Nolan's Trademarks

The Oscar Nominated writer and director to whom this site is dedicated.
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My Fav. Nolan Trademarks.

1. The Protagonists aren't all so good-Outside of Batman, and possibly Insomnia (yet to see) Nolan has never created a film where the protagonist was just good or bad. No, Nolan lets you decide about the protagonist. For example
Lenny in Memento to me is actually a bad guy, I think he just lies to himself in order to give himself a purpose in life. Also in Following, and Inception the guys are thieves (or Cobb is an extractor), in The Prestige both characters become so obsessed they both lean to the bad side.
Also even in
TDK, Batman is actually not perfect, he let's people die in order to keep his identity a secret (though this is more a case of sacrifices must be made in order for good to prevail).
This leads me to his 2nd point.

2. Due to his protagonists being not nessacirily "good" the fact that we root for them at certain moments leads me to believe that we can identify certain aspects of ourselves in these people which shows all of us that we do have bad characteristics in ourselves, or that these "bad" people have good characteristics. Which shows us that life isn't black and white.

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The Silent Guardian wrote:My Fav. Nolan Trademarks.

1. The Protagonists aren't all so good-Outside of Batman, and possibly Insomnia (yet to see) Nolan has never created a film where the protagonist was just good or bad. No, Nolan lets you decide about the protagonist. For example
Lenny in Memento to me is actually a bad guy, I think he just lies to himself in order to give himself a purpose in life. Also in Following, and Inception the guys are thieves (or Cobb is an extractor), in The Prestige both characters become so obsessed they both lean to the bad side.
Also even in
TDK, Batman is actually not perfect, he let's people die in order to keep his identity a secret (though this is more a case of sacrifices must be made in order for good to prevail).
This leads me to his 2nd point.

2. Due to his protagonists being not nessacirily "good" the fact that we root for them at certain moments leads me to believe that we can identify certain aspects of ourselves in these people which shows all of us that we do have bad characteristics in ourselves, or that these "bad" people have good characteristics. Which shows us that life isn't black and white.
nobody in memento is good.

but its always ambiguous. i did a paper in college arguing that office space is a drama and the only good guy is Lumberg. the 3 workers are horrible people. thats my argument. and i said we shouldnt be rooting for them.

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in simple terms they are all bloody criminals lol

*a thief
*a serial killer
*a corrupt cop
*an out-law vigilante
*two obsessive artists set to destroy one another

and... *another thief that can mess up your mind.

but yeah, all of Nolan movies invites us to see beyond simple dogmas, good and evil, right and wrong, etc - as we go along the journey with these characters, most of the time we realize everyone has their own perspective of life and purpose.

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I think that's his main trademark; giving purpose and making us feel sympathetic towards people we would often frown upon in normal society, such as thief's and killer's, but always putting good intention behind their actions.

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sickofsickness wrote: nobody in memento is good.
I liked Sammy Jankis' wife, she seemed nice.
If she plays cranium she gives good brainium.

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bLaZe wrote:I think that's his main trademark; giving purpose and making us feel sympathetic towards people we would often frown upon in normal society, such as thief's and killer's, but always putting good intention behind their actions.
Indeed. I love that he sees people as more than just simply good and bad:- people in real life are rarely black and white. I actually read a comment by someone whose friends all supposedly hated Inception because what the characters did for a living was immoral in their view, and I was baffled by that point of view. If all cinema did was represent good, honest people who take down the 'bad' guys, it would not only be very boring but films as a whole be utterly devoid of any realism whatsoever. I connect with Nolan's films and characters because they are complex and not really either all good or all bad. In this way I think he is very much like Michael Mann - I liked and sympathised with DeNiro as much as I did Pacino in Heat and actually went 'fuck NO' when a more minor 'bad' character was shot in that same film.

I feel sad for people who only want cinema to reflect their own ideals. I'm glad Nolan thinks more of his audience and trusts them to make up their own minds about what is good and what is bad and whether those definitions apply at all.

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I find Leonard's case to be the most interesting, he is so unaware of how fucked up he is ha ha
yet he believes he's got a purpose in life and I love the character because of that
is like that purpose is the one thing that will never fade
:clap:

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OVERMAN wrote:I find Leonard's case to be the most interesting, he is so unaware of how fucked up he is ha ha
yet he believes he's got a purpose in life and I love the character because of that
is like that purpose is the one thing that will never fade
:clap:
I think it's very hard to try to judge someone like Leonard. It's just such a strange case. :mrgreen:

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Yeap, couldn't agree more, and ironically it's also as easy as what kind of person "you" are what helps you define Leonard, what do you want to believe he did...

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I don't know if this counts as a trademark, but I often find that my perception of the characters in his films changes with a second viewing:

Memento: Obviously I didn't know the twist at first, but the second time, you pick up on hints toward's the true nature of Lenny's revenge and he seems more like a villain.
The Prestige: For some reason, I felt sorry for Angier and saw Borden as a bad person, but once I saw the Borden twist (twins) I felt more sympathy for him the second time I saw it.
Inception: I was kind of lost in the spectacle first time around, but when I saw it for the second time I felt sympathy for Fischer, who was being Incepted. This is perhaps because once you witness what Inception did to Mal - it destroyed her.

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