10 x 10

There is something very alluring about the term ‘Evil Genius’.

As individual words, they both share the similarity of being so simple in their meanings while conquering up a spectrum of contradicting imagery that goes against their given dictionary definitions. Put them together and they play havoc with my conscience, leaving me so desperately wanting to be one.

I blame the media.

Take the new Batman movie, for example. The first of this new generation of ‘darker’ batman films, Batman Begins, delved into the characters and turned each one inside out. No longer was Batman just the hero selflessly trying to make the world a better place, he was just trying to save himself but happened to change a few lives in the process. Bad guys jumped out of their two dimensional comic book beginnings and became more than just greedy or disgruntled people trying to get their share of the world. The dynamics took a massive shift and nothing was black and white again.

This became more evident in The Dark Knight. Good guys turn bad. Bad guys aren’t so bad. Crazy is sane. Wrong is right. And on and on they went, making us question if what we were taught from young was right at all. We scrutinise our entire moral system because we can’t understand why we’re sympathising with a villain or disliking a hero. In other words, we don’t know what the hell is going on anymore!

And the Evil Genius behind it? Chris Nolan.

He injected into our happy, sheltered world the word we hate the most: Subjectivity. It is the cause of all external and internal battles humans commit, and the reason I have a gay girl crush on him. No longer do I have to deal with moviemakers who take their audience for fools and dumb-down their characters so people identify with them more easily. Chris Nolan is brilliant. He is deep, dark and gets people. He is a master mind-fucker and though he isn’t the first one to do it, he does it so damn well.

I have an obsession with learning about serial killers. It’s got nothing to do with a murderous streak within me (not yet, at least), but rather an insatiable desire to know more about the human psyche. The one thing I have gathered from it all is that these ‘psychos’ aren’t really crazy at all. Most serial killers are extremely intelligent and (contrary to popular belief) assimilate pretty well into society. If only they wanted to. The dark side to intelligence is that it brings about feelings of superiority and when mixed with a warped perspective of the world, well, it gets dangerous.

Think of a child who is told not to eat ice cream before dinner. He is brought up to think it’s wrong because his parents tell him so. But his desire for it drives him to push the boundaries. Every day he will move closer to opening that freezer door and every time he gets away with it, he goes a little further. Until his face is smeared with its delicious goodness. At which point it doesn’t feel wrong any more because the only traces of guilt can be licked away, instantly.

Serial killers are like that. They challenge the norms of society because they can. Because their overactive imaginations and need to get the answers to the ‘what ifs’ drive them to find the it. Then it becomes a game of tag. They do it and do it and do it, hiding it so well each time, until they get bored. Then they start to slip. Make intentional mistakes because getting away with it is no longer fun. So it becomes a new game. How much can they let be known until they are discovered. More Evil Geniuses at work.

In no way am I saying any of it is right, but we all do it. Whether it’s finding excuses for going into work late, or cheating on a partner, we push these boundaries. It’s just a matter of what pushes us enough, that changes which boundaries we push.

So what is it about Chris Nolan that puts him in the same category as serial killers? It’s that ‘warped’ perspective he puts into his movies. Watch both Batmans, The Prestige, Memento, Insomnia … The recurring theme with his characters is that they are tormented by an obsessive desire. Each can’t let go of a certain past, which makes them do certain things. In the words of Shrek, they have “layers” – explanations for why they are the way they are. And no matter how different his characters are, Chris Nolan puts a bit of his Evil Genius into each of them. I would love to take a day trip into his brain to see how it works. What conclusions does he draw from seeing, let’s say, a bird? What does he associate it with? What questions does he ask himself because of it? Basically, I want to be in his thought and travel the paths it takes to come to the conclusions he does. That would make one hell of a holiday.

The difference between one Evil Genius and another is that there are those who do, and those who get others to do for them.

Seeing what Chris Nolan did for Joker’s character – how he gave him a sane reason for the insane things he does; I want to be the latter. After all, why deal with the repercussions of committing a crime when you can get paid loads to write and direct movies about it.

.al.

If I didn’t love comic books the way I do, I would: Not have watched The Dark Knight and found one of my top 10 favourite movies!!!

Ps. Yes, I know this is a long post and it doesn’t feel like I’m getting what I want to say across (I’m kinda braindead), but at least I’m not talking about work again!