A Chicago student is at the centre of a censorship storm after a now famous image he created of US President Barack Obama as the Joker from The Dark Knight was removed from Flickr.
The removal comes two months after the popular photo-sharing site deleted the account of Shepherd Johnson, on which he had 1200 photos.
It is believed he was banned because he left comments on the official White House Flickr page criticising the Obama Administration’s decision to withold detainee torture photos and published a photo of a bleeding detainee on the site.
The Los Angeles Times revealed this week that the man behind the Obama-Joker image, which has spread virally online and been plastered across US streets by ultra-conservative groups, was history student Firas Alkhateeb.
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JR: S’funny, I’ve had TIME magazine parodies on Flickr – yet my shots never got removed… see here and here.
Ledger’s Joker ‘Adds To Mental Health Prejudice’.
Heath Ledger’s Oscar-winning role as The Joker in the latest Batman film has been criticised for promoting a misleading and prejudiced view of schizophrenics.
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Heath Ledger And His ‘Gentle Way’.
The late Heath Ledger’s stunning, almost unrecognizable turn as the Joker in “The Dark Knight” shouldn’t have come as a surprise.
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It is so refreshing to see the legend of Batman being given the respect it deserves because The Dark Knight has surpassed and transcended simply being called a ‘superhero’ film. There’s a whole lot more on offer here than just plain ole super-heroics. What we have here is a stellar cast delivering real and poignant acting roles that make each and every unbelievable character – believable.
Heath Ledger pulls in a stunning performance – turning the Joker into a maniacal, psychopathic, anarchist – tinged with ‘Clockwork Orange’ inspired merciless, senseless brutality and schism. You simply cannot take your eyes of him as he possesses the screen and steals each and every scene he is in. There are some genuinely frightful moments accompanied by Hitchcock-like music soundscapes as the Joker proceeds to tell the story of his ‘scars’ to his victims. This is evil incarnate. Pure evil. Ledger flinches and stutters as if a sadistic lost, insane soul has completely taken him over, spitting out his lines with venom, satirical, sarcastic jest. What a final curtain call for this talented young man. Take a bow Mr. Ledger.
The Joker appears in the film with a stunning opening bank robbery that is ingenious in its execution and methodology. There is no back-story for the Joker. There is no origin. The Joker exists as the other side of the Batman coin. Where the caped-crusader is a symbol of justice the Joker represents chaos in its purest form.
But there are always three sides to every story. Enter Harvey Dent. Gotham City’s ‘white knight’ District Attorney who finds himself in the middle of the Batman V Joker struggle. Comic book fans will know all about Harvey Dent and his role in the Batman universe, so I won’t spoil it here for others.
The Dark Knight is one of the most amazing movie-going experiences I have seen in a long, long time and already – I want to see this one again. The bar has been raised…
