THE Batman

Rating: 6/10 (10 September 2008)

For some reason I was very distracted by everyone throughout referring to Batman as "the" Batman. Why not "the" superman and "the" spiderman? I find the depiction of mental illness generally or psychiatric conditions more specifically saddening. For instance, there were two individuals depicted prominently in the film as recruits of Joker (or the Joker) one classified as a "paranoid schizophrenic" (which ultimately led the Batman to have mercy on him as Dent (as if Aaron Eckhart could hurt anyone even with half of that trusting face) was apparently about to torture him further by presumably impaling him with a quarter. Enough with that quarter! The other was screaming like a typical of course mental patient behind bars about his voices. The Joker was himself presented as a potential mental case as well. Was not Dent concerned about "psychotic" ex boyfriends at the party. Clearly he did not mean medically in a psychotic state.
So what's in a (yet another) stigmatizing depiction of people with mental health conditions negative portrayal as mental illness=violence towards others? In fact these recruits clearly had no morality to do the Joker's dirty devil's work. In fact the Green Mile look a like Black (of course) convict got to be the moral one to throw away the detonator. How very interesting.
Arguably though not for sure - Heath Ledger was suffering from something - something that could be for sure be considered mental illness and stigmatized as well. Well anxiety seemed to be a given, was not depression, or something else? Maybe he even had a bout of psychosis as well, who really knows. Never mind the labels. Maybe he could have received better help from a friend, a doctor, society, or anyone. No one seems to know what to do with these types of problems, there are barriers to getting help especially even when people can reach out and others feels powerless to help. Movies would be a phenomenal step for reaching out to help conquer the stigma of mental health issues. Did "Philadelphia" help educate people on HIV and Aids. Tom Hanks is so loved anything he does works.
What does not help the stigma is characterizing people with schizophrenia as immoral, desperate, violent people.
That's why I didn't love the dark knight, THE batman.