UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON
An Exploration of the Joker as a Psychopath ‘Maybe he is special, and not just a gruesomely scarred, mentally ill man addicted to an endless cycle of self- annihilating violence. Stranger things have happened.’
Deborah Bell 4/25/2016
Disclaimer: In this thesis, there is discussion of some controversial topics; such as rape, murder, torture, and mental illness, including psychopathy and repressed trauma. Some readers may be sensitive to this particular content, therefore, caution is advised.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my gratitude first and foremost to my supervisor, Dr Cristina Massacessi, who has shown me constant support and given valuable and constructive advice throughout. She showed interest in my ideas from the very beginning until the end, and for that I thank you.
I am grateful for the support my family has shown me, in particular my brother, Jonathan Bell and father, Dr Angus Bell. I especially would like to thank my brother for the artwork on the front page.
I would like to thank Freya Blundell-Meyer for listening and encouraging me throughout this project.
Your help has been greatly appreciated.
Finally, I would like to give a special thanks to Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson for creating the Joker, for without them, this project could never have happened. Additionally, my appreciation extends to Grant Morrison, Dave McKean, Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Christopher Nolan and Heath
Ledger; I thank you for your phenomenal work which has inspired me.
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Contents
Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………….4
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………...5 i) Methodology and Ethics…………………………………………………………….…7 ii) The Joker as a Patient…………………………………………………………………8 iii) The Joker: the Good and the Evil…………………………………………………...18 iv) The Joker and Sanity………………………………………………………………...21 v) The Joker and Batman………………………………………………………………..26 vi) The Joker Onscreen……………………………………………………………….....29 vii) Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….….35
Works Consulted………………………………………………………………………...36
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Abstract
This essay focuses on the character the Joker, originally created by Bob Kane, Bill Finger and
Jerry Robinson. There has been a lot of psychological and literary research concerning Batman; however, there appears to be a gap in the literature concerning his nemesis. The focal point of this research is an exploration of how and why the Joker is portrayed as a psychopathic, in The
Dark Knight, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth and The Killing Joke. The essay aims to clarify what is meant by ‘psychopath’ using clinical criteria to assess the Joker’s character traits. Additionally, it explores the significance the Joker has in relation to the concepts of good, evil, and mental illness. Overall, this paper shows how despite being a fictional character, the audience relates to the Joker whilst each author portrays him as something different depending on what society needs at the time of publication.
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‘I don’t want to go among mad people.’
‘Oh you can’t help that. We’re all mad here.’1
An Introduction
The Joker, The Clown Prince of Crime, The Man Who Laughs, Mistah J, whichever of these names he is given, there is never any doubt which villain we are referring to. He remains one of the most popular villains in the superhero industry, and is continuously being reproduced in comics and films. He used to appear as more of a frenzied clown with a bad taste in jokes, but in recent publications has appeared as a psychopathic villain. The Joker being depicted as a violent mentally ill character seems a far cry away from the jumping clown armed with practical jokes. Whilst this may appear as just differences in authorship, the portrayal of the
Joker as a psychopath is becoming increasingly popular and I would argue is highly significant.
Within this thesis, I aim to explore the psychopathic portrayal of the Joker and the significance this holds, in order to gain further understanding of this character and why we remain to be so captivated by his presence. I shall do this from a mainly psychological perspective as I attempt to give the Joker a diagnosis using clinical criteria that will better enable us to understand what is meant by ‘psychopathic depiction’. Next, I shall question why this shift in the Joker’s development occurred and how the Joker may represent paradigms between good and evil. This shall lead into a discussion of mental health, and how the Joker contributes to what we deem mental health to be. Moving on, I endeavor to analyze the relationships the Joker holds with
Batman and how this contributes to his identity. In order to support my argument, I will be using evidence from three primary sources, as follows:
The Killing Joke by Alan Moore and Brian Bolland 1988
1 Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth.
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The Dark Knight directed and produced by Christopher Nolan 2008
Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean 1989
There will be a specific focus on The Dark Knight as I conduct a contextual sequence analysis in the final chapter, in order to show how the topics discussed earlier are represented onscreen.
I will engage with the similarities and differences of my sources, and discuss how they support the conclusions I have drawn to. Overall, I will attempt to explain how and why the Joker is depicted as a psychopath, what effect this may have, and why we must ‘remind ourselves not to root for him’,2 ultimately rendering him much more than just a villain. I will be combining knowledge from Clinical Psychology, Psychiatry, Film and Sequential Art in order to understand the character from multiple aspects, and perhaps demonstrate that ‘maybe he is special, and not just a gruesomely scarred, mentally ill man addicted to an endless cycle of self-annihilating violence. Stranger things have happened.’3
2 Dan Hassoun, ‘Shifting Make Ups: The Joker as Performance Style from Romero to Ledger’, in The Joker A Serious Study of the Clown Prince of Crime. Edited By Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G Weiner. (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2015), pp. 3-19 (14). 3 Grant Morrison, John Van Fleet, Batman #663 The Clown at Midnight, (DC Comics, 2007).
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i) ‘Nobody panics when things go according to plan’4
Methodology and Ethics
I will predominantly be using qualitative research methods as this is mostly a literature review within an interdisciplinary paradigm. The sources were selected because I wanted to explore stories which presented the Joker as mentally ill. In addition, the sources differ greatly in style; each one adds another story to his character which is why it is important to bring them together and see how this affects our perspective of the Joker.
The Psychopathy Checklist Revised criteria will be my starting point, in addition to other psychological theories.5 The implication of my research is ethically contentious, because I am dealing with clinical criteria, however, because the subject in question is a fictional character I do not need to directly apply this. This deems my research minimal risk by UCL Ethics guidelines so I therefore have not needed to seek ethical approval. Any conclusions I may draw to are my opinion only and is not a professional diagnosis of the Joker, it is merely my interpretation of one depiction of the character, and that character only.
