Knowing Gotham | Under Lens

Why Gotham? Why was Gotham City named so? Gotham was inspired by the darker alleys of New York City however Writer Bill Finger wanted to keep the template generic so that people from any Metro can identify with his imagination. Having a fictional name for the city was logical. Amongst many names like Civic City and Coast City, Gotham attracted his attention. It was a subtle reference to New York as it was a sort of nickname for the metropolitan.

How Does Gotham Look Like? Gotham is glorified in night. It rains in Gotham and it rains hard. Its chilly. It reflects the mood of the city. Common man are terrified and cons are at loose. Corruption is rampant. There is no hope even in existence of a vigilant like Batman. The divide between rich and poor is great not comforting by any means. Buildings of Gotham are inspired by Gothic Revival architecture that rose to prominence in mid-1700s. It has a strong Catholic  overture.

Crime World In Gotham: Crime is the only thing that made Gotham so famous. Batman comes close second. There are families – Italian families Falcone, Galante, Maroni, Sabatino and others like Dimitrov and Odessa, Black Mask and their successor Great White. There are Gangs like Ghost Dragons, Golden Dragons, Penguin, Sprang Brigade etc. Also there is Arkham Asylum and casual visitors like Joker. Gordon has a dirty job to do.

On Screen Gothams: On Screen we have seen New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Newark, Tokyo, Hong Kong etc. doubling as Gotham City.

Statesmen: Heath ‘Joker’ Ledger

An Australian died and the world cried. When The Dark Knight was released, people grew fanatic seeing one of the finest negative performance on screen. The whole career of Ledger is highlighted by two great performances. First, the bisexual character Ennis in The Brokeback Mountain and the devilish Joker in The Dark Knight.
The bi-character of Ennis needed a great understanding of human psyche and sincere empathy for people who are not comfortable with their homosexuality in public and end up with the trauma. Ledger’s performance in the movie is usually rated at par with those of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn.

In the character of Joker, he portrayed a sociopath, a mass-murderer for whom everything including massive bloodshed is nothing more than a small joke. Ledger went to great extent to get into character and did outperformed many outstanding performances.

But these two movies were not the greatest achievement of the actor who died due to an accidental toxic combination of prescription drugs.

He died on January 22, 2008 while more than half of the shooting of his final movie The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. After his untimely death, makers had few options. Maker Terry Gallium temporarily suspended the shooting of movie. He had no idea how will the movie be completed. But he knew it will be completed and will be dedicated to Ledger. Mode… he was not sure.

Finally, they came up with an option that has no known precedence in cinema. The stars, Johnny Depp, Collin Farrell and Jude Law signed on a pact to take over Ledger’s role of Tony; becoming multiple incarnations of his character. This was a generous tribute to one of the greatest actors of his generation. Moreover, the price paid to these actors will be donated to Ledger’s daughter Matilda. This was his greatest achievement. While many win accolades a few commands respect and love. Today, he is not alive but his memories are still fresh. Like the film, in life too, Joker had the last laugh.

Written By: Sujoy Ghosh