Last week, we grabbed ahold of the hair on Nolan’s career and dragged the whole thing through the filter of film Noir. This week we’ll hypothesize if he’s saying anything about his career through the noir genre. Two quickies:
- I’m assuming you’ve seen Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, and Inception before I start this. I will unapologetically refer to any part of any of those films. Consider yourself alerted
- Nolan may or may not intend these meanings and we may or may not be able to infer them. I never assume I know all or even most of the answers – only questions, potentialities, hypotheses. At best, we can always wonder.
The first question people ask now is “Why Bane? Why choose Bane of all the villains for the third Batman? Wasn’t Bane like a side-character?”
Yes to the last question. Bane helped out the Penguin. To the second and first questions, we must assume it involves the Nolan’s noir-bias. Granted, Gotham points to noir. Every Batman villain fits the genre, but why Bane for crying out loud?
Well before I can attempt to answer “why Bane?” I must point out that it’s not just Bane. It’s Cat Woman. Talk about femme-fatale! This girl gets Batman into more trouble than she’s worth. Assuming Cat Woman gets him into the trouble, getting him toward Bane, what can we unearth?
Let’s look at the old Dark Knight trailer:
Notice anything?
We meet Harvey Dent, but we see none of his face scars, his insanity, his subplot that drives the last half of the movie. This is a great trailer –enough to stir our hunger but leaving stuff out for the actual show. Harvey didn’t die, did he? It’s been awhile, but I’m thinking he didn’t. Technically, the Joker didn’t either. So they might use Two-Face again…
Forget the subjunctives, what matters is Nolan kept a villain in his back pocket. Why? Because he loves noir and noir never shows us the real face of the real bad guy up front. It shows us in layers, in steps. There’s always something deeper. My guess? There’s something he’s hiding. Either that, or there’s a disappointment ahead for some fans, but I doubt it. It would be his first flop in a currently stunning career.
As for The Prestige, the key line says, “You don’t want to know the secret. You want to be fooled.” If Nolan’s talking about his films, as some assume, then he’s either referring to his fascination with the noir genre or the theme of The Prestige. I lean toward noir, since Borden talks so frequently about making your life the trick. Yes, I’m aware that this one’s based on a novel, but the Nolan brothers picked it and adapted it. They said, “yes” to the film – to taking on the magical apparatus of a story about two twin brothers that switch who goes into the box to set up the trick and who comes out to the applause of audiences. It’s much more fun to watch it over and over than to know he’s pulling from noir tropes to make his trick good. For any good noir is just that: a great trick. You don’t want to know that Angier’s morally ambiguous and will lose himself searching for the answer to the secret. Knowing the secret isn’t the point. You want to be fooled – like Borden the fool. With his last breath before the noose one Borden whispers, “Abracadabra,” and in the next breath, another Borden resurrects. You could say of Nolan “his life is the trick,” the noir trick, that is.
Inception sows the idea that noir changes our mind. Noir helps us deal with regret. The genre faces the hard, merciless facts of life and helps us wind through the labyrinth – an Ariadne that creates and perceives as it goes as we fill in the details. When we reach the cathartic moment – not just in noir but in screenplays in general – we learn the truth about the world and accept (most often) whatever the storyteller gives us, for good or bad. Then we leave the theatre and return to reality changed by the idea. For Nolan, the way to do that is to break down layers upon layers of protection inside an audience member. Christopher and Jonathan choose noir over other genres since it already has layers built in, with paradox and backtracking, cons and confusion. We build our walls up, but they tear them down by taking us into limbo – the absurd irony of most noir endings.
For the Nolan brothers it looks like an amnesiac who’s forcing himself to forget, a magician that has no secret – he’s just a warlock or doppelgänger in disguise, a vigilante good-guy turned bad guy or an extractor practicing inception. Like many noir films, they confuse reality and fantasy at the end, leaving the decision up to the audience.
Based on Chris’ frustration with people thinking the kids were different and based on the absence of Cob’s wedding ring, I believe the ending of Inception to show us Cob’s reality.
However, as a writer I appreciate their choices in an ambiguously absurd finale. They force you to think about their films long after you leave. You can force yourself to forget, you can try to find the secret, you can put up all your defenses, but at the end of the day, you want to be fooled. You want their ideas to change you.
Thoughts?
