Batman pandemonium seems to be in full force, with more than 30 midnight/early morning showings in the Buffalo area the night "The Dark Knight" premiered, and more than hourly showings starting as early as 9 a.m. through the weekend.
I covered the midnight madness, interviewing full-grown people in face paint and Batman pajamas.
Obviously, the late Heath Ledger was a major focus of pre-film excitement, considering previews consisted almost exclusively of shots of his maniacally painted visage. (Christian Bale, who?) But I think for us twentysomethings, the Ledger draw goes deeper than a dead actor starring in a movie even though he has died.
For those who weren't old enough to party like it is 1999 in 1999, Heath was a quintessential heartthrob. I probably had a tear-out poster of him from J-14 magazine on my wall. My preteen self found him dangerously attractive in "10 Things I Hate About You" and the human embodiment of courtly love in "A Knight's Tale." His death is the only celebrity passing besides Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes's to make my inner-14-year-old cry a little bit. Our generation has been lucky not to have many young stars go the way of memorial air-brushed T-shirts.
And, yeah, Ledger's death hurt. (Though, of course, a celebrity death doesn't compare to losing a loved one … please don't misinterpret.) Ledger was just coming into his own as an actor with "Brokeback Mountain" and then as Joker in "The Dark Knight." And while people always make such comments posthumously, maybe he was going to be one of the major acting presences of our time. But personally, I think it stung because I am just coming into my own as a person, too. Ledger and I had both moved on from two-dimensional high school roles, and then he died.
Since Ledger died in January, I've had time to address my grief. But something about "The Dark Knight" strikes an unsettling chord. It's not the obvious "exploiting his death" line. Ledger starred in the movie and the absolute media blitz promoting his part could be a celebration of his life, OK, fine, whatever.
What weirds me out is the nature of the film. "The Dark Knight" is just another installment in the never-ending parade of new stuff cashing in on our nostalgia for our old stuff. I haven't yet seen the movie, but I wonder how I'll reconcile my anguish over my long-lost Bat cave play house with my longing for my deceased "future husband"?
-- Jessica Vosgerchian
