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Welcome, movie lovers. Christopher Nolan is my favorite filmmakers, I am always mesmerized by the worlds he creates, his philosophy, and the way he approaches his projects. With Nolan the story is never simple

In this piece, I will be attempting to visit one of the philosophies that made the movie such a classic and the best comic book movie in history. In his movie, Nolan clashes the world of wrestling into the brilliance of game theory creating

Introducing Your players

In a previous post also featuring both Nolan and the Dark Knight movie I mentioned the value of opening scenes. Opening scenes are usually done in one place or centering around one place, not in the Dark Knight.

First Half of the Opening Scene

The Joker gang breaks into a bank. Perfectly planned, slowly we start seeing gang members killing each other. A hiccup occurs, they get rid of it. Finally, we are introduced to the joker. The Joker leaves with everyone at the bank either down or dead. I will get back to this scene in a minute.

Second Half of the Opening Scene

We see a Batman signal in the sky prompting fear in criminals' hearts. A conflict over drugs of sort is happening, Batman lookalikes try to stop it before the real Batman shows up. He takes care of the mobs, the lookalikes, and leaves with everyone down and/or tied up.

What Do Both Halves Show Us?

Well, they are wrestling titantrons, something like what you see down below.

They are also introduction to the players in the game. "On this corner, he is the perfect manipulator, a heartless killer who doesn't even look at his victims as he kills them, introducing the JOOOOOOOOOOOOKKEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" Then "And on this corner, he is a patient ninja, striking fear into the heart of criminals, able to catch criminals while saving idiots from harm, BBATTTMAAAAAAAAAAAAAN"

Now we have our players, let the game of theories begin.

Odd Man Out

Odd man out is a game consisting of several players, one of them is different to the rest. We learn in the first half of the opening scene that the Joker is behind the robbery and as the killing starts we know -more or less- that he is among them. Our job now as audience is find out which is the odd man out.

Unscrupulous Diner's Dilemma

Still with the opening scene. This game is one where people at dinner agree to split the bill, the goal of each player is to get the highest dish possible/make the most money without risking losing. This game is among Joker's cronies themselves.

A Game of Chicken

A game is one where two sides start a course of collision, there are two outcomes A) Both sides lose and B) One side yields. We this game twice throughout the movie the first one is when the Joker meets the mobs. The Joker has a collection of grenades in his jacket, if he is shot they all die, if the other side yields, he survives

A second where Batman rides his bike toward the Joker

Last Man Standing

The Joker is "Caught" by one of the gangs but instead of getting taught a lesson he takes charge of the situation. Eventually he puts three gang members in fight to death, the survivor joins his team.

The Dictator's Game

The dictator's game gives one side with leverage the ability to choose how a prize is split, the other side chooses to either comply or lose on the prize. Back to the Joker vs Mob scene. The Joker decides that the money would be split in half between him and all the other mobs. Later on, the mob realizes they either comply or lose on the prize.

Optional Prisoner's Dilemma

Optional prisoner's dilemma is a game where the players choose to enter a game where they have to trust each other or not. Once you are in the game, you have to trust the other. In the Dark Knight we have three parties on the roof contemplating trusting and in turn cooperating with each other. Batman has to bring Lao, Gordon has to protect him, and Harvey has to put him in prison. The scene below represents that

Deadlock

Deadlock is a game where the most beneficial is also dominant. The man with privilege decides the way the game goes establishing the rules. The Joker decides that people will start dying if Batman doesn't surrender himself. If he doesn't people will die.

The Joker continues that game as he kills one person after another as he constantly wins. Which leads us to the next game.

Behavioral Game Theory

Whether it is the odd man out, diner's dilemma, game of chicken, the dictator's game, or deadlock, behavioral game theory shows us that Joker's style of playing will assure him continue to be on top while Batman's will always on the losing side. That leads Batman to change his behavior to win the game, which leads us to

Deadlock Again

Batman is forced to get out of his comfort zone. He no longer can win without switching to being dominant. So he sets a new game against Salvatore Maroni. Maroni either complies or keeps getting hit.

Deadlock Once More

Much like Batman, Harvey dent continues to lose and has a lot more at stake. Thus he resorts to being dominant by threatening to kill a Schizophrenic criminal.

Three Games of Bait and Switch

Detective Gordon dies protecting and Batman is in the police custody as far as the Joker is concerned. Both turn out to be not true as Joker ends up arrested and thrown in jail. That is game one.

However, Joker's mama didn't raise no fool. He baits them into putting him in jail to get to Lao. Joker gets rid of Batman's presence as well the rest of the police to make his job easier. That is game two.

The Joker baits Batman to go and save Rachel before switching the addresses, killing Rachel. That is game three.

One More Deadlock for the Road

Harvey loses the love of his life, his face and in turn anything that prevented him from being dominant the first time. He creates a game of chance with his coin, a game everyone he captures he has to follow. Below is an example with Maroni

Finally, The Prisoner's Dilemma

Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of communicating with the other. The prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge, but they have enough to convict both on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the prosecutors offer each prisoner a bargain. Each prisoner is given the opportunity either to betray the other by testifying that the other committed the crime, or to cooperate with the other by remaining silent. The possible outcomes are:

If A and B each betray the other, each of them serves two years in prison
If A betrays B but B remains silent, A will be set free and B will serve three years in prison
If A remains silent but B betrays A, A will serve three years in prison and B will be set free
If A and B both remain silent, both of them will serve only one year in prison (on the lesser charge).

After one last deadlock, the Joker forces Gotham into two ships. Each ship has explosives planted inside it. One filled with prisoners, the other regular citizens. Both ships have broken on the water, with each of them having the switch that would blow up the other ship. If both ships press the button, both explode, if one presses, it survives. If neither press the button both survive as seen in the video below.

In Summary

Game theory is part of the philosophy that made The Dark Knight, well, The Dark Knight. It is basically one big WWE match filled with twist and turns.