Dark Knight might not brighten ‘Burgh’s reputation

Local criminals, take heed: Batman will sweep into Pittsburgh this summer. Whether he’ll be… Local criminals, take heed: Batman will sweep into Pittsburgh this summer. Whether he’ll be our saving grace, however, should be called into question.

The news that the Steel City will host a portion of “The Dark Knight Rises,” the third Batman installment, inspired avid and almost rapturous excitement, buoyed in large part by local authorities: Mayor Luke Ravenstahl promised in a statement that the city would be “rolling out the red carpet” for the filmmakers;  and Dawn Keezer, director of the Pittsburgh Film Office, assured the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that “A franchise as prestigious as Batman opens our region up to an entirely new audience.”

Online users also joined in on the fervor. “Pittsburgh has come a long way since the days of the booming steel mills,” one commenter said on the movie site ComingSoon.net. “When people see Pittsburgh transformed into Goth[a]m City, I KNOW they will be very pleased with the outcome.”

In many ways, of course, such anticipation is understandable: Our city has set the stage for countless blockbusters before, including the Oscar-winning “The Deer Hunter” and the macabre “The Silence of the Lambs,” but never has it enjoyed such a pivotal role in realizing, even defining, the capstone of a successful Hollywood franchise.

Before the hype spirals out of control, however, it seems necessary to reevaluate how much Pittsburgh will actually benefit from its “Dark Knight” spotlight and whether that spotlight will be the public relations miracle some have hoped for. I, for one, doubt that the film will lead audiences to revise their perceptions of our city; that — at the risk of sounding like a downer — this film is really our ticket to long-overdue respect.

As much as I hate to deflate the excitement, the extent to which Pittsburgh will even be recognizable should be called into question. It’s tempting, certainly, to fantasize about a yinzer Batman film — to envision our hero perched solemnly atop, say, the Cathedral of Learning, our buildings rendered as majestic as Hong Kong’s in “The Dark Knight.” But Hong Kong, quite clearly the exception to the rule in this franchise, was chosen specifically to evoke exoticism and a distinct sense of place. Pittsburgh, on the other hand, will likely lose much of its aesthetic identity; pared down like Chicago in the previous two films to resemble that anonymous gothic metropolis, Gotham. That is, presuming Pittsburgh will stand in as Gotham — one would be hard pressed to imagine a plotline calling for Batman to visit the Steel City.

Even if audiences were to catch glimpses of local landmarks amidst a CGI-doctored cityscape — certainly, PPG Place looks too sinister for filmmakers to overlook — these glimpses would be fleeting at best: Most of the action in Batman films transpires in sordid alleyways, ramshackle tenements and other dour locales. At the very least, Christopher Nolan would be wise, if he hopes to preserve the series’ aesthetic, to portray Pittsburgh’s sleek, inviting Golden Triangle sparingly.

All this underscores the fact that our city, if Gotham-ized, will most likely not come across as a nice place. On the contrary, Batman’s habitat is one governed by corruption, violence and poverty. Paired with the smog-laden outer regions that set the backdrop for the final fight in “Batman Begins,” the result might be something closer to 1920s Pittsburgh — not, as many would hope, a revamped 21st century Pittsburgh.

Finally, it should be noted that the Steel City has anything but a monopoly on the third movie’s setting: In addition to Pittsburgh, IMDb lists Romania, England and Los Angeles as filming locations.

Pittsburghers are right to hail the Batman production as an economic boom: An invading army of cast and crew will doubtlessly benefit local businesses. The Chicago Tribune, in fact, estimates that the first two films spent more than $50 million on “crews, vendors and hotels, among other expenses” in Chicago and a successful shoot might attract further big-name productions that are equally enthused about our tax incentives. When it comes to how our city’s image will ultimately change, however, the answer is disheartening: Either it won’t, or it’ll be for the worse.