Gotham City : dark, dangerous, 'protected' only by a mostly corrupt police department. Despite the best efforts of D.A. Harvey Dent and police commissioner Jim Gordon, the city becomes increasingly unsafe...until a Dark Knight arises. We all know criminals are a superstitious, cowardly lot...so his disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. He becomes a bat. Enter Vicky Vale, a prize-winning photo journalist who wants to uncover the secret of the mysterious "bat-man". And enter Jack Napier, one-time enforcer for Boss Grissom, horribly disfigured after a firefight in a chemical factory...who, devoid of the last vestiges of sanity, seizes control of Gotham 's underworld as the psychotic, unpredictable Clown Prince of Crime...the Joker. Gotham 's only hope, it seems, lies in this dark, brooding vigilante. And just how does billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne fit into all of this?
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The overarching principle in the Batman saga is of a wealthy citizen who, when frustrated by the crime and corruption of Gotham , creates a secret identity and takes crime fighting into his own hands. Through his assumption of the mask, Batman becomes something far greater than a mere vigilante. The transcendent quality of the mask affects both the Batman persona as well as those who grow to need him. The double edged part of his assumed persona is that the mask of Batman and Bruce Wayne become two competing identities. This struggle between the man and the mask becomes more prevalent throughout the film.
In the case of Jack Napier / The Joker, Jack Napier ceases to be when he completely assumes the identity of The Joker. The Joker's clown character retains certain humorous characteristics of a clown including his exaggerated colourful dress, his exuberant expressions and actions. The clown however becomes a figure of maniacal madness. As seen best in his walk through the museum, he inverts the experience of places and even people, usurping them into his own mad world. The spread of the clown through the laughing gas in the film makes the clown figure into something fearsome, uncontrollable and contagious.
It should be mentioned however that The Joker of the original DC comics dates back to 1940. Although a back story is made for Jack Napier in Batman (1989), the official Batman comic has never had an official story of the origin of the Joker. This is maintained in Nolan's Dark Knight, where the history of the Joker changes each time he tells it. Common to most renditions of his character however, that exists in both Batman feature movies, is of a fiendishly intelligent lunatic with a warped, sadistic sense of humour.
While the character of Batman doesn'y change from the comics, to any feature movie, the character of Bruce Wayne does change. This is itself a testimony to the power of his mask. In Burton 's version, Bruce Wayne is a largely enigmatic character, whose past is a mystery to most and who seems to exist in society as a wealthy eccentric. In Nolan's version, Bruce Wayne's family history is a legacy that is stitched into Gotham City with Wayne Tower at the centre of the city itself. The mask-less Bruce is the main character of this film. In Batman (1989) the character of Bruce Wayne is truly secondary to that of Batman.
