Who's laughing now?
Record-selling box office. Boundary-breaking performances.
The Dark
Knight only further solidifies the legend that is Batman. Its success
inspires the crowd despite the travails and tragedy surrounding the stars like
the family assault accusations against Christian Bale who played the valiant
vigilante Batman and the accidental drug overdose of the late Heath Ledger who
played sadistic psychopath The Joker. Well it looks like one moviegoer took the
top-choice characterizations a little too seriously.
20 year-old Spencer Taylor of Three Rivers, Michigan
got arrested by local police on charges of larceny and malicious destruction of
property due to his early Sunday activities stealing Dark Knight movie posters
and other movie-related merchandise from a theater lobby. Oh, did I fail to
mention that the high-minded Dark Knight “collector” did all this while dressed
up in costume resembling The Joker himself? You know, purple suit, wavy green
wig, and white pancake makeup with dark eyes and eerie big red smile? Yeah, and
don’t forget the parallel of the criminal activity between fictional Joker and
real Spencer Taylor.
Officers were dispatched to the Three Rivers location on that Sunday to find
theater employees restraining the Joker look alike who took it upon himself to
confiscate all things Dark Knight from the moviehouse according to Detective
Mike Mohney. As a result of this badly-advised gag, Taylor is scheduled to be
arraigned August 5th in St. Joseph County District Court. Extra note:
Taylor does not have a telephone listing under his name
in the Three Rivers area. Here's the photo circulating around the
internet:
And you thought the late Heath Ledger pulled off the greatest Joker performance
ever! Whether this was done as a narcissistic gag for infamy or as a feverous
exercise of self-delusion, we can’t know. If option A is correct then
Taylor succeeded beyond his wackiest dreams with the
mugshot of him with and without Joker makeup emblazoned in history. If option B
is correct, then Mr. T pities the fool for losing his identity within a
fictional universe. Escapism is nice and needed but never lose all contact with
Planet Earth in the process. Maybe this impractical Joker would have had better
luck leaving this display at a comic book convention. Nah, he’d be just run of
the mill there. No fun in that.
It's all part of the plan thanks to
The Associated Press.
