subscribe to style file blog via RSSno joke: what lipstick says about batman’s bad guy
July 16, 2008 11:35 am
With all the early Oscar buzz surrounding Heath Ledger’s performance in the highly anticipated new Batman movie, all eyes will be on the Joker when “The Dark Knight” hits theaters this week. But if the comparisons between the late Mr. Ledger’s portrayal of the comic book supervillain to Jack Nicholson’s “Clown Prince of Crime” from 1989’s “Batman” starts to enter film-nerd territory, know that there is an easier way to decipher the differences. Plain and simple: Their makeup is different—and according to Poppy King, color expert and author of “Lessons of a Lipstick Queen: Finding and Developing the Great Idea that can Change your Life,” that’s all you need to know in order to unlock the distinctions between the characters’ inner psyches.
Jack Nicholson
The Mouth: “Nicholson is the power woman’s Joker,” Poppy says. “He way overdoes the lip liner—very eighties.”
The Man: “Although he appears to be so put-together, underneath those magnificently painted lips is a debauched and unfettered lust for power. He is so vain that he has lost any sense of right and wrong, and his desire to control and a longing for approval turn very ugly and psychotic.”
Heath Ledger
The Mouth: “Heath is the post-post-feminist’s Joker. He is so deconstructionist with his red lipstick, it almost comes right back around to the Renaissance!”
The Man: “He has a total disregard for society and his red lipstick style is indicative of his desire to shock. It’s an unmistaken visual reference to his bloodlust and his loss of sanity that seeks for nothing other than revenge on normality. He uses his lips to denote the primitive urge for man to attack his fellow man, and his lips show no shame or pretense in that.”
For less psychotic adventures in red lipstick, www.lipstickqueen.com has products and application tips.
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