted : 7/26/2008 10:39:07 PM

I noticed as well and I just kept thinking, as with the Verizon commercial with the pit and the cell phone commercial with the dobie, once again the portrayal of certain "vicious" breeds. It just perpetuates that stigma with those breeds. Although I understand that clearly it would not be the same with chihuahua's. JMO

malnmutt

Posted : 7/26/2008 11:49:29 PM

I noticed it too! Loved it, actually.

The joker doesn't have a sense of right or wrong and only does. Isn't that what we all love about our dogs? They just "do"... The dogs don't plan, they don't scheme, they don't try to control the world; they only act.

TheDogHouseBCMPD

Posted : 8/6/2008 2:04:28 PM

sillysally
I have my own ideas as to why it was done this way, but I was curious what others thought......

Just saw it last night. I have no idea why they chose to do it this way, but I'd love to hear your ideas.

Liesje

Posted : 8/6/2008 2:14:57 PM

I just saw it last night. I like seeing dogs in movies, even if it's stereotypical, lol. There was one dog I think in the hospital scene that looked like a Mal (couldn't really see the head) but the rest of the police dogs looked like west German GSDs.

Anonymous

Posted : 8/6/2008 3:10:11 PM

I noticed all of the dogs too, but I think its because I'm a dog person. DH didn't really notice so he says. LOL. I didn't really think about it, nor did it bother me so much.

DumDog

Posted : 8/6/2008 3:42:16 PM

check to see if the writer/direct is a dog nerd OR if he has a FEAR of guard dogs. i refuse to call them vicious simply because a vicious dog has no training or desire to protect. those dogs sound like they had a job to do and were doing it well.

i dont know. havent seen the movie yet, i'll get around to it eventually ;)

DogPark

Posted : 8/6/2008 5:22:12 PM

I didn't pick up on it at the time but now that you mentioned it, there certainly was a theme there. Very interesting!

Dogs in the Dark Knight *small spoilers*.....

Dogs in the Dark Knight *small spoilers*.....

Dogs in the Dark Knight small spoilers.....

Dogs in the Dark Knight small spoilers.....