Why Bane? Why not, I ask? I inevitably think of his breaking of the Bat in the the old-but-good Knightfall series. Bane was tough, and he hurt Batman like he’d never been hurt before. Though, honestly, I think Killer Croc would’ve been a pretty cool villain, though Nolan tends to dislike the supernatural. A Ra’s al Ghul return would be okay, too, though.
This dislike/disuse of the supernatural also fits perfectly with the noir themes, as noir is rather firmly rooted in Reality (usually). Interesting posts, friend. Nolan definitely wants us to think, to think and to be entertained!
Thanks so much, LoganK!
Yeah, I think supernatural works in Noir as long as it’s included in labyrinth, house of mirrors, frame-in-frame or in progressive layers. We see that in Inception somewhat and also in Doodlebug.
Good point. Bane broke the Bat’s back, didn’t he?
Yep, and reduced Bruce Wayne to a crippled shell of a man for a spell.
Wow. Maybe that’s the conclusion?
Hi:
Which other noir directors or films do you enjoy or have you seen?
I suppose I see some noir influsences in Nolan but feel that your original definition of noir was too pat, or confining. Do you watch Lynch? Or old noir/foregn noir?
curious as ever~~Dobie
Hey sis – good to have you back!
CHINATOWN everytime.
SKY CAPTAIN was fun, but hokey – charming, but toothless
DICK TRACEY
SHERLOCK HOLMES
WINTER’S BONE
BRICK
THE USUAL SUSPECTS
FARGO
HEAT
CASINO
REAR WINDOW
want to see:
THE MALTESE FALCON
Yeah, I haven’t but I want to. I may concede that my definition is too pat and confining, but only after confessing that if pat, then nonexistent. Film critics never agree on what should and should not be included in the noir genre and therefore rarely include it in official genre lists.
Because of that, I feel free to call any morally ambiguous amateur with dark themes delving into an ever-deepening underbelly “noir.” Yes, that’s pat, but at least it includes a lot of things that have trouble being defined otherwise.
Thoughts?
Hi! Actually, your definition is fine. I was thinking about this. You aren’t delving into film noir per se, but just using it as a framework to analyze Nolan’s work. So in that context, you are free to pick and choose which elements support your argument.
I think that Nolan clearly uses noir tropes in sci-fi films. Which is just plain cool. But each story is extremely different, of course. Well, he is more limited by Batman.
When it comes to Inception, I have read many theories, and you know what? Most of them are plausible. Which I think was Nolan’s goal. Well that and to wink at everyone with the ending.
Actual inception can happen in ordinary life. I believe it happens in very young children. So, one could tear off on a whole Freud/Jung analysis of Inception and so on, and so on….
It is all fun.
Do you think Blade Runner used noir tropes? Of course. It is used a lot in popular comic/graphic novel adaptation. Once you look, it is everywhere. Wait, WInter’s Bone? Noir? Can’t wrap my head around that one. Also, Tarantino….LYNCH!
As for why Bane? Because he is very physically powerful, violent, insane and smart. So, he fits in. I do not believe they will end the trilogy with Batman ruined. More like renewed after his failures of the last film.
So, yeah….Nolan uses noir tropes, but I think his films transcend their use.
Sweet. Yeah, this is more about Nolan and Noir than Noir and Nolan – you’re right. Thanks for that!
I agree with you entirely – a great story has depth and probably borrows from many things. I’m certain his ending, though he believe it to be reality, is intentionally ambiguous – you’re right.
Oh yeah, inception is the thing of stories. A great storyteller practices inception all the time – a simple idea embedded in catharsis that the reader/viewer/listener automatically adopts. We do that with story books most often because, other than the theater, our childhood is the most story-saturated time of life.
Absolutely. Blade Runner’s got that feel. I don’t know if I’d say “everywhere” but it shows up often – Watchmen as I said a couple of weeks ago.
Yeah, the “why bane” question was reaching, I’ll admit. I’m a Marvel guy, so I’m out of my league when it comes to all things DC.
Yeah, “The knight is darkest just before the dawn.” – Harvey Dent.
Well yeah, a great story SHOULD transcend genre. Genre’s there for creative limitations, not for thematic restriction. Genre’s a micro-medium – film being the macro. With that medium, you can paint a picture using any theme – it’s just the tools and supplies he uses for his job. They’re great stories (well, Dark Knight’s an okay story), so they should rise above their genres.
Great thoughts.