4 The Dark Knight. Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros. 2008, 109 mins 5 Robert Hare, Craig Neumann. ‘Psychopathy as a Clinical and Empirical Construct’. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4:2 (2008), 17- 46. < 10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091452> [Accessed: 15th February 2-16].
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ii) ‘You can trade your gloom for a rubber room and
injections twice a day’6
The Joker as a Patient
The Joker is presented as suffering from a mental illness within the comics and The Dark
Knight from the onset. The Joker himself even says ‘I went crazy as a coot. I admit it’.7 He is referred to as a ‘murdering psychopath’, and is told he will be in a padded cell forever.8 The president and publisher of DC Comics said, ‘I keep coming back to the way the Joker physically incarnates madness’.9 However, in order to fully understand the Joker, the term ‘mad’ does not seem adequate enough, and is certainly not a clinical term. The concept of a psychopath is complex, often obscured by ambiguity due to its misuse and confusion with psychosis and personality disorders. Harvey Cleckley stated that a psychopath is ‘a patient who fulfils all the ordinary theoretical criteria of a sound mind and yet within this apparently sound mind is more incomprehensible than the psychotic’.10 Therefore, in order to clarify who the Joker is and what is meant by the term psychopath, it is necessary to turn to the specific criteria of psychopathy.
Psychopathy is a clinical term established when Harvey Cleckley devised certain characteristics in order to recognise and accurately diagnosis psychopathy as an illness.11
Consequently, this led to Robert Hare devising the more empirical Psychopathy Checklist
Revised (PCL-R), which is a diagnostic tool used to rate a person’s psychopathic tendencies.12
6 Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, The Killing Joke. (New York: DC Comics, 1988), p.23. 7 The Killing Joke, p. what page?? 8 The Dark Knight, 98 mins, 134 mins 9 Cohen A: The Joker: torn between goof and evil. (National Public Radio, July 16, 2008.) Available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92572470 10 Cleckley, Harvey. The Mask of Sanity: An Attempt to Clarify Some Issues About the So-Called Psychopathic Personality, 2nd edition. (USA: The C V Mosby Company, 1950), p. 376.
11 Ibid. 12 Robert Hare, Craig Neumann.
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In short, psychopathy represents a specific pathology in which there is both antisocial personality traits and emotional dysfunction, it does not equate to Anti-Social Personality
Disorder, but can be seen as an emotional disorder with ASPD.13 Although there have been various attempts to eliminate this term, it continues to appear in the psychiatric literature and
Hare’s scale is still used in clinical environments. 14
Hare’s clinical construct consists of a rating scale that uses interviews, case histories and scoring criteria in order to rate the patient on 20 characteristics using a 3-point scale (0,1,2) according to the extent to which it applies.15 The twenty traits are grouped into four dimensions:
Interpersonal Affective
Glibness/Superficial Charm Lack of remorse or guilt
Grandiose Sense of Self-worth Shallow Affect
Pathological Deception Callous/Lack of Empathy
Cunning/Manipulative Failure to accept responsibility for actions
Lifestyle Antisocial
Need for Stimulation/Boredom Poor Behavioural Controls
Parasitic Lifestyle Early Behaviour Problems
Lack of Realistic Long Term Goals Juvenile Delinquency
Impulsivity Revocation of Conditional Release Irresponsibility Criminal Versatility
13 Jeremy Berman, Carien Minne, Stephen Attard, Oyedefi Oyebode, ‘Forensic Psychiatry’ pp. 471-486, in Core Psychiatry 3rd edition, eds. Padraig Wright, Julian Stern, Michael Phelan (London: Saunders Elsevier, 2012) p.477. 14 Robert Jean Campbell, Campbell Psychiatric Dictionary, 7th edition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996), p.582. 15 Robert Hare.
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The last two characteristics, promiscuous sexual behaviour and many short term relationships do not fit into the above dimensions but contribute to the overall score. Generally, a cut score of 30 is typically used for a clinical diagnosis.16 However, since the Joker is a fictional construct, and there can be no strict clinical assessment, I shall take the criteria and 3-point scale and apply them to specific examples in the literature which show the Joker exhibiting these behaviours.
To begin with, I shall discuss the dimension of Interpersonal traits and how these may be present in the Joker’s behaviour. His superficial charm or glibness can be observed in several ways, as he appears charming, not by being overly nice, but by fooling us into feeling empathetic. In The Dark Knight, the iconic ‘d’you wanna know how I got these scars?’,17 scenes represent this fully, as they divulge a traumatic background that highlights the Joker’s vulnerability. His cunning is equally present, especially considering the bank robbery in the opening sequence of The Dark Knight. It is an intricately devised plan. Each accomplice is dressed up as a clown and told to kill the other once they had finished the job, with everyone being manipulated to think that they themselves were winning by cutting out one of the shares of the money. This is not a simple heist, indeed every move the Joker makes, whilst seemingly having no thought behind it, tends to have been elaborately planned. Again demonstrated in
The Dark Knight, when we realise the Joker intended to get arrested, in order to release the prisoners. The innocent request of ‘I just want my phone call’,18 shows sheer brilliance as he outwits the entire Gotham Central Police Department.
