Hello Hype, I've been lurking here for an exceedingly long time (pre-Begins days) but never had anything to impart. Now, I actually have a couple notes I'd like to raise.
First of all, this could have already been discussed, and I apologize if that's the case, but the DK forum is far too expansive to follow everything and my search terms would be much too ambiguous for me to really know for sure, so here goes:
It was mentioned pretty early on by Michael Caine (I think) that the Joker puts on makeup and "just leaves it on - never takes it off."
However, it's clear from the stills that his makeup is not only constantly retouched, but completely removed at one point (funeral scene) and reapplied in later scenes further in the chronology.
During the interrogation scene, which we pretty much know is early on in the movie, the makeup is smeared and in fact missing on a large part of his forehead. Looking at stills from later in the movie, you can see that it's been retouched at the very least, or possibly reapplied altogether.
These could be plain old continuity issues, funeral scene not withstanding, but I sorta doubt it. Not in this movie.
Caine's comments were actually substantial because, to me anyway, his explanation of the makeup was another bit of insight into the Joker's psychosis. He's not a guy who wakes up every day and does his makeup - he's a guy who just doesn't much care for washing up. For better or worse - that's debatable.
Do we have a final verdict on this situation? It would seem that Caine's words were false, unless I'm wrong about the chronology of the film, which could be the case. If anyone has a good answer for this, I'd like to read it.
As far as the Joker's scars are concerned, it's been talked into the ground and a lot of people have come up with some pretty plausible theories. I have one more to add to that list.
His scars were caused by an explosive placed inside his mouth.
Ridiculous. I know. I don't know much about ballistics, but I figure that depending on the nature of the device, it could possibly destroy the soft tissue of the cheeks, while only doing minor damage to the teeth and tongue. I don't know what kind of an explosive that would be, but in movie land it could possibly work. It's a relatively implausible idea, but allow me to explain why I came up with it.
First of all, watch the prologue. I know some people have made mention of the fact that the bank manager could have had something to do with the Joker's disfiguration. There's clear evidence supporting this claim when the Joker delivers his lines as he takes off his mask.
"Whatever doesn't kill us simply makes us... stranger."
Take a look at the bank manager's face when he realizes who just robbed him. The lines he delivers there, along with the facial reveal, both convince me that the bank manager was directly involved with the Joker's scarring. He recognizes this man. And he's not pleased to see him.
I know, I'd have a pretty shocked look on my face too if some random bank robber revealed that hideous face to me while I was laying in a pool of my own blood. But before you wash your hands of this notion, go watch the bootlegged prologue one more time with this in mind. Pay close attention to the way Heath delivers those lines, and the manager's reaction. Then make your judgement. This could possibly support the bomb-in-mouth thing, considering what the Joker does next.
I was looking at the recently shared picture of heath with the scar prosthetics on his face. Those are some pretty irregular keloid scars. The wound must have been horrific. If it was deliberately cut, it could have healed that way if it wasn't very well taken care of, but there are some places where it appears that tissue was not only lacerated, but blown away completely in small pieces here and there. It would seem that whatever caused that injury was something quick and powerful, not something slow and deliberate such as the chelsea grin theory, or the self-cut theory.
And as the bank manager lies on the floor, the Joker places a pretend grenade in his mouth as some kind of hilarious gag of irony. Funny how the tables can turn.
I'm interested in reading all thoughts and criticisms of this theory.
That's all I got for now. If this has all been discussed before, sorry for writing a novel about it. I encourage you to simply ignore my post if that's the case. It's a great community you guys have got here and I enjoy reading your discussions every day. Keep up the good work guys.
