The Joker

Like anyone else with a love for Postmodernism, I like my heroes real, complicated, and flawed.

I was first introduced to the Batman storyline from the comics in 1988 with the Death in the Family story arc. Robin gets killed? When did this happen to heroes? Little did I know that 2-3 years earlier, Postmodernism began to shape comic books (and graphic novels) with The Dark Knight Returns and Watchmen. The way Robin was ended was brutal, I'm not going to lie. However, I had a bit of a rough home life and violence (not always physical) and the darkness of humanity was something I was exposed to early. I have never been a violent person, but I understand humanity's dark side very well.

I have to admit, I think the Tim Burton Batman movies are, for lack of a better word, crap. The corny, campy Batman crowd has been around longer than the serious crowd, so it's understandable there's more of a want for that. Thank God Joel Schumacher (inadvertantly) buried that part of the Batman series.

Now we fast forward to 2005, when Batman becomes part of the "reboot" trend Hollywood has been running rampart since the prequel phenomenon we can thank George Lucas for (shudders). Batman Begins...the best origin story I've seen in a movie in some time. I could just do a post on that movie alone.

So, onto the meat: the Joker in The Dark Knight. First off, I have to admit that I'm not a big Heath Ledger fan. The only movie I can remember him that I liked up until this was 10 Things I Hate About You. For a teen movie, it was an amusing retelling of the Taming of the Shrew. When I first heard that the Joker was going to be the villian, I was wary. I feel I should explain why.

Of all the villians Batman has gone up against, his relationship with The Joker is one of the most dynamic and complex of the Batman canon. I do respect that, but The Joker himself was one of my least favorites. That jutting chin, the clownish appearance really turned me off his character. He was almost alien looking to me and his schtick was corny, to say the least. Even his portayal in the excellent 90's cartoon series by the always awesome Mark Hamill wasn't enough to sway me to feign interest in the character. My favorite (along with my wife's) villian? Ras' al Ghul. Talk about an intricate storyline. When I found out Liam Neeson was playing him in Batman Begins, I was in fanboy heaven.

The Joker is himself literally the Yin to Batman's Yang. there are many times in the series where Batman's all consuming purpose is to get the Joker. The Joker's unpredictability is what makes him dangerous, but his clownish construct takes away this edge.

Enter Heath Ledger's Joker.

This Joker is dangerous, calculating, and highly intelligent. He has some of the makeup, but he also has the scars at the edge of his mouth and looks human. Also another mistake in people's belief is that the Joker is anarchy and this is not true. Not surprisingly, I will defend this because of my soft spot for anarchism (which is completely different), but the Joker is chaotic, not anarchy. Anarchy, as defined by our good friends at Wikipedia, is "... a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power..." (Wikipedia). Chaos, on the other hand, "...refers to unpredictability..." (Wikipedia). This is the power of the Joker: unpredictability. That is where his colors come through is not knowing what he'll do next or even why.

The other reason why he is dangerous is that his unpredictability always comes at a high cost. To sum it up in his own words: "People will die". The Joker sees people as tools and pawns in his plans. If this sounds familiar, it's because it's part of the profile of someone who is sociopathic. I like this definition I found on a website called "Profile of the Sociopath":

"...They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors as permissible..."

Heath Ledger's portayal is genius. He doesn't resort to the old Joker's tricks. He plays a character who is misunderstood by everyone, not because he's got a heart of gold, but he is much more intelligent than everyone realizes. Another point Ledger plays up is the Joker's madness. Like it or not, the Joker is mad. However, that's what also plays into his brilliance. The madness and the intelligence are the Joker's weapons, the unpredictability is his vehicle.

Also, if you watch Ledger in his portrayal, he almost looks different when dealing with people close up, like his face is this ever-changing phenomenon. Go back and look at him in his scenes with Gordon, Rachel, and Gambol. His expressions are unique in each other, unable to pin down one definitive look of the Joker. His physicality of the character cements the force that is him being the Joker.

To sum it up: should he win Best Supporting Actor for the role?
Absolutely.

Introduction

It seems in the shower is when I come up with my best ideas.

I started a blog earlier this year called "Through Composed", mainly dealing with obscure music I loved. However, it was a failure because I had no traffic. I know I'm not exactly a tourist attraction for writing, so I've decided to expand my writing into other things.

Another reason: I'm a liberal arts major (Psychology/English) in my sophomore year of college, and if there's one thing liberal arts freaks myself love to do is yak about the things we love in detail, especially in semi-scholarly terms because it establishes our professionalism. I am no different. I realized in my Speech class when I did a speech on Postmodernism to 19-20 years old kids and they understood and enjoyed what I was talking about. I knew I was onto something them.

So let's begin, shall we...