16 Ibid. 17 The Dark Knight, 51mins . 18 The Dark Knight, 91 mins.
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Next, I shall review the characteristic of grandiose self-worth, which can be observed in the
Joker’s constant desire for an audience. It is evident that the Joker has histrionic traits, as Daniel
Wallace said:
If it’s not spectacularly theatrical, it’s boring, and the Joker’s audience might fail to see
the humour in the horror. Like all actors, the Joker claims not to care what the reviewers
think, but secretly craves critical validation. And there’s only one critic who matters:
Batman.19
The Joker is perfectly thespian in all his plans and makes everything as large as possible in order to ensure as many people as possible watch him. He robs one of the safest banks in town and then later burns the money.20 He plays an extensive game of hide and seek with Batman only to let him go in the end,21 and tortures Gordon in an elaborately haunted theme park.22
Every move he makes is chaotic and dramatic. He craves validation, and is not looking for anything logical, but merely commits crimes as a performance. He displays self-dramatization and theatricality, particularly in The Killing Joke when he flamboyantly bursts into a chorus of
‘I go loo-oo-oony as a light bulb battered bug, simply loo-ooo-oony, sometimes foam and chew the rug’.23 He yearns to stand out and thinks he is better than the average criminal, he is not content with merely ripping off mob dealers, because from his point of view he deserves much more.
In terms of pathological deception, the Joker is consistently showing a ‘total disregard for the truth and is to be trusted no more in his accounts of the past that in his promises for the future or his statement of present intentions’. 24 A statement proven to be true in The Dark Knight
19 Daniel Wallace, Mark Hamill, The Joker: A Visual History (New York: Universe Publishing, 2011) p. 105. 20 The Dark Knight. 21 Dave McKean, Grant Morrison,. Morrison, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. (New York: DC Comics, 1989).
22 The Killing Joke, p. 23. 23 Ibid. 24 Cleckley, p. 362.
Deborah Bell 11 | Page when the Joker tells us Rachel is on Avenue X at Cicero and Harvey is on 250 52nd street, only to be found that he is lying.25 In Arkham Asylum, he tells Batman he has an hour to hide and then says ‘oh let’s just pretend it’s been an hour’.26 As aforementioned, the back story about his scars is constantly changing and when he tells Rachel a different version, we feel dismayed and betrayed at being so gullible. He tells her ‘now I see the funny side, now I’m always smiling’,27 and we do not know whether to trust the evil in his eyes or the smile on his face.
This pathological lying in turn explains why he is so cunning and manipulative; his accomplices can never be sure what he means, resulting in a susceptibility to the Joker’s manipulation. Manipulation is fundamental to who the Joker is because his central belief revolves around the idea that ‘madness as you know, is like gravity, all it takes is a little push’,28 and that push equates to his manipulation. In The Killing Joke, Gordon is the object of manipulation as he attempts to force him to madness by showing him violated pictures of his naked daughter, whereas in Arkham Asylum and The Dark Knight, the object of manipulation extends from Batman and Harvey Dent to the entire population of Gotham.
The Affective dimension is one that easily comes to mind when we think of the Joker. His complete lack of empathy and remorse are central to who he is. This is perhaps depicted best in The Dark Knight. When the Joker is arrested and is being watched over by the guard, he asks him ‘how many of your friends did I kill?’,29 when he is given the answer of six, he mock gasps in horror and mouths it back like a child, as if he finds it hilarious. When he threatens to blow up a hospital, he refers to it as ‘why should I have all the fun?’.30 It is not merely a lack of remorse, but an enjoyment of inflicting pain, for example, he throws a stick to the mob guys for ‘try outs’, stating that there is only one spot left.31 If the Joker wanted he could make more
25 90 mins. 26 Arkham Asylum, p. 46. 27 The Dark Knight, 51 mins. 28 Ibid, 133mins. 29 Ibid, 104 mins. 30 144 mins. 31 31 mins.
Deborah Bell 12 | Page spots available, but he would rather see them lose their morality and descend into violence as they fight to kill each other with a broken piece of wood. Scenes like these are filled with unnecessary horror which is what makes the Joker terrifying, because like Alfred said, some men aren’t looking for anything logical, they just want to watch the world burn,32 and the only motive here is an avoidance of boredom. This lack of remorse for violence transcends into a state of humour at what most people would find horrifying. With regards to this subject,
Cleckley stated that:
Psychopaths are often witty and sometimes give a superficial impression of that far
different and very serious thing, humour. Humour, however, in what be its full true
sense, they never have. ‘Carlyle said ‘true humour springs not more from the head than
from the heart, it is not contempt, its essence is love, it issues not in laughter, but in still
smiles which lie far deeper’.33
This concept of a superficial impression of humour coincides with the Joker’s attempts at a joke: ‘how many brittle bone babies does it take to…’ and then later on another joke ending with ‘April fool! Your wife’s dead and your babies a spastic!! Get it?’.34 As Cleckley emphasised, this is not humour from the heart, but a twisted dark wit that comes from a damaged mind. He makes inappropriate jokes due to his inability to empathise and his shallow affect. Henninger referred to this as black humour, a humour which obliterates all laughter, and
‘transmutes it into despair’.35 This is how the audience feels at these jokes, all positive emotions are destroyed as the Joker is the only one laughing.
Regarding the Lifestyle dimension of psychopathy, the traits ‘irresponsibility’ and
‘impulsivity’ can also describe the Joker. Whilst his plans may be intricate, the Joker often acts
32 55 mins. 33 Cleckley, p. 373 [Quoted from Parkhurst, Helen Huss: Beauty’]. 34 Arkham Asylum, p. 20, 40. 35 Henninger cited by: Patrick O’ Neil, ‘The Comedy of Entropy: The contexts of Black Humour’ in Black Humour, eds. Harold Bloom, Blake Hobby (Infobase Publishing, 2010), p. 85.
Deborah Bell 13 | Page impulsively within these plans, for example letting Harvey decide the fate of Batman appears spontaneous, as is the killing of people who are unnecessary and unimportant to the Joker.36
The Joker’s irresponsibility seems obvious considering all his actions are ruled by chaos and anarchy, disregarding any compliance with the law.
