I watched Batman when I was little....

 I can't remember how exactly old I was, but I was introduced to Batman movies at a very early age- I was still in kindergarten. I think this is the actual reason why I like dark stuff. The goddamn Batman movies. Naturally, the first one I saw was the 1989 version by Tim Burton, and recently I rewatched it again, because I'm going to write the essay specifically about one of the most well known hero/villain pairs.
So, it probably goes without saying that it was an interesting experience to rewatch a movie that was part of my childhood. The most interesting part being actually remembering various details of the move- as in, 'hey, I remember seeing that!'- most of them being not that significant. It's interesting how a child's mind works- I didn't remember such parts as the Joker's parade with the gas-filled baloons or the part where Bruce Wayne confronts Joker himself in Vicky Vale's apartment, or some other rather important scenes, BUT I remember the gift with a colourful gasmask in it, Alicia's broken mask and Joker stating that she commited suicide, parts of the 'Smilex' commercial, Joker's tv announcement with him wearing that skin-toned makeup (but just the sight of it, I did not rememeber a single word he said), the part with the surgeon (though this part is rather important and I bet most people remember that too), that fried guy, and that bad "you wouldn't hit a guy with glasses" joke (but not what follows after).

 So, what made me remember these specific parts? Was it the colours, the mood, was it the schocking and unexpected nature of those scenes? Maybe. Though I see one thing that binds them all- they're short. I've read somewhere once that a child, until a certain age, cannot bind the images they see on tv into one continuous story. I kinda remember the movie as a single story, well, atleast I knew that the scenes were part of one, yet the things I remembered and understood were short bits and scenes. I didn't remember the talks Bruce and Vicky had, I don't remember the long but awesome statements by the Joker, I don't remember the whole fight/dangling over the edge of the church part, yet I remember the darn glasses. And I did not remember ANY part of Harvey Dent, but that's because he was boring :D
I think that it ultimately comes down to this in terms of leaving an impression to a child and making them remember things- short span and visuality. No way I have remembered that surgeon part or the commercial if they weren't strongly visually unsettling, especially for a child.

For the record, I still like Dark Knight more. Sorry Jack.