View Full Version : Fanboys gone wild
fuglystick
02-12-2009, 03:03 PM
Apparently there is a group of TDK fans who thought Ledger's performance as the Joker was so OMG AWESOME that the character should be retired forever.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/02/12/ledgerjokercampaign.screeningroom/index.html
I appreciated Ledger's performance as much as anyone, but GTFO. The Joker is a cultural icon, and bigger than any actor who portrays him. People who engage in this degree of fawning make me nauseous.
cheebacheeba
02-12-2009, 03:11 PM
:rolleyes:
I've said this before....the guy did a great job for that Joker, for Nolans Joker, for a 'twist' on the Joker in the slightly skewed version of the DC/Bat universe Nolan established...but, he wasn't the be all and end all...he wasn't the only Joker that ever, or could be.
In fact, he didn't really much resemble the Joker of ongoing continuity too much at all...for what it was, great job. But this shit is stupid - the studios aren't going to take any such petitions seriously - if a film is made with another Joker role, it'll be made, as will much money - it's pretty obvious, that these asses would still go see another Batman film with the Joker just to get to say how terrible the new one was by comparison.
The rest of us "normal" people will move on...and see a movie just because.
milktoaste
02-12-2009, 04:20 PM
Sure he may have raised the a bar, but to retire an iconic character like some football jersey number-that's just stupid.
neverending
02-12-2009, 04:41 PM
There's an online petition for everything.
Despare
02-12-2009, 04:56 PM
He was great, as good as Jack in my opinion but not really better... just different. Worth "retiring" the character? Hardly...
The_Return
02-12-2009, 06:41 PM
Do I think that he was the ultimate embodiment of the character? Yes.
Do I think that anyone else could live up to Heath's spellbinding performance? Christ no.
But to retire the character outright? These people are fucking retarded.
Part of the beauty of The Joker's character is that he changes, constantly. In Arkham Asylum, he is described as not having any real personality, reinventing himself daily to suit his own mood.
Every portrayal of him shows a different aspect of his scarred psyche. The Joker in Dark Knight is totally different from The Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, and even further removed from Nicholson's take in Batman. To go farther, none of these versions really match the comic: depending on the writer, he is either brutally sadistic, menacingly playful, harmlessly amusing and absolutely everything in between.
Personally, I think Heath Ledger's take on The Joker is damn near the perfect embodiment of the character. His portrayal lives up to my own perfect idea of what the Joker should be - and I'm just about the biggest Joker fanboy you'll ever meet. Does that mean I think they should stop using the character? Fuck no...this is a major step in the character's evolution. To let him die here would be a greater affront to Heath's memory that re-casting him would be.
Where's the Caesar Romero love man
http://kezins.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/joker_13.jpg
Ferox13
02-13-2009, 05:41 AM
The_Return - good post.
urgeok2
02-13-2009, 06:25 AM
Where's the Caesar Romero love man
he showed the 'funny as hell but not the slightest bit of menace' side of the Joker :)
Despare
02-13-2009, 06:59 AM
Part of the beauty of The Joker's character is that he changes, constantly.
Even his origin story is unclear and always shifting, hell, maybe we could see The Joker as Red Hood in the next flick.
ferretchucker
02-13-2009, 07:31 AM
Ledger most likely wouldn't have wanted to be the cause for the death of a character that is, as good as his performance was, so much more than him.
milktoaste
02-13-2009, 07:36 AM
Maybe we should retire gay cowboys too.
ferretchucker
02-13-2009, 08:33 AM
Maybe we should retire gay cowboys too.
They should have been retired before they were shown.
_____V_____
02-13-2009, 08:53 AM
I ll bring my point from a slightly different perspective...
1989. Tim Burton's Batman. A certain brilliant performer called Jack Nicholson slammed into the minds of crazed Bat-fans THE milestone performance as the gleeful maniacal madman who is arguably the most famous character in comicbook-dom.
Then followed the animated series. Portrayals which showed all the vivid personas of the same character. But that is a different story.
19 years later, before TDK released...how many of us thought of even drawing any sort of parallels between Nicholson's Joker & Ledger's Joker?
Let's be honest here.
Did anyone even DREAM about doing such a comparison?
No.
Fanboys expected a competent act by Ledger at the most, because we ALL felt Nicholson's shoes were very, very big to fill.
And everyone knows what happened after TDK released...
Heath raised the bar. He took his Joker to the next step.
Today, people vote for Heath's Joker over Jack's Joker.
Thats what he has done. His achievement. He has raised the bar, the level.
Can it be matched? I say yes.
Can it be topped? I say, YES.
If it was impossible to top Jack (according to all), and YET he was topped...then its certainly possible to top Heath.
Actors may die, but characters never die. They stay immortal.
Its just a question of the next big performance - the one who will fill Heath's shoes and take it to yet another level.
The level the madman has acquired in almost 70 years of comicbook history. Bring THAT madman to life, and we will have the winner. He will be The Joker. Our Joker.
ferretchucker
02-13-2009, 09:55 AM
Although, I wouldn't want them to bring Joker back in this series of films. Maybe mention him or something, but I think that particular portrayal of the Joker was nailed by Heath, and even if there was an actor who could do a better joker, I don't know if they could do his joker. Also, I hate bad continuity.
milktoaste
02-13-2009, 10:02 AM
Although, I wouldn't want them to bring Joker back in this series of films. Maybe mention him or something, but I think that particular portrayal of the Joker was nailed by Heath, and even if there was an actor who could do a better joker, I don't know if they could do his joker. Also, I hate bad continuity.
Well sure noones going to do 'his' Joker, that would be tasteless. But in a decade it's almost a certainty that we'll see another Joker on screen. Atleast I hope there will be, the Joker is too enertaining to leave behind.