Often the Joker’s violence stems from a place of boredom and a need for stimulation which is one of the defining traits in the Lifestyle dimension of the PCL-R. Quay suggested that this arises from a lack of cortical arousal, resulting in a chronic need for stimulation. 37 As a result this may:
Leave a person with high intelligence and other superior qualities so bored that he
would eventually turn to hazardous, self-damaging, outlandish, antisocial, and even
destructive exploits in order to find something fresh and stimulating.38
This seems to be relevant when discussing the Joker and explains why his behaviours are so theatrical. For example, in Arkham Asylum, the Joker cajoles Batman into the asylum, torments him, chases him and then releases him, perhaps suggesting that the whole thing was merely for entertainment. Yet to describe this as lack of cortisol as Quay did, suggests a biological explanation for the behaviour. For the first time we envision a Joker who is constantly living in such a state of low level arousal that he is reduced to self-damaging and violent exploits.
This becomes a pinnacle turning point for his character as we are introduced to the idea that perhaps the Joker cannot help the way he is.
The Antisocial dimension is the most difficult to discuss due to the lack of background knowledge there is of the Joker. Very little is known of his origin and as Eric Garneau said
‘[he] depends on having a mutable identity, one full of blurred borderlines that ignore
36 Ibid, p. 98. 37 Cited in Hare, p. 62. 38 Cleckley, 5th edition, p. 441 [cited by Hare, p. 65]
Deborah Bell 14 | Page chronology and sequence’,39 so it seems that we may never gain any more of his case history.
As a result, it means we must omit any information regarding juvenile delinquency and early behavioural problems in this current diagnosis. Criminal versatility is evident though, as he goes from robbing a bank to corrupting Falcone and Maroni, pyromaniac tendencies, torture, kidnap and rape. Additionally, revocation of conditional release can be observed as the Joker is constantly being sentenced and released from prison and Arkham Asylum. The last two characteristics concerning sexual behaviour are difficult to analyse as sex rarely appeared in the Batman comics, due to the history of the Comics Code Authority violations against the depiction of sex.40 It seems that Travis Langley was correct in stating that ‘the details of any sex life between Harley and the Joker remain the stuff of fan fiction and nightmares’.41
Therefore, it must be omitted.
Given the above evidence it seems reasonable to presume that the Joker scores at a 2 for the following characteristics:
Interpersonal Affective
Glibness/Superficial Charm Lack of remorse or guilt
Grandiose Sense of Self-worth Shallow Affect
Pathological Deception Callous/Lack of Empathy
Cunning/Manipulative Failure to Accept Responsibility
39 Eric Garneau, ‘Lady Haha: Performativity, Super Sanity and the Mutability of Identity’ in The Joker: A Serious Study of Clown Prince of Crime, ed. By Robert Moses Peaslee and Robert G Weiner, pp. 33-47 (34). 40 Amy Kiste, Nyberg, Seal of Approval: The Origins and History of the Comics Code, Volume 1 (USA: University Press of Mississippi, 1994), p. 168. 41 Travis Langley, Batman and Psychology: A Dark and Stormy Knight (John Wiley & Sons, 2012), p. 150.
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Lifestyle Antisocial
Need for Stimulation/Boredom Revocation of Conditional Release
Lack of Realistic Long Term Goals Criminal Versatility
Impulsivity
Irresponsibility
Along with many short term relationships with his accomplices, this makes a total of 30, rendering the Joker with a diagnosis of psychopathy. As Hare noted, ‘the defining features of psychopathy are not equally weighted’,42 this is why the Joker resonates much more strongly with some characteristics than others; pathological deception and lack of empathy being paramount. Whilst it is more difficult to analyse the Antisocial dimension of his character, he undeniably affiliates with what McCord and McCord concluded as the two essential features of psychopathy – ‘lovelessness and guiltlessness’.43
There is a high degree of comorbidity within psychopathy, which is why it becomes necessary to look at how trauma may have affected the Joker’s character.44 Psychologists have discovered that the development of psychopathy can be linked to traumatic experiences in childhood.45
This comorbidity is perhaps demonstrated when the Joker says the following:
Memory’s so treacherous, one moment you’re lost in carnival of delights with poignant
childhood aromas…Then next, it leads you somewhere you don’t want to
go…somewhere dark and cold, filled with the damp ambiguous shapes of things you
42 Hare D, Robert, Psychopathy: Theory and Research, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1970), p. 120.
43 McCord and McCord cited in Hare, p. 7. 44 Robert Hare, Craig Neumann. 45 Giuseppe Craparo, Adriano Schimmenti, and Vincenzo Caretti, ‘Traumatic Experiences in Childhood and Psychopathy: A Study on a Sample of Violent Offenders from Italy’, European Journal of Psychotraumatology 4, (2013).
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hoped you’d forgotten […] so when you find yourself locked onto an unpleasant train
of thought, heading for the places in your past where the screaming is unbearable,
remember there’s always madness. Madness is the emergency exit. You can just step
outside and close the door on all those dreadful things that happened. You can lock
them away. Forever.46
This quote is significant because it is one of the few instances in which the Joker talks about his own life or feelings. Whilst he could be talking hypothetically, the resounding way in which he speaks suggests otherwise. For example, he states that the ‘screaming is unbearable’, such emphatic vocabulary implies that the Joker is talking about his own memories. Similarly,
‘somewhere dark and cold, filled with the damp ambiguous shapes of things you hoped you’d forgotten’ suggests a more personal situation rather than a hypothetical one, considering this is a character who has the inability to empathise, it does not seem credible that he would be able to talk about such a topic so unequivocally. The Joker then goes onto rhyme about being ‘loo- oo-oony’, which I perceive as an attempt to counteract the moment of vulnerability previously by using humour as quick defence. It is easier to listen to the Joker jovially rhyming about insanity, than to view him as a character screaming on the inside.
