Didn't you say that we would lose money after filming?

First, Onick used a certain amount of space to analyze some aspects of "The Dark Knight", such as the use of light and shadow, lens language, adopted technology and shooting techniques, as well as the genre adopted by Xia Yuan, etc.

He also particularly pointed out the problem of the film's dark tone. The whole film's tone is so dark that it is very dark even in a movie theater with the lights turned off.

But he did not think this was a shortcoming, but instead praised it.

“It is this kind of darkness that makes the whole movie feel more elevated!”

And then, that's what's on the front.

The next long paragraph is about the analysis of one element, which takes up 80% of the article.

That is, the length of the Joker.

Onik specifically set aside 80% of the book to talk about the character of the Joker.

"It's hard for you to imagine how a director can endow a character with a soul. Next, let's get into this character that supports the entire movie and get to know this Chinese director who has always been seriously underestimated."

【The Joker: The embodiment of chaos philosophy and an experimenter of human nature

The Joker in The Dark Knight is far from a traditional villain; he is a pure messenger of chaos with no past and no clear motives.

Yes, it's amazing. Unlike conventional villains who pursue money, power or revenge, the Joker calls himself the "spokesman of chaos". His goal is not material gain, but to break the civilized disguise on the surface of society and expose the ugly nature deep in human nature. The scary thing about this character is that he does not achieve his goals directly through violence or terror, but carefully designs a series of moral dilemmas to force Gotham citizens and audiences to face the dark side that may exist in their hearts.

The philosophy of the clown played by Xia Yuan in the film can be summarized as a mixture of extreme nihilism and anarchism.

He did not believe in any form of order, morality, or rules, believing these to be nothing more than a fragile illusion created by humans to cover up their animal nature.

"When emergencies arise, these so-called civilized people, they eat each other," the Joker tells Harvey Dent in the hospital.

This idea culminates in the Joker's "Boat Dilemma" - two ferries full of passengers, one ordinary citizens and one criminals, each boat holds the detonator of the other, and the Joker declares that at midnight he will detonate the boat that has not made a choice.

This carefully designed experiment was intended to prove that in life-and-death situations, humans will not hesitate to sacrifice others in order to protect themselves.

The Joker's obsessive pursuit of Batman also reveals his deeper motivations - not to destroy Batman, but to corrupt him, proving that even the most staunch paragons of morality can fall."

You complete me,” the Joker says to Batman, suggesting that the two are two sides of the same coin.

In the Joker's eyes, Batman's justice is as extreme as the chaos he represents, but the former tries to maintain order through fear, while the latter destroys order through fear. This binary opposition constitutes the core ideological conflict of the film.

It is worth noting that the Joker's horror lies not only in his behavior, but also in his unpredictability.

As I think: "The whole city is the clown's laboratory. He is always beyond your expectations, always hiding in places you can't imagine, and always walking ahead of you.

"This unpredictability is demonstrated through carefully designed criminal plans - from the bank robbery at the beginning to pretending to be a nurse to blow up the hospital, to kidnapping and "transforming" Harvey Dent, every step of the Joker seems crazy but has its own internal logic. This contradictory quality is the core of the character's charm.

The second point is the analysis of Xia Yuan’s acting skills: the transformation from method to magic
Xia Yuan's interpretation of the Joker is the pinnacle of performing arts. This role is enough to make him forever engraved in the annals of film history. Yes, it is not an exaggeration at all!

Xia Yuan's performance is so shocking because he completely abandons the routine of traditional villain performances and creates a complex image that is both terrifying and fascinating. His performance can be analyzed from three levels: innovation in body language, breakthrough in sound design, and excavation of psychological depth.

The innovation of body language is the most intuitive highlight of Xia Yuan’s portrayal of the clown.

He endowed the character with a series of unique physical traits - nervous head twitches, predatory posture, and the iconic lip licking action (which I observed was a detail designed by Xia Yuan to express the dry mouth caused by the Joker's facial scars).

These movements seem random but are carefully designed, together constructing an image that is both physically and psychologically distorted. Particularly noteworthy is the way the clown walks - Xia Yuan deliberately imitates the movement of snakes, creating a gliding and weird effect, which strengthens the metaphor of the character as the "snake of human nature".

In terms of sound design, Xia Yuan created an unprecedented villain voice - sometimes low and hoarse like a whisper, sometimes sharp and piercing like an alarm, accompanied by neurotic laughter and sudden changes in tone.

This instability of the sound perfectly echoes the unpredictability of the Joker's character.

The famous line “Why so serious?” is enough to become an iconic line in pop culture.

And Xia Yuan’s performance of this line—first playfully teasing, then turning chillingly threatening—shows his amazing control over the character’s emotional transitions.

Then comes the excavation of psychological depth, which is the most shocking part of Xia Yuan's performance.

He refused to simply portray the Joker as a crazy monster, and instead hinted at the possible pain and wisdom behind the character through subtle changes in expression.

In the interrogation room scene, when Batman violently interrogated the Joker, Xia Yuan's expression gradually changed from pain to a strange pleasure, as if he was enjoying the torture. This performance instantly revealed the Joker's masochistic psychological structure.

Equally memorable is Xia Yuan's eye performance - those eyes sometimes sparkle with childlike innocence, sometimes are full of the sophistication of an old man, and sometimes turn into pure madness. This multi-layered change in the eyes makes it impossible for the audience to simply define the essence of this character.

Based on my subsequent understanding, I tried to ask some people inside Heye Company.

In conclusion, Xia Yuan's preparation process for the role has also become a Hollywood legend.

He reportedly spent a month alone in a hotel room, documenting the Joker's mental state in a diary and developing the character's voice and mannerisms.

This extreme experiential acting technique ultimately led to an unsettling fact—Xia Yuan seemed to have left a part of himself in the role forever.

As one reviewer put it, "I was not surprised to see the news about the actor being so immersed in the role that he could not get out. Given the performance, it would be strange if he was not immersed in the role." This complete fusion with the role ultimately created one of the most memorable performances in film history. 】

clown!

clown!

Still a clown!

Xia Yuan!

Xia Yuan!

Besides Xia Yuan, there is still Xia Yuan! (End of this chapter)