Dark Knight and Exposition

[Chaoticsouls]

I feel like Nolan went overboard with the exposition in this movie. For example with Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent which Dent said:

"You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Nolan seem to feel the need to spoon-food the audience on what exactly was going on in the scene. Nolan makes his characters explain the film instead of showing us through the character's actions and letting the viewer realize what is really going on. It would have been better to convey the motives visually. We see similar scenes where Joker explains everything out in the interrogation scenes or when Alfred gives one of his speeches. I still think the film was great, but just some problems I had with it. When Burton did Batman he tended to show more in his scenes when he had Bruce mourn his parent's deaths.

[Addicted2Movies]

I feel like Nolan went overboard with the exposition in this movie. For example with Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent which Dent said:

"You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain."

Nolan seem to feel the need to spoon-food the audience on what exactly was going on in the scene. Nolan makes his characters explain the film instead of showing us through the character's actions and letting the viewer realize what is really going on. It would have been better to convey the motives visually. We see similar scenes where Joker explains everything out in the interrogation scenes or when Alfred gives one of his speeches. I still think the film was great, but just some problems I had with it. When Burton did Batman he tended to show more in his scenes when he had Bruce mourn his parent's deaths.

Nolan's Batman films give me a bit of a Shakespearean vibe...I think the explicit exposition complements the style quite well.

[Mr. Caine]

Nolan knows the truth.The regular movie joe coudn't even tell that was exposition and even with it most of them still didn't fully grasped tdk

[Mason]

Nolan IS actually the master of exposition.

[George]

Nolan's Batman films give me a bit of a Shakespearean vibe...I think the explicit exposition complements the style quite well.

I disagree. It's actually jarring for me in TDK when there are such explicit exposition scenes considering how realistic and grounded the rest of the film tries to be.

[Robin]

Nolan's Batman films give me a bit of a Shakespearean vibe...I think the explicit exposition complements the style quite well.

I disagree. It's actually jarring for me in TDK when there are such explicit exposition scenes considering how realistic and grounded the rest of the film tries to be.

I agree with Addicted2Movies, these movies are going for a "Shakespearean" tone. A universe grounded in both realism and the fantastical. George, these movies aren't trying to be realistic at all - I wish more people could grasp the difference between a hightend reality and trying to be realistic. Not the same at all. Nothing about Batman Begins or The Dark Knight point to a franchise going for authenticity, they're just grounded in a reality so we care about what's going on and what happens to the characters. Stuff like a powerful microwave emitter, designed to vaporize water, Isn't that far fetched, but sure as hell not realistic. Same can be said about a lot in these movies - and It's the right approach for Batman.

That's why complaining about some of these "unrealistic" thing is so utterly ridiculous.

And the line "You either die the hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain." if fucking gold. You won't find multilayerd lines like that in any other comic-book movie. If that isnt "shakespearean", I don't know what is. It taps more into the thematic values than being exposition, and it's very, very memorable.. It's the classic Citizen Kane move of introducing something early in a film and then bring it back later with more importance or a different context. Nolan does that A LOT, and he is the best at it. The best.

[Addicted2Movies]

Its going to be hard to explain what I'm trying to get at through words but I'll try. What I find almost "Shakespearean" in these films is that many of the conflicts are not formed through logical scenarios but due to a conflict of ideals linked together by a powerful overarching theme. The exposition brings the theme into the spotlight and places what would be considered the plot line into the background...even if this is just for a few seconds. It gives the film the appearance of being driven by theme and not simply its plot. To many this may seem insulting that Nolan explicitly states this concept outright in the film, but to me it is simply a complement to the style he utilizes in the Batman films.

[mchekhov 2: Chek Harder]

Inception has the exposition issues, TDK never bothered me.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.

I wouldn't consider that spoon-feeding the audience, since it's A) cryptic (i.e. doesn't just apply to vigilantism) and B) doesn't feel heavy handed or take you out of the scene.

[Robin]

Inception has the exposition issues, TDK never bothered me.

Agreed, even though most of the exposition in Inception is amazing ideas. I don't mind exposition as long as its entertaining and moving the film along, but sometimes Ellen Page is too much in that one.
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[christophmac]

Yeah I don't like it when films spoon feed the audience the general themes, but in TDK I didn't mind because the general theme came full circle at the powerful ending scene.