Friday, February 7, 2014

The Joker

Ever since I saw The Joker in Batman cartoon series/comics when I was a kid, I was fascinated by him. As a kid, he was the complete antithesis of how a “bad guy”should be. Instead of the stereotypical evil mastermind with a bunch of goons at his disposal, or a guy with elaborate schemes or myriad powerful weapons, here all we had was just a lone joker. A joker! Who normally comes to kids birthday parties and entertains them, who laughs a lot, juggles things and makes people happy. How could he be the bad guy? I could never understand. As I watched and read more and more, I slowly realized he was something, which at the time, I couldn’t understand. 

His character represents a theory about existence that is radically different from what you or me believe, or rather have been taught to believe. Part of me believes that all people, if so they choose, could embrace this theory.  Don’t start thinking I’m crazy just yet.  Here is a feeble attempt by me among thousands to try and understand him, one of the most intricate and complicated villains to appear in fiction.

To start, lets look way back into The Joker’s past. No one knows who The Joker really is. Where he came from is a point to discuss. Comics, movies and cartoons each have different stories and a different point of view. It is possible that he himself is unaware of his origins. It might also be possible that he is insane to such an extent that he reinvents both his psyche and history on a daily basis. Among all this though, one thing remains stable, that he has a long history of crime. Of course, his history is equally twisted as his character.  Back when he first appeared in the comics, he was just a homicidal maniac, he then became nothing but a simple prankster, but over time, his character quickly evolved. 

“Do you know how I got this scars?” – Joker, The Dark Knight
Even the answer to this simple question is different everywhere. Sometimes he was dumped into a vat of chemicals, other times he is the victim of self-mutilation, or in the case of The Dark Knight, the stories contradict one-another and there is no definite story at all.

For the longest time, I, as several others believed that The Joker represented chaotic evil better than anyone. However, The Joker is the definition of pure evil. A chaotic evil character is one who never has specific plans, motives or any sense of reason at all. His only aim is to spread chaos. His plans are absurd or non-existent. The Joker however, while on the surface may seem as such, truly is a mastermind at planning. Those who saw The Dark Knight may argue with me here: 

Do I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it. You know? I just do things. The Mob has plans.The cops have plans. Gordon's got plans. You know, they're schemers. Schemers trying to control their little worlds. I'm not a schemer. I try to show the schemers...how pathetic their attempts to control things really are. – Joker, The Dark Knight
This is a precise example of how he is NOT a chaotic evil character. The Joker wanted to prove his theory on existence. That is why, in the movie, he riggs up two ferries and tries to set it up so that one of them would panic and blow the other up, however he simultaneously devises a “backup” plan on Harvey Dent. The above quote was precisely that plan. Dent believes The Joker, looses it and in vengeance ends up killing several people. 
“The Joker took the best of us and tore him down”. - Police Commissioner Gordon, The Dark Knight 
When you see the movie, this is not obvious at the time. It is only when you see the ending that you realize that after everything, in fact The Joker has won. This is a definition of a pure evil character.

Let us try and look at something terrifying, the inside of Joker’shead. To do that, we look at a very simple question. How does society, or a person for that matter, get their values? To answer that, we need to discuss "thought". Thought, as do most abstract concepts, can be classified into two broad types. Objective thought or truths are facts and can be easily stated. For example, sun rises in the east and sets in the west. George Washington was the first US president. There are recognized standards that can be used to determine the truth of those assertions. On the other hand, subjective thought, however has no criteria for truth. It cannot be definitely said. We, as in ourselves and the society, derive our values from subjective thought. For example, I say that it is immoral to cause unnecessary harm to others and if you challenge my statement, ultimately there are no objective standards for me to appeal to and I cannot prove my claim. Nonetheless, subjective truths are essential to our existence. This is because, we pretty much are what we do and what we do are the results of decisions which are the embodiments of values chosen. These values are based completely on faith and acceptance. What is completely sane and acceptable in one era is totally absurd for the next. Existence itself and society in general works on such absurdity. The Joker grasps the absurdity and contingency of society very well. An individual who has looked profoundly upon the world of men and seen that at the deepest level it is nothing but a big joke. To him, your life is a joke.

He quickly takes a liking to Batman. The Batman, who lives well outside the social norms albeit for justice, is the closest to getting his joke. The Joker is fascinated with him. A grown man dressed as an armored bat. Now that fits perfectly into Joker's head. Almost. Most people think he is exactly opposite to the batman, the yin to the yang. However he in fact is the closest thing to the batman in his world. 
“Don't talk like one of them. You're not! Even if you'd like to be. To them, you're just a freak, like me!” – Joker, The Dark Knight

The highlight of the Batman series is the never-ending dance between The Joker and the Batman. 
“You won’t kill me out of some misplaced sense of self-righteousness and I won’t kill you because you are simply too much fun. I think you and I are destined to do this forever"  – Joker, The Dark Knight

The Joker is a catharsis of our dark side, a part of us that we don’t acknowledge – the part that doesn’t want to obey the little niceties of society.  There is a reason that characters likeTyler Durden – Fight Club are so popular.  They represent the idea that we all, in some way, wish we could be a part of.  They don’t obey society’s rules.  They don’t follow the set way of thinking.  They do their own thing, and to hell with everybody else.  Let’s be honest, all of us wish that we could do that.  The Joker is the darker side of that way of thinking. Not only does he not want to follow the rules of society, but he actively seeks to destroy the rules of society as we understand them.  In his mind, chaosis the only actual truth in the world.  He may have a bit of a point there.

Even with his insanity, the fact is that he has a brilliant criminal mind. He doesn’t rely on a single way of getting the job done.  He uses multiple methods.  He can use elaborate traps, explosives and guns, anything that is on-hand, or that he cleverly has hidden on his person. He has had some pretty nifty little tools on him at all times, like a flower in his lapel that can shoot acid, venom, fire, and a number of other things. He has had exploding toys, such as dice.  He has a little shocking device that he wears on his hand.  Sometimes it is just a harmless prank, other times it can kill you. He has claimed that Arkham Asylum is just a resting ground where he can chill out, since he is always able to leave the place at will. 

Another interesting aspect of The Joker was revealed when in comics Scarecrow decides to gas him with a chemical that can induce fear.  “Whatis the Joker afraid of ?” he wondered.  A good question, however there is no reaction at all.  Nothing happens.  The Joker instead proceeds to beat him up with a chair, laughing his iconic hysterical laughter while he does it, but it is the fact that there is no reaction whatsoever that is interesting.  Here is an individual who feels no fear at all.  Even the idea of his own death doesn’t frighten him.  In The Dark Knight, the Batman throws him off a high storied building but he simply laughs all the way down until of course, the batman saves him. The fact that he is not afraid of anything makes him all the more terrifying. A madman with nothing to loose, nothing to fear, a criminal mastermind and a bad sense of humor.

Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned, or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn. – Alfred Pennyworth, The Dark Knight