Again, there is a compelling sensation to feel compassion for the Joker; he is becoming more than just a villain. Gordon hints at this in The Dark Knight as he asks the increasingly important question ‘what’s he hiding behind all that makeup?’.47 This implies that it is not just a villain’s costume, but the question remains as to what it is concealing. Perhaps it is a history of trauma that led to the development of psychopathic tendencies or something else entirely. Whilst his history may remain ambiguous, there seems to be enough evidence to suggest that within these sources, the Joker can be diagnosed as a psychopath, according to the PCL-R.
46 The Killing Joke, p. 20. 47 The Dark Knight, 10 mins 50s.
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iii) ‘I’m not a monster, I’m just ahead of the curve’48
The Joker: the Good and the Evil
To diagnosis the Joker as a psychopath and define him by only this, is rather a one dimensional view and discounts other aspects of his character which have become fascinating.49 The Joker has not always been portrayed as psychopathic; there has been a critical point in the character’s development which has shifted the Joker away from slapstick. The current trend towards the depiction of the Joker as a character who is mentally ill, may have occurred for many reasons, several of which I shall explore in this chapter. Additionally, the Joker is presented as a fictional villain, but I would argue, that this depiction has certain ambiguities, as well as the potential to redefine our perceptions of good and evil.
Philip Zimbardo’s discussion of the concepts of good and evil help clarify our relationship with villains in films, he stated that ‘we fear evil, but are fascinated by it...we are thrilled by contemplating sexual excess and violations of moral codes by those who are not kind’.50
Zimbardo is referring to the allure evil has, that despite causing us feelings of horror, there is an attraction to it. As a result, we are drawn towards evil and are compelled to explain why it is scary, and why it continues to fascinate us. This paradox can be used to explain trends in entertainment, in particular why we enjoy watching horror and violence. A study completed in
2013 used trained coders to identify the presence of violence in films and found that it has doubled since 1950.51 Additionally, Randy Olson showed that the total onscreen deaths in films has been on the rise since 1960, and that there was a correlation coefficient of +0.71, indicating
48 The Dark Knight, 99 mins. 49David, Ray Carter, ‘Episodes of Madness: Representations of the Joker in Television and Animation’, in The Joker A Serious Study, pp. 49-62 (49).
50 Phillip Zimbardo, The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil. (USA: Random House Group, 2007), pp. 4-5. 51 Brad Bushman et al, ‘Gun Violence Trends in Movies’ Paediatrics, (American Academy of Paediatrics, 2013), pp. 1014-1018
Deborah Bell 18 | Page that year of production and total death count are highly correlated.52 This evidence shows that the presence of violence has been increasing in the film industry and that as a society, we are becoming more accustomed to being entertained by horror. In terms of the Joker, this is reflected in the character’s development towards a psychopathic killer as authors responded to the increasing desire for the thrill of evil from the public.
Terry Eagleton stated that evil becomes unpleasant when there is a lack of logical explanation and horrific acts are committed in a sober and meticulous way. 53 As soon as there is a logical explanation for evil, no matter what the crime is, there is a sense of relief. This may occur because as a society there is comfort to be found in an explanation, or in this case, a diagnosis.
Peter Suedfeld expands on this when he states: ‘it might be comforting to assume that torturers are in fact peculiar monsters who can be explained away as the sort of freaks of nature who commit mass murders in periods of insanity’.54 The principle is that insanity is more palatable than evil, which is why even in fiction, it is preferable that villains can be explained by mental illness. The term insanity is not a medical one but it is one which we readily employ to help us understand what we perceive as immoral behaviour. Instead of looking at the Joker as a character manifesting symptoms of a mental illness, perhaps he is actually a symptom of our societal fears of evil. This transformation towards the depiction of the Joker as a psychopath could merely be a way of disguising the conflicts in human relations and the refusal to believe that there is a permeable and nebulous barrier between good and evil.55
The representation of good and evil within films is significant because of how it may affect our beliefs and behaviours. One the conventions which occur in superhero comic books, is that
52 Randy Olson, Violence Has Been on the Rise in the Film Industry, (December 31, 2013)
Deborah Bell 19 | Page there is a hero and a villain.56 Whilst watching or reading about the Joker, if we identify that he is the villain; he becomes ‘evil’ whilst Batman is ‘good’. Labelling the Joker as ‘evil’, allows the audience to distance themselves from him and identify with the hero of the story, Batman.
This effect is amplified within The Dark Knight considering there is evidence to show that films affect our behaviour, therefore what is seen on screen can contribute to the conditioning of actions in everyday life.57 Consequently, there is a risk that the Good-Evil dichotomy which is applied to these characters, can be translated into reality. Zimbardo discusses the danger of this, and how this distancing soon leads to dehumanisation.58 It allows us to hide behind a self- protective shield whilst flattering our own egos, that we are the good ones, whilst the others are the evil ones.59 It is evident there is danger to this categorical identification of Good and
Evil as dehumanization can lead to morality being abandoned. However, despite the conventions of comic books that Bongco referred to, it seems that within these sources, the
Joker and Batman are not portrayed as simply as one being good and the other evil. Luke Seaber questioned what the difference is between villains and anti-heroes, and stated that in order to be seen as more than just a villain, a character must engage with the audience in a relationship other than repulsion.60 This is why the Joker transcends beyond being Batman’s evil protagonist, because he engages with the reader in ways other than the horror of his acts.
One of the ways the Joker does this is by challenging the belief that concepts of good and evil do not overlap. There is a parallel between what Zimbardo and the Joker both think about evil.
