The Dark Knight Poster Analysis

The Dark Knight.

One of the most recognised thriller films of the present is The Dark Knight, and the poster is very typical of the thriller genre and its conventions throughout.

The title of the film holds significance in each word of the title. Firstly, take the first word of the title: 'Dark'. Darkness and shades of black are very common amongst thriller posters, with other examples being 'The Number 23' and 'Inception'. The darkness itself has connotation with evil and wrongdoing, and amongst the poster we can see that darkness plays a very dominant role; most of the poster is an eerie grey, with large clouds looming in the background, hinting at the potential turmoil to come in the plot. By contrast, the second word of the title, 'Knight' - a knight is often associated with nobility and heroism, so to have these two contrasting words in the title is confusing. The font is in bright white and capitals and clearly stands out against the dark background, further enhancing this notion of heroism as white is typically associated with righteousness, and the capitals may have been used to present an idea of firmness and power

The prominent figure in the centre of the poster, without prior knowledge, we would assume to be the protagonist due to his positioning and he being the only one on the poster. His stance is a very controlling and powerful one, with his fists clenched and his head raised high to really portray power. However, the poster doesn't entirely fit to thriller conventions in this aspect. The protagonist is dressed in all black, which, as mentioned, we would normally connote with the villain, yet he seems to appear heroic - this representation is quite confusing. Assuming we do not know anything of the plot or characters, we could look further in to this and relate it to the only bright image in the poster, the burning bat on the tall building.

The character's mask has two spike-like attachments on the top, which match that of the bat ears in the blazing inferno behind him. You could interpret this in two ways: the use of contrasting colour here, for mainly darkness to one bright image, similarly to the 'Shutter Island' poster, could convey the bringing of the salvation - we can see a lot of damage and debris in the poster and perhaps this figure is the one to bring this hope in the movie. On the flip side, and possibly more strongly, maybe this figure is the one who is responsible; it is what the poster strongly suggests as the character is standing strong in front of this destruction.

This character is an enigma; he is very mysterious as to what his motives are. We get the impression that this figure is seen as evil, yet there are undertones of heroic motives

The location we see is very typical of thriller films: it is a city setting, and the lighting makes it seem like a very dark, mysterious place, with plenty of shadows. Then there is the burning building and debris everywhere, hinting at violence and death, also very typical of thriller films.