While watching Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises I began to notice oddly familiar plot points. The storming of Gotham prison, the revolt against the ruling elite, the sham courts and summary death sentences were not taken from comics I had read, but from assigned reading in High School Sophomore English class. What no reviewers, neither friends or media critics up until then had mentioned to me was Christopher Nolan's inspiration for the movie's storyline: Charles Dicken's classic novel A Tale of Two Cities.
After the movie, I googled the words "Nolan, Dickens" and one or two articles (one linked above). But when I mentioned it to friends (most who saw the movie had not read Dicken's book) , they had not picked up on the literary allusion. I also began to ponder how, in fact, the Batman story is perfectly and undeniably Dickensian. Dickens' stories are all about orphans like Oliver Twist, Pip, (like young Bruce Wane), and cruel environments like Industrial Age, Victorian London, Revolutionary Paris (and Gotham City). I could go on but I predict that when TDKR comes out on DVD, there will be a lot of High School English Classes showing it for it's literary value.
In a related theme, Director Mike Newell who bought us movies Harry Potter: Goblet of Fire and Prince of Persia is has finished his version of Dickens' Great Expectations. The movie trailer is stunning. Since Nolan has renewed my consciousness about Dickens' terrific stories, I'm as stoked to see it as I was to see The Dark Knight Rises.
But the influence of Charles Dickens continues with a remarkable and brilliantly illustrated Christmas-themed Batman Comic Story -- Batman:Noel! Check out the review linked below:
Book review: Lee Bermejo’s #Christmas opus–
— O. Douglas Jennings (@odouglasj) December 22, 2021
Batman: Noel - "[In which Gotham is like] a Wonderful Life & Miracle on 34th Street, with a haunting, decayed edge. It’s a perfect fit for an update of Dickens’s Victorian London." https://t.co/jwiOHOaYkS pic.twitter.com/TXgU3U7Dqq
And in the continued extolling of the Christmas Spirit, I humbly submit my own re-working of a classic carol with a Batman theme:
✨❄️ Sung to the tune of "Silent Night"
— O. Douglas Jennings (@odouglasj) December 22, 2021
🎶Batman Dark Knight.
O’er Gotham’s night.
All is seen,
By his sight.
Thwarting Joker’s and
Penquin’s dark schemes.
Foiling Riddler’s
mad puzzles and scenes.
Two-face and Cat Woman
-hand-cuffed!
Gotham for now
is at Peace. 🎶 pic.twitter.com/KM7617zCpG
© O. Douglas Jennings. All rights reserved.
MORE INFO about Young Adult Novel DRAGON CAMP! - Illustrated by O. Douglas Jennings
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