Tools of Characterization
Characterization in Batman
Actions
Actions are a pretty simple way to characterize the players in a superhero movie. The villain kills people. The hero saves them. Simple as that, right? Joker causes mayhem. Batman ends it. Easy-peasy.
But things get complicated when we analyze Bruce Wayne's actions. Outside the Batman suit, Bruce comes across as a sad loner at best, and an erratic weirdo prone to flying off the handle at worst.
He gets extra manic when attempting to tell Vicki Vale that he's really Batman. He tells her to shut up, pushes her into a chair, and completely flips out when Joker crashes the party, grabbing fire poker and screaming,
BRUCE: Now you wanna get nuts! Come on! Let's get nuts!
Frankly, Bruce comes across as unstable here, but can you blame him? If he reveals himself as Batman to Vicki Vale, he could lose that part of his personality. It would be like amputating a limb without anesthetic. You'd freak out if you were about to cut off your own arm in front of the woman you loved, too.
Physical Appearances
In classic westerns, the bad guy wore a black hat and the good guy a white one. Batman may be a classic character, starring in comics way back in 1939, but even then he was more of a gray-and-blue kind of guy.
Tim Burton puts Batman in a stark—and slimming—black-on-black ensemble. Batman uses the dark of the night against the villains who operate in it. He blends in with the night sky. But in order to defeat a villain, one must think like a villain, meaning Batman has darkness within himself too.
On the other hand, we have Joker. His physical appearance is the opposite of your normal bad guy. He's a clown with a white face, bright green hair, and a purple suit. He would stand out in the middle of the night, and he has no qualms about committing murder in the bright of day. Joker loves anarchy, which means subverting tropes and expectations, and he does this by dressing not to blend in, but to stand out.
Location
Like their clothes, Batman and Joker seem to have swapped hideouts, too. Batman, the hero, lurks in a dark subterranean cave. Joker, conversely, rules in a brightly colored penthouse high above Gotham.
Joker also loves to take places—and people—that are pretty and ruin them in the name of art. His biggest scene in the film is when he trashes the Gotham Art Museum, vandalizing many pieces of art during his rampage. In the name of anarchy, he also attempts to make Gotham a brighter place by throwing a parade. (Just forget the whole gassing-everyone-to-death business.) Before trying to murder them all, he cheers up the citizens with adorable clown balloons.
Hmm. Maybe "adorable clown" is an oxymoron.