Zimbardo asks us the important question: ‘is there anything that anyone has ever done that you are absolutely certain you could never be compelled to do?’ (5) In turn, it is the Joker who
56 Mila Bongco, Reading Comics: Language, Culture and the Concept of the Superhero in Comic Book, (New York: Garland Publishing Inc, 2000)
57 Richard B Felson, ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior’ in Annual Review of Sociology 22, pp. 103–128 (1996)
Deborah Bell 20 | Page constantly tries to prove this by manipulating people into doing evil in order to show he is not the only one capable of such acts. In The Dark Knight, Harvey Dent is the proof of this concept, but even Batman begins to doubt his own sense of morality. He begins to blame himself for
Rachel’s death as he says ‘did I bring this on her? I meant to inspire good, not madness, not death’.61 One of the Joker’s intrinsic beliefs echoes Zimbardo’s argument; there is not an unbridgeable chasm between good and evil. His intent is always to break Batman’s belief in good and evil by proving that there are ultimately no villains just as there are no heroes. The words echo ‘you either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain’,62 which epitomises the Joker’s central idea that an individual cannot maintain pure morality, evil is not an entity that is inherent in some people and not in others,63 but a continuum which both the Joker and Batman exist in.
61 The Dark Knight, 98 mins. 62 The Dark Knight, 20 mins 55s. 63 Zimbardo, p. 6.
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iv) ‘I’m not mad at all, just differently sane’64
The Joker and Sanity
The Joker does not only oppose what we define as good and evil, but also disputes what is perceived as good mental health. In this chapter, I shall explore the dangers of portraying a character as mentally ill, and how this may affect society. The Joker asks us the important question of ‘how do you measure madness? Not with rods and wheels and clocks surely?’.65
This challenges the disparity between states of mental health, and it seems that like good and evil, mental health too cannot be discussed in such incrementalist terms.
Alex Thio stated that:
Behaviour of different individuals ranges by imperceptible degrees from normal to
abnormal […] an individual may shift at different times to different positions along that
range, appearing normal at one time and abnormal at another.66
This correlates with the Joker’s belief that there is no difference between him and everyone else and that ‘all it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy’.67 There are moments when the Joker makes Batman question his own state of mental health, particularly prevalent in Arkham Asylum. At the beginning of the graphic novel, Batman says:
I’m afraid that the Joker may be right about me. Sometimes I question the rationality
of my actions. And I’m afraid that when I walk through those asylum gates. When I
walk into Arkham and the doors close behind me. It’ll be just like coming home. (10)
64 Grant Morrison, Fraser Irving, Batman and Robin #14 (DC World, 2010) 65 Arkham Asylum, p. 23. 66 Alex Thio, Deviant Behaviour, 5th edition, (New York: Prentice Hall, 1988), p. 159.
67 The Killing Joke, p. 37.
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This crucial depiction of Batman signifies that there is not a great difference between the mental states of our two opposing characters. Labelling the Joker begins to become increasingly difficult as the dividing line between what constitutes as mental illness and good mental health becomes arbitrary.
Additionally, the depiction of the Joker as a character who is mentally ill becomes dangerous as he is slowly transformed into people’s stereotype of the crazed mentally ill person.
Considering the Joker is for the majority, presented as the villain, there is a tendency to associate his criminality and violence with mental illness, a stereotype which leads to increasingly negative attitudes towards mental health. A report done by Dr Peter Byrne showed that the public gets its understanding of mental illness from films, however characters with mental health problems are being depicted as increasingly more demonic and cruel.68 This leads to the development of negative stereotypes in viewers and could potentially become damaging to those suffering with mental illnesses. Thio supported this concept when he said that
‘mentally ill people are often portrayed in news media, and television programmes as crazed violent people’. (159) This can be observed within The Dark Knight, as the Joker is referred to as a mad dog and then portrayed as one, when he hangs his head out of the car window and wags his head.69 This draws a parallel between mental illness and animalistic behaviours, furthering the distance between the sane human and the mentally ill other.70 The idea of a mad dog correlates with rabies, and how people were often terrified of encountering a mad dog, perhaps mirroring the fear of encountering a person suffering from a mental illness.
Furthermore, he is referred to as a ‘freak’ four times throughout the film, such a pejorative term can be detrimental to the way in which people suffering with mental illnesses are portrayed.
68 Dr Peter Byrne, Screening Madness - A century of negative movie stereotypes of mental illness, (Mind: Time to Change, Institute of Psychiatry at King’s College London),
Deborah Bell 23 | Page
Additionally, his appearance of unkempt, dishevelled long green hair only furthers the notion that mentally people cannot look after themselves.71 This portrayal affects our perceptions of mental illness as we build a schema around this information and as a result view people suffering with mental illnesses as dangerous and threatening.
Within Arkham Asylum, there is an insight into the representation of mental health treatments considering it is set within a mental institution. Arkham itself is portrayed as a dark foreboding castle with high gates and black silhouetted trees. It is characterised by gothic architecture and resembles a prison more than a hospital. Morrison said he wanted to make entering the hospital on a conceptual par with going down the rabbit hole in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; that there is no going back.72 I think this reflects the attitude that people do not fully recover from mental illness – once you have been diagnosed, there is no forgetting the diagnosis.
Furthermore, when referring to the method of psychoanalysis, the Joker says ‘I want him
[Batman] to know what it’s like to have sticky fingers pick through the dirty corners of his mind’.73 This is compelling because it creates an implication about the brutality of mental health treatments. The term ‘sticky fingers’ correlates to children and the idea that psychiatrists are not qualified and show little respect for the emotions of their patients. This criticism of psychiatric treatments is further exemplified by the deteriorating state of Harvey Dent, who now lacks the ability to make any decisions on his own. It seems that mental health treatments are represented as archaic and brutal, which would encourage the development of a negative prejudice against mental illness. Thio stated that the mentally ill are stigmatized as moral lepers and that ‘although the public today does not believe in burning the mentally ill as devils, basically the attitude of the past still remains’. (171) Therefore, it seems plausible that the Joker
71 Ibid. 72 Arkham Asylum, afterword. 73 Ibid, p. 30.
Deborah Bell 24 | Page represents these fears society holds about mental illness, and that he embodies what society believes mentally illness to be – an illness driven towards crime and violence.
