In Spider-Man's case the biggest liberty they took was switching from web-shooters to organics. Once again geeks (I use that as a term of endearment) were up in arms that this change was not only going to ruin the movie, but was going to ruin the character itself. 5-6 years after the first Spider-Man movie was released, barely anyone even brings it up anymore. Why? Because it made sense in the context of the movie.
Anything can make sense in the context of a scene in a film that the scriptwriter created. E.g.- In Spider-Man 2002- Peter gets bitten by a genetically modified Spider which grants him his powers. This makes sense because he was viewing genetically modified spiders as apposed to a demonstration in radiology where in by chance a spider becomes irradiated and then bites him. People don't bring up the movie organics anymore because it's old news, it was that or nothing, fans came to terms with it. That don't mean it was not a bad decision. It was.
Now you go to the Joker. A sadistic man who dresses up like a clown and is dead set on causing anarchy all over Gotham. Sounds pretty absurd to me, but even still should all logic be thrown out because we're dealing with a "fantasy movie"? Hardly.
I never said 'all logic should be thrown out', they are your words.
In order to try and diffuse my argument and validate yours, you over exaggerate an aspect of something I touched upon to make my outlook seem misguided. It's a common angle taken by posters on here, either that or you genuinely mis interpreted some issues I highlighted. Superhero comics are fantastical,- but still logical in terms of interactions between characters.
Look at how Bruce Wayne became Batman in "Batman Begins" he didn't lock Alfred in the cave and say "make me a suit" instead he used bits and pieces of technology from Wayne Enterprises as the basis of the Bat-suit. Last time I checked this was a MAJOR deviation from the original story....but people didn't seem to mind. Why? because it MADE SENSE. It was FAR more realistic for Bruce to incorporate things already made from Wayne Enterprises into his design for what would become the Bat-suit. Same thing can be said of the car. In the comics doesn't he create every single interpretation of the Batmobile? In "Batman Begins" he takes the Tumbler and modifies it...because it makes sense.
Sure it made sense for Bruce to use WE backlog of military suits and weaponry, but it would have made just as much sense for him to out source and pick the stuff up some other way and design/craft the suit with Alfred. I'm not saying there was anything wrong with the way it was done in the film. How he got his Bat suit / weapons is not that important, the fact that he has them is.
It's a crucial part of his identity. Just like However the Joker might have fallen into an acid bath in different versions of Batman over the years- that bit is not important. What is important is that he has bleached skin. His bleached white skin is a crucial part of his identity. It's not something he can take off, that's who he is.
I think in that respect, his bleached skin is like a mirrored version of Batman's costume.
Batman's costume is not really a suit he dons- it's who he really is, he has no choice- He is Batman. Bruce Wayne is the costume.
In the same way- the Joker has no point of consideration either- his bleached white skin symbolizes his totalitarian view on the world.
He is the Joker- 100% nut job psycho and it cannot be wiped away like make up.
Now you get geeks already complaining about the Joker because he isn't "permawhite" who cares?
Like I said- about half of the Bat-fans on these boards.
A good percentage of which are hardcore fans.
Obviously FOR YOU it is not a big deal, but that does not mean that it is not a big deal.
Does it mean the Joker isn't going to be sick, sadistic, and twisted? Hardly. In my opinion it makes him MORE sick, sadistic, and twisted because he has to sit there and put that on himself...thus adding to the fact that he's a few crayons short of a full box.
No it just means they missed the point in one aspect of the Joker.
There is nothing sick or sadistic about putting on make up. Heck every dumbass teen goth does it.
As the Joker is intended to be- Permawhite- Now that, is damn freaky and scary too.
I look at it like this. "Permawhite" Joker's skin is white all over, so it's like "hey, my skin is white like a clown, might as well play the part."
Well, you are looking at him wrong.
Joker is a psychopath, simple as.
Their is no consideration on his part about the way he is verses established normality.
He can only be one way.
His permawhite skin is just a really creepy and unique way of representing this visually.
TDK's Joker has to apply the make-up by himself, thus he makes the decision to look like that (except for the chelsea grin which I think is genius).
It's in the same vein of Bruce Wayne making the decision to become Batman and continue on doing what he does knowing that at any given time he could be killed.
Putting make up on is a similar decision to the choice Batman makes to fight crime?
No, the bleached skin is the perfect mirror to Batman as I have previously explained.
For neither of them is it a choice, it is who they are.
Joker making the decision to turn his face into a disgusting clown is FAR more chilling than a Joker who basically has no choice.
Like I said earlier- Joker's state of mind is just set one way.
It's not like he has choice or not, it's just who he is.
The bleached skin is the perfect visual representation of this- it is bizarre and freaky as hell- like him, and it is permanent.
Read up on serial killers and mass murders and you'll find that the majority of them killed out of a compulsion, like something was forcing them to do it, but it was their DECISION in how to commit the murders that is really frightening.
Sure, how they choose to kill someone is interesting, but it is beside the point.
The point is- they kill, and that is all, nothing else.
That's the interesting part for me- the way their brains work.
They are on a setting that we can't comprehend.
Joker's bleached skin is a great visual metaphor for this.
The whole "it's a comic book movie!" argument has never made sense to me at all. It's like saying "just because it's a comic book movie we should excuse all of the realism and logic" which is BS.
No it's not like saying that, it's like saying- 'because it's a comic book movie I think we should stick to the things that define these characters.'
Saying a movie "would have been" so much better simply because the main villain's skin is bleached white (by acid no less) is pretty absurd. You haven't even seen the movie, or Ledger's performance, yet you're already condemning it because the character's history isn't 100% ripped from the comics. Sounds like a case of judging a book by it's cover if you ask me.
I'm not judging the film- I think the it will be great- look at my sig. However the fact remains that since this version of the Joker is missing his signature bleached white skin, he is already inferior in one way to all previous live action incarnations. Get it right.
But here's the REALITY of the situation. No matter what you do, or how faithful you are to the comic books people will ALWAYS find something wrong with it.
That's a pretty generalized and worthless comment.
FACT IS- making Joker non permawhite is a pretty damn big deviation from the source. Sure it does not change his personality, but the uniqueness and creepiness of him having bleached white skin is integral to his visual identity, even more so than the purple suits, and it is also a great metaphor for his state of mind- like Batman he is locked onto one path and there is no escape. It is a compulsion to do what he does, and there is no way he could be anything else. It is not a mask that paints onto his face, that can sweat off.
And my argument with Spider-Man 3 wasn't that it wasn't faithful because quite frankly the whole "Secret Wars" thing just wouldn't work in a Spider-Man movie.
It actually would if we got a Spider-Man film that dropped us into the film mid way through Spidey's career and then the Secret War was referred to through flashbacks over a short period of time to recount how the symbiote was brought back to Earth.
and I disagree it doesn't look like anime but that discussion's for another day.
