Seconds and The Joker

Dystopias are common in a lot of movies. Many film plots involve a hero making the world a better place. Or a hero overcoming a villain creating a dystopia. This would be my idea of a modern dystopia film. However, this week I watched Frankenheimer's dystopian film Seconds and, while I do agree that it is a dystopian film, it was different from a dystopian film I would find today.
I am a massive Batman fan. As I mourn the news of Ben Affleck, I remain a fan of the Dark Knight and the Christopher Nolan film series. And my favorite film to watch is The Dark Knight. The Joker is one of, if not my favorite character of all time. My reason for this is because so much is packed into that character to make him the epitome of dystopia. He is a man with no emotions, carelessly burning the world down, he has no morals or values, and most of all is pure corruption. In The Dark Knight, The Joker takes the people of Gotham and uses them to corrupt the city. He pins the innocent and the guilty criminals against each other and in doing so creates a dystopia. Nolan uses characterization to enhance this dytopia. Unlike Frankenheimer's method.
In Seconds, a similar method is used in which a character, Arthur, is living in a normal world and becomes corrupted by wanting to continue living through surgery. When he is made a Second named Tony he feels trapped from the setting he is put in. Unlike in The Dark Knight where the dystopian world is created throughout the story, Tony is placed into a dystopia that already exists and through his characterization and experiences in this new world slowly realizes the dystopia he is living in and plots an escape. This method of creating a dystopian film is used as often in today's films but is still very effective.