However, whilst the Joker may in some ways contribute towards a negative discrimination against mental health, within Arkham Asylum, Morrison additionally presents the alternative idea of ‘super sanity’:
It’s quite possible we may actually be looking at some kind of super sanity here. A
brilliant new modification of human perception. More suited to urban life at the end of
the 20th century. Unlike you and I, the Joker seems to have no control over the sensory
information he’s receiving from the outside world. He can only cope with that chaotic
barrage of input by going with the flow. That’s why some days he is a mischievous
clown, others a psychopathic killer. He has no real personality. He creates himself each
day. (27)
The concept of super sanity relates to the transgression of what is perceived as the social boundaries, because by doing this you can see things that no one else has, and ultimately this is what the Joker is concerned about. The Joker can be described as reaching levels of super sanity because he does not see the world in black and white, the boundaries between good and evil are blurred, and states of mental health are constantly overlapping. Steve Englehart summarises it like this:
Human behaviour has a lot of latitude, but there are limits; transgress them and humans
might lock you up. But transgress them and you’ll see things no one else does. The
Joker likes the last part and could care less about the first. If they lock him up, his mad
mind is always free, and that mad mind is worth any temporary setback.74
74 A Serious Study, p. xii.
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This coincides with what is known as the anti-psychiatric view; Thomas Szasz was one of the pioneers of this movement and thought that psychiatry was socially harmful and made little scientific sense.75 He stated that mental illness is used to describe a deformed feature of an individual’s personality and that the ‘concept of illness implies deviation from some clearly defined norm’. (15) However, he questions how we measure such a norm and any consequent deviation, a strikingly similar question to the Joker’s one earlier.76 Szasz goes on to explain that mental illness is used to dismiss societal problems and that often mental illnesses are
‘communications expressing unacceptable ideas’, (19) which is what both Englehart and
Morrison are expressing with the concept of super sanity. Morrison suggests that super sanity manifests in the form of multiple personality complexes, and will be the next stage in the development of human conscious.77 This suggests that the Joker will move from ‘insane’ to
‘super sane’, as he embodies the idea that ‘insanity involves entering a state of more rather than less reality, of super sanity rather than sub sanity, of mental breakthrough rather than break down’.78
75 Szasz, Thomas Stephen S. The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct (New York: Harper Perennial, 1984), p. 21. 76 ‘How do you measure madness? Not with rods and wheels and clocks surely?’. 77 Grant Morrison, Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach us About Being A Human, (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2011), p.149. 78 Thio, p. 184.
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v) ‘Quick question. When the clock strikes 12, do I get
a little kiss?’79
The Joker and Batman
One of the most intriguing aspects of the Joker’s character is that, despite being portrayed as a psychopath he maintains relationships with other characters in the story, which goes against the aforementioned clinical traits of psychopathy. The most notable relationship is the one between the Joker and Batman. It is as if each author obeys an unwritten rule, and despite both the characters having countless opportunities to kill the other, it is always avoided. We expect the superhero to kill the villain, it is one of the fundamental expectations the reader holds,80 yet this is disregarded when it comes to any Joker/Batman story and the reverse becomes true; we expect them not to kill each other. Morrison described this intriguing relationship as sharing the ‘perfect symmetry of Jesus and the Devil, Holmes and Moriarty, Tom and Jerry’,81 suggesting that the two are much more than opposing nemeses.
There are several climatic moments in the sources, where the authors tempt us with what could be a victory and defeat, but instead avert it all together. In The Dark Knight as Batman races towards the Joker, the Joker simply stands there saying ‘come on, come on I want you to do it’,82 and rather than killing the Joker, Batman swerves, crashes and injures himself instead. At this moment, Nolan portrays Batman putting the Joker’s life before his own. Similarly, in the end of Arkham Asylum, the two walk away as equals, almost hand in hand. The Joker leaves the fate of Batman into Harvey Dent’s hands, yet does not even check the coin toss, implying
79 Joseph Loeb, Tim Sale, Batman: The Long Halloween, 1:4 (DC Comics, 1997). 80 Mila Bongco.
81 Robert G Weiner, Robert Moses Peaslee, A Serious Study, p. xvi. 82 82 mins.
Deborah Bell 27 | Page that he does not care on the outcome.83 This bond between them is epitomised in The Killing
Joke when Batman says:
Do you understand? I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want either of us to end up killing
the other…. It doesn’t have to end like that. I don’t know what it was that bent your life
out of shape, but who knows? Maybe I’ve been there too. Maybe I can help. We could
work together. I could rehabilitate you. You needn’t be out there on the edge anymore.
You needn’t be alone, we don’t have to kill each other, what do you say? (43)
It’s a plea for reconciliation, one that perhaps Batman wants even more than the Joker. There is a resemblance between them, that perhaps the death of Bruce Wayne’s parents ‘bent his life out of shape’ just as something may have happened to the Joker. When Batman says ‘you needn’t be alone’, he is almost reassuring himself, that he too does not have to be alone and that instead of reaching out to the Joker he is trying to help himself by attempting to connect with another. In Arkham Asylum, the Joker shows what could be construed as a similar level of affection when he says ‘enjoy yourself out there. In the asylum. Just don’t forget if it ever gets too tough. There’s always a place for you here’. (100) The Joker refers to the outside world as the asylum, implying that there is more freedom within Arkham Asylum, and that paradoxically
Batman will feel more himself within Arkham than he does ‘out there’. Again, there is the familiar transgression of boundaries, only this time it concerns freedom and captivity; the Joker sees himself as being free despite being locked up, whilst Batman is the one bound by obligations and laws. The final sentence perhaps hints at a partnership – an attempt at the Joker trying to rehabilitate Batman, rather than vice versa, a reverse ending compared to in The
Killing Joke.
