by Mellisa Lemons

Created on: August 14, 2008

Simply stated without the use of every 50 cent word I learned on the S.A.T., NO. The Dark Knight does not exploit the untimely and sad death of actor, Heath Ledger. The film and its promotions, do an excellent job of showcasing the talent that was lost with the passing of Heath Ledger.

Over the years, several actors have died during or just after production of a film. What do the producers do? Do they shelve it? Saying, "My we could be exploiting an actor by releasing this"! No, they continue and move forward as intended by the actor when they made the film. It was not produced to be poorly promoted and sit on a shelf. Heath Ledger made this movie with the hopes that it would succeed, as it does not seem to be a practice of many actors to make movies and hope like crazy they fail.

In the film roles that Heath Ledger has taken on throughout his career he has shown extreme versatility and strength in each role no matter what the character her portrays or type of movie he is in. One of Heath Ledger's first movies in which he had a leading role was 10 Things I Hate About You, which was a modern day adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. This type of film was geared more towards a teenage audience and could have pigeonholed Ledger to a teeny bopper actor. However, the year after 10 Things, Ledger starred alongside Mel Gibson in the Patriot playing a headstrong young man who is full of passion and rage. In a Knight's Tale, Ledger plays a loveable and humble character, William Thatcher, who from the time you start the movie you love him and want him to overcome. In Monster's Ball he plays a young man who after years of torment by his father commits suicide. In Candy he plays a poet who is hooked on heroin and love. His most acclaimed role to date was of Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain where he plays a homosexual cowboy who is torn between the way he feels and what he believes is the right way to be.

All of these films exhibit Ledger's talent and range as an actor. The last film to have the opportunity to showcase his strength was The Dark Knight. The Dark Knight is a film, as one could probably imagine from its title, was meant to be dark, it was meant to showcase the Joker as a dark menacing force who had no regard for human life and had no empathy for suffering.

The character of the Joker was a serial murderer. The Joker kills without care, question or emotion. So, why Jack Nicholson's portrayal as a smiley faced giggly goon made sense, I will never understand. Serial Killers themselves are not funny, loveable and laughable characters, therefore, Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker was more fitting and logical than that of a man dipped in a barrel of toxic waste only to go on to try and kill the city. Ledger's character is that of a mentally ill, possibly abused person who due to his past has left him with little ability to make the correct moral judgments and is left only with a feeling of revenge. The, what I believe, perfect job that Heath Ledger did is what has sold so many tickets to see The Dark Knight and keeps people wanting to see it again. Without a doubt, in terms of accuracy of the type of character the Joker was, Heath Ledger's performance far outweighed that of Jack Nicholson's. Heath Ledger's death is a tragic end to what was only the beginning of a great career. He ended portraying a serial murderer as a cold, morally corrupt psychopath instead of a giggly Prince fan chasing Kim Basinger.

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