DC and the Method in Joker's madness
Please note there are spoilers in the paragraph titled “the Joker”.
Throughout their comics, DC has always portrayed the grittier, darker and realistic side of being a superhero, masked vigilante or even the villain. In their movie adaptations though, they have always seemed to be lacking the darker punch that they so desperately craved, in order to be any competition. Sure some people will say that DC is the more “old-school” publishing house, but that also means that they draw on a time that was depressing in nature.
The origin of comic books as a genre that we know, stems from war and the post-war era. Unlike Marvel, DC seemed to embrace the dark nature of the time from which they arose and the characters of DC deal with their new positions bestowed upon them in a more real and almost agonising way. Now by real and agonising, I mean that their powers and rite of passage come from events of misfortune in their life that demand them to be the heroes and villains they become. Take Batman, for example, his parents are taken from him in cold-blooded murder. Now, this doesn’t force him to be the nocturnal guardian immediately but, it does become his life’s purpose; as he aims to rid the crime-infested streets of Gotham of the gangsters, petty thieves and even more serious foes. So in this way we see his development is of turmoil and life lessons being learnt in dark tutelage. Marvel, on the other hand, seems to have a more "sunshine and lollipops" way of developing a character. They are only tested once they are competent with their powers and then typically not at their full potential, which gives them some form of a learning curve when the get too arrogant. Sure some of them endure loss and grief in some way but, like Spider-man, but the way this defines their characters and development seems a lot lighter than DC.
Now, I’m not slating Marvel in any way, I absolutely love their comics, movies, and series, basically everything they touch, but, other than Deadpool they should not follow the darker touch. It works for Deadpool because of the R-rated comedy that is integral to his character. The way they have their formula now is amazing. DC, on the other hand, could do with some tweaking.
The Joker:
As someone who has always been fascinated with the origin of the Joker being a mystery and every version of the story we know being speculation, I was curious to see a more “real” reason for the Joker’s need to destroy the world. I always felt he had a slightly communist/French revolution outlook on life, and I understand that. For the people by the masses. But, the ideas of his origin that had come before, like falling into toxic waste, didn’t really justify the element of psychosis and his burning desire to take down the upper class. Maybe toxic waste or acid would have that mental side effect if one was to fall into it? I wouldn’t know, I guess I have better hobbies. But, the mental degradation of someone that has been raised by someone that was suffering from a mental illness herself, coupled with the toxic society that was apparent in Gotham, seems to make more sense and justify his need for “justice”. Arthur (Joker) was a depressed and mentally fragile person trying to bring joy to the world, as most comedians often are, but all the world surrounding him wanted to do was break his spirit because he was different and had some form of physical deformity. Sure some people will say something along the lines of “he needed to look for help” but he had help, then because of the economic depression apparent in the film, the funding for these services is cut and he clearly isn’t able to afford private health care. This is obviously the beginning of the landslide that leads to the surfacing of the Joker. this, coupled with the events like finding out he was actually adopted and his mother lying to him, along with the imagined relationship he has with his neighbour, it makes sense that he would feel abandoned. What I really loved was the fact that he seemed as if he was going on to the talk show to make a statement, especially when he was rehearsing killing himself. Obviously, he wouldn’t do that because then the miscreants of Gotham wouldn’t have their leader and he still had to "reveal" himself as the Joker with a bold statement but, it was a valid attempt to mislead someone into thinking he would because of him being such a “broken” character. Admittedly there were some surprises in the film, namely Joaquin Phoenix’s amazing contemporary dance moves and his improve fridge scene that was laden with an edgy message.
- Oskar Roux
o @Ozman_13 on twitter
o WizardOfOz on Steam
o WizardOfOz on Battlenet
o WizardOfOz13 on Mixer
Comments
Post a Comment