Few might dispute the notion that the Joker is one of the best, if not the best supervillain modern pop culture has ever seen. Those who have spent time reading about his endeavours and ventures in the comics especially would agree beyond a shadow of a doubt, and even more so if they're fans of comic book characters. And while most of us simply observe the Joker as a crazy maniac with serious issues that needs to be stopped or put down, few of us ever really stop and consider what might actually be wrong with the Clown Prince of Crime.
So I stumbled upon a video on Youtube once, a while back, which I recently found again, having lost it shortly before, the first time around. Made by a game/film theorist who goes by the name, 'The Imaginary Axis', the video attempted to provide what I believe is the most spectacular and mind boggling explanation of why the Joker is the way he is.
It starts by refuting the idea that he is 'insane' or 'psychotic', by establishing that insanity (at least as the law understands it), is typically the case of a person who either does not, or did not, at the moment of the crime have control of his actions, or is/was incapable of differentiating between right and wrong, which never seem to be the case with the Joker, as he has demonstrated on multiple occasions that he is more than a little aware of how his actions may be perceived, and what they might result in, as well as having precise control of said actions as well, with the only reasonable (known) ailment he can be diagnosed with being psychopathy, characterized by lack of emotional connection to people or morals, disregard for norms, rights and values, and tendency for violence, as psychosis' symptoms usually involve visual and auditory hallucinations, making people see things that aren't really there, and which results in their erratic behaviour.
And while psychopathy might seem to cover more or less adequately the nature of his actions and thoughts, there have also been moments when he has been subjected to conditions that have altered him temporarily in ways that a normal psychopath of any kind could never be, and such moments are referred to in the video, including when characters or events gave him temporary sanity, through which he expressed immense regret at all he had done, and an emotional need to make amends, shortly before resuming his normal psychopathic tendencies, a change also reflected during a phase in a comic book wherein he believed he had actually successfully killed the Batman, preceded by him desperately trying to prove to himself that the Bat wasn't actually dead.
At the end of the video, the conclusion 'Axis' reaches is a whopper to anyone who does not already know this, or had some inclination as to where this was going, and is substantiated by multiple nods made to it by the comics and cartoons. I'm not a big fan of long videos, but I can honestly say without a doubt that this was one of the best fifteen minute theory videos I'd ever seen.
Credit
Let me know what you thought in the comments, and enjoy!
This post received a 3.4% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @callistanix! For more information, click here!
Damn, didn't think it was gonna work.
Thanks Rando :D
I think the general trend seems to be that the joker will eventually morph into the hero, while batman is seen more and more as the villain. Shakespear uses the jester, or the joker to speak truth to power. So the role of joker may become more complex and nuanced as Bruce Wayne, the law and order corporatist is seen more as the root cause of the reason why there is so much crime in Gotham. I think it would be interesting to put together a backstory where we develop some sort or sympathy for this character and provide a stronger criticism of Bruce Wayne and Wayne enterprises.
Well, in the video, one of the things that senior psychiatrist was saying was that his level of awareness might be better suited to a time at the end of the twentieth century. Might be a clue there. Its possible that by then, Batman's inflexible, rigid idea of justice might be seen as too outdated and outta place, and the Joker's ability to adapt to anything based on the nature of his awareness would prove necessary for turbulence experienced in those times. So an anti-hero of sorts, while Wayne's position starts to diminish or something.
Personally, I'd like to see something where they fight back to back, and actually look out for each other or something.
An unjust law is itself a species of violence. Arrest for its breach is more so.
- Mahatma Gandhi
Damn...
That man was truly something else. I had a chance to watch Attenborough's 1982 film about Gandhi, and its pretty clear why his whole approach to the foreign invader problem worked so well at the time, with an enemy like the one he faced.
What really struck me about him, however...was not so much the non-violent protest (people like those are a dime a dozen these days), but more his defiance. It was fiery yet non-violent, non-lethal yet so dangerous. Especially that one line in the film where he says, "They may torture my body, break my bones, even kill me. Then, they will have my dead body...not my obedience."
I lost it when I heard that...respect to the man. It is that defiance, that undeterred drive with compassion its eternal partner I see so lacking in our world as it stands today. Today you have mostly drive, with little compassion, or compassion, often unaccompanied by drive. Seldom do I see the right mix of the two.
Re$teemed, upvoted & following!
Yeya! Thanks buddy!
:D :D
Gonna follow you too.
Brilliant minds often are hidden in characters like these, people only see the insanity instead of the genius ideas.
I hear that, man.