There are going to be spoilers, so if you haven’t seen it yet…go see it, then come back and read this.

Hubby and I got to see The Dark Knight on opening weekend. Christian Bale did just a great job in Batman Begins, and of course I wanted to see if the hype surrounding Heath Ledger was warranted, or just because he had died so tragically. Heath was AMAZING. He actually made the Joker fucking scary and creepy as hell. Best movie villain in a long time, and up there with Hannibal Lecter. Overall, I really enjoyed the movie and will see it again when it makes it to DVD and/or cable. So what is my complaint? It’s nothing to do with the physics, or how Batman can take such a beating with him being a regular human and all. It has to do with the character Rachel Dawes.

In the first Batman reboot Batman Begins, she was a tough Assistant District Attorney. She kicked ass in the courtroom, and was a great, strong female character. In The Dark Knight, her character changed. She became nothing more than another woman in a refrigerator. Gone is her powerful personality, instead left only to serve as girlfriend to Harvey and an object of sadness for Bruce in being “what could be”.

Only one time did she seem like a strong woman. During the party scene, when the Joker crashes Bruce’s party to get Harvey Dent, Rachel did stand up to him. She gave the Joker a verbal lashing, which was all well and good, but I expected more. In my head, the end of her speech said “And as Gotham’s Assistant DA, I will make sure you and your crew pay for your crimes” or something similar. I mean, she took on the mob, so that “thug” as he was referred to numerous times in the movie, should have gotten that threat right? Oh, but I guess taking on crime is Harvey’s job, while she just sat back and looked pretty as his girlfriend. And no, I don’t count her not freaking out and crying after she was tied to a chair in the room full of bombs as being strong. She fully believed that she was going to be saved, so really had no reason to break down. It was only a second or two she had for it to sink in that Harvey was saved anyway.

She was important to the plot though. When she was kidnapped and Gordon didn’t save her in time, she serves as Harvey’s motivation for revenge as Two-Face. Patrick over at The Hathor Network puts it simply:

Then, yes, Rachel is kidnapped and tied up next to a time bomb. As is Harvey, with Batman given only enough time to save one. At this point I’m still willing to give the film a pass, because of the equal-opportunity hostage crisis. But while Batman saves Harvey (mostly), Gordon fails to get to Rachel on time, and…

Refrigerators: 1, Women: 0.

Actually, I suppose that should count as two points for the refrigators, since thanks to the love triangle Rachel’s death serves to motivate both Batman and Harvey. In fact, Rachel’s death, rather than his disfigurement, is made the primary factor behind Harvey’s transformation into Two-Face. In short, she has a bigger effect on the plot dead than alive.

Do check out his full post. There aren’t many out there on this topic yet, and I searched.

It wouldn’t have taken much to turn Rachel’s character into more than just a woman in a refrigerator here. She could have easily kept her strong personality and high powered job like she did in the first movie before she was killed. I could have watched just another 5 or 10 min of movie for that.

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