Why the Joker Theme in ‘The Dark Knight’ is amazing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zyhQjJ5UgY
Listen to the soundtrack before reading the article so that you get a better understanding of what I am describing.
Soundtracks are meant to complement and be the audio descriptions of the movie. The soundtrack of a movie is subtle and most of the time we don’t notice it but if removed we will realize something is off. They are not as bombastic as their cousins visuals but they still have to be on point for a good movie.
Hans Zimmer is one of the best composers out there right now and his works speaks for himself whether it be Interstellar, Inception or the Dark Knight Trilogy. Christopher Nolan and him have a very special collaborative relationship as they both understand very well how each other work and how they must complement and improve on each other’s work.
The Dark Knight is filled with amazing music but in my view the Joker theme is the best piece of music, not just in the movie but also the trilogy. This is because the theme does what it is supposed to do, it is the audio description of the Joker.
The Joker in The Dark Knight is this sociopath who at every turn strives to make the residents and defendants of Gotham as uncomfortable as possible and while doing this his actions make us all in the audience also become nervous. All of us gripped our seats tighter the first time we saw the magic trick scene just like how all of us were gripped with panic when we wondered about whether we would see Harvey or Rachel get saved so the theme of Joker should represent that, and that it does superbly.
The theme begins with an annoying buzz like noise, which seems to be just another irritating object but quickly it begins to swell and reach a much higher pitch, conveying to us that this isn’t just another annoying object to ignore and we have to take notice of it, paralleling how the mob bosses at first dismissed the Joker but were quickly made to realize that he was not just another freak.
Following this is a much more calmer violin piece but yet in the background there are these scratches which slowly become more and more heard as if the unpredictability of the scratches and background noise is conveying the nature of the Joker, unpredictable. The genius of Hans Zimmer is shown here as he uses a razor blade on piano strings to create the effect of these jarring sounds.This piece is also punctuated with ominous low piano notes further pushing the thought that this is a dark, dangerous force. Suddenly a blast of music is shot into our ears and then as quickly as it came, it calms out further punching the point home that this is one unpredictable person.
After this is the sound of ticking, subtly being quickened and suddenly blasts of music is played, as if he is a ticking time bomb. This is followed by a brooding low rumble that continues for quite awhile, this is the build up to the Joker’s plans and actions and it gives goosebumps and out of nowhere the music drops to a slow bass. As quick as the Joker comes, he can leave.
The main recurring property of this theme is that everything continues for longer than it should, every time we think things are over, they aren’t, its just a build up to something bigger. There is nothing more uncomforting than something going on and on when we are expecting it to be over. It makes us question all our calculations in the past. Just like the Joker keeps making everybody question whether he is done or not.
The theme captures Joker so perfectly, it is unnerving,unpleasant, unpredictable, highly uncomforting and also shares some common music with the Batman theme in the movie, subtly trying to show us how there is a similarity between our villain and our hero.
Towards the end of the theme all the sounds die down and we think,fine this is when it all really ends just for it to explode back louder than ever, repeating earlier parts of the theme much louder and much stronger than before as if just to rub it into our faces that the Joker will never really be gone forever.
This is one of the best themes I have heard for a character because of how perfectly it encapsulates everything.As Zimmer himself said in an interview with Wired, he wanted to create something unpleasant for the joker theme.It is how the Joker would be written down on a music sheet and for that it is one of my favorite themes in movies ever.