Sub Genre Psychological Thriller – Shutter Island & The Dark Knight

Shutter Island Analysis

Drama set in 1954, U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels is investigating the disappearance of a murderess that escaped from a hospital for the criminally insane and is presumed to be hiding nearby. Being a psychological thriller shutter island uses the stereotypical generic conventions of a thriller movie, to emphasise the psychological aspect.

The protagonist is Teddy Daniels, throughout the film he is misconstrued as an investigator of this missing murderess and as time goes on the antagonist Dr. Cawley reveals an ulterior storyline that teddy is actually insane. Teddy is deceived throughout this film as we do not find out the real reason as to why he is actually on the island himself, and this is because he himself has a mental disorder. This shows he is extremely fallible.

He's been pushing for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but before long he wonders whether he has been brought there as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors. The antagonist end up making Teddy feel isolated and confused after telling him the truth and the fact he is on the Island, never to leave it again. There is no particular antagonist.  We would class the whole of the team that teddy is working with as the antagonists, but then some would also class Teddy himself as an antagonist before we realise that he is in fact insane. Throughout the film Teddy is occasionally seen in ‘peril’ for example when he is violently attacked by one of the psycho patients. Teddy's investigating skills soon provide a good lead, but the hospital refuses to let access to records he suspects would break the case wide open. Teddy begins to doubt everything from his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

I feel that there isn’t actually a physical object when it comes to reflection and mirroring but I think that there is an illusion, like when teddy is told about the case, it is classed as an illusion and its not real, throughout shutter island there is not any mirroring or reflecting, and there also isn’t any theme of voyeurism in shutter island either.

The Dark Knight Analysis

            Set in 21^st century Gotham; The Dark Knight focuses on Batman’s struggle against criminal organisations that plague the city and endanger the people of Gotham. Lieutenant James Gordon and the new district attorney Harvey Dent work along side each other to rid the city of the criminals however; Batman’s help is soon needed when The Joker appears; a menacing, distressed psychopath wreaking havoc in Gotham. The film follows Batman’s ongoing personal struggle with the Joker as he attempts to bring peace back to the city.

The Protagonist in the film is Bruce Wayne; an American millionaire, industrialist and philanthropist who is most famously known by his alter ego, Batman. Throughout the film he is displayed from both angles. At the beginning of the movie, the two identities seem completely separate from each other, however as a love interest is put in danger; we see Batman’s duty to the city become more of a personal matter.

The obvious antagonist is the Joker. He is a quick thinking criminal mastermind, able to think up complex schemes quickly and is almost unstoppable, however batman is just as quick and is able to keep up with The Jokers elaborate plans. Throughout the movie the audience questions the jokers sanity, his fearlessness is terrifying and his intense psychopathic mentality entices the audience for the whole 153 minutes.

Comparison

Between the two thrillers they both have similar componants; both films have action scenes, the protagonist with an 'achilles heel' and the antagonist trying to bring down or catch out the protagonist.

In The Dark Knight and action thriller movies in general, there is an obvious antagonist. The movie usually bases its self on fight scenes, explosives and gun fights. The dark knight is an obvious action thriller due to its intense fighting and action scenes.

In comparison to The Dark Knight in shutter island the fight between the protagonist and antagonist is on an emotional and mental level. Despite having some action scenes the film is dependant on Teddy Daniels' mental state, as the film goes on Teddy starts to question his own sanity. It plays with the audeinces minds and builds suspence thoughtout the whole film.