Female Representation In The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight representation of leading females defy some aspects of the stereotypical view beautiful females in terms of storyline, yet still, conforms to the view through mise-en-scene. The use of costume and make-up to visualise a female character as voyeuristic can be shown in Figure 2 and 3. Rachael Dawes whole figure appears in semi-tight fitting, low cut green dress in Figure 2 and her attire during her interrogation with Mr Lay shows the top of her shirt unbutton in Figure 3 to express her character as a passive, sexualized form of the female figure for the eyes of the male gaze (Mulvey, L. 1999). Additionally, the make-up used for the female leading character help “accentuate expressive qualities” of the actress attractive face.

In this film’s storyline, Rachael chooses to be with another man, Harvey Dent and not with Bruce Wayne (the hero). This female character goes against the narrative convention of the hero ‘getting the girl’ at the end. Interestingly her character also serves a purpose in the context of the storyline, specifically her death. “the death of a woman, fulfils a separate narrative function” as Rachael’s death serves as a catalyst agent for the downfall of Batman’s emotional state and the birth of a new villain: Two-Face at the climax which sets the storyline of the film into a new direction as well as giving the hero more incentive to take down the villain that kill her. The function of women being sacrificed “to propel the male protagonist into the action storyline” can be referenced in another Christopher Nolan film The Prestige (2006), the protagonist wife Julia drowned in a magic act that gone wrong which propels the protagonist into depression and spark his obsession to win against his rival whom he believes is responsible for her death In Braveheart, the protagonist’s wife execution propel him into action in rebelling against the English throughout the