83 Arkham Asylum, pp. 100-101.
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The symmetry that these two share can be explained using Jungian Theory; the Joker represents the shadow side of the self, with Batman being the other side of this single entity.84 As Jung states ‘the individual shadow contains within it the seed of enantriodromia, of a conversion into its opposite’. (272) This quote epitomises the idea that Batman and the Joker are opposites of each other, however, whilst Jungian theory does provide evidence for why Batman and Joker remain close, I would not fully agree that they are two halves of the same entity. Rather than focusing on dualism aspects, it is important to consider how Batman highlights an aspect of morality that resides within the Joker. As we saw earlier, the Joker shows little deliberation when it comes to killing, yet with Batman he never crosses the line, which ultimately defines him. The Joker lives by the ideology of chaos, he thrives on being the only one who does not have rules, yet with Batman there is always a line drawn. It is because of this line that Batman shows a certain level of respect towards the Joker, shown in his desire to rehabilitate him.
Equally, the Joker defines Batman; the Joker is what keeps Batman from overstepping his power. Batman’s refusal to kill the Joker, despite it seeming to make little sense considering the lives it would save, represents the deontology ethics that ultimately define his character. He asks Gordon ‘How many more lives are we going to let him ruin?’ to which Gordon replies ‘I don’t care, I’m not going to let him ruin yours’.85 The relationship between them highlights an intense philosophical debate on ‘the ethics of killing to prevent future killings’.86 This is why the Joker’s main goal is to make Batman the best he can be,87 because Batman has seen what it will take to destroy the Joker, he knows that it would corrupt his morals, so has turned away from it. It seems that one cannot be who he is without the other. The PCL-R stated that short term relationships and shallow affect are typical of psychopaths, but here the Joker suggests
84 Carl Jung, The Collected Works of Carl Jung. Volume 9, part 1, trans, by R F C Hull, (London: Routledge, 1990). 85 Joseph Loeb, Batman #614, included in Hush Volume Two (DC Comics, 2003). 86 Mark White, Robert Arp, Batman and Philosophy: The Dark Knight of the Soul, (US: John Wiley & Sons, 2008), p. 2. 87 Peter J Tomasi, in A Serious Study, p. xxi.
Deborah Bell 29 | Page otherwise. It seems that the two depend on each other for maintenance of their perceived independence.88
88 Tosha Taylor, p. 83.
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vi) ‘Aren’t I just good enough to eat?’89
The Joker Onscreen
It has become evident that portraying the Joker as a psychopath is complex and his character has additional representations. In order to see how this manifests within film, I aim to conduct a scene analysis. Within The Dark Knight, there is one scene which is arguably fundamental in the development of the Joker’s character, his relationship with Batman and the entire film. This scene occurs in the second half of the film, when the Joker has been arrested and Batman begins to interrogate him about the whereabouts of Harvey and Rachel.90
The scene takes place in an interrogation room, which is a bare room, with dirty white walls, a big metal door, and no natural light. This mise-en-scene resembles that of an abattoir; which increases the feeling of brutality present. The room is long and rectangular, which adds depth to the scene but additionally becomes claustrophobic as the Joker and Batman only occupy one end, far from the door, reiterating the unlikelihood of the Joker’s escape. Considering, the room is a prison cell, this further blurs the line between good and evil, because they are both locked in. This reiterates that Batman belongs in prison because he too has broken laws, just like the
Joker, and that the scale of good and evil is constantly shifting. The Joker and Batman are trapped together not only in this room, but also in their relationship with each other. The Joker and Batman’s relationship means that they are ‘destined to do this together’,91 and are metaphorically and literally trapped together.
In the beginning of the scene the Joker’s face is visible; lit by an artificial light. The crude lighting here highlights the colours on the Joker’s face, meaning his make-up is seen in intense
89 Arkham Asylum, p. 18. 90 87mins – 90 mins (Available at < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWgyKDfFC_U>). 91 134 mins.
Deborah Bell 31 | Page detail (see fig.1). The red lipstick is smeared around his mouth and is shockingly vivid but has also faded in parts so the grotesque scarring underneath is evident. Patti Bellantoni calls red
‘visual caffeine’,92 and here it activates the viewer, excitement and anxiety as well as a level of disgust as we are drawn towards the Joker’s mouth, his moist lips and hideous scars reminding us of his earlier stories. This is not just red makeup, it is cold and crude, not sensual and warm, and consequently has vampiric connotations of blood as well as the indecent image of a promiscuous woman with smeared red lipstick. The colour red attracts our attention so in this close-up shot where the Joker’s mouth takes up a large proportion of the screen, there is a pause as we look at the whole of the Joker’s face in such high key lighting.93 Batman steps out from the shadows behind Joker, supporting the earlier idea that they represent two parts of one entity. The light here not only reveals the colours of the Joker but is symbolic because in this scene a side of Batman is revealed that the viewer has not seen before.
Figure 1
92 Patti Bellantoni, If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling (Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science, 2005), p. 2. 93 Ibid.
Deborah Bell 32 | Page
This cuts to one of the only long shots of the scene which immediately increases the tension. It allows us to see the positioning of the Joker and Batman before a series of close up follows.
The conversation which ensues alternates between close ups of each other’s faces, from a slight objective POV as the other one can be seen out of focus in the foreground (see fig. 2). This allows the viewer to be part of the conversation; we are in fact the third participant. Whilst the
Joker is a prisoner and therefore Batman should have dominance, this is not the case, because it is revealed later that the Joker’s intention was to get caught, therefore the prison cell acts as meeting room and the two are represented as equals.
Figure 2
Body language is fundamental to this conversation; the Joker leans in over the table and enters
Batman’s intimate zone as he tries to make a connection with him, suggesting that the two are emotionally close. 94 The Joker’s hand gestures suggest excitement and are a way of trying to capture Batman’s attention as he tries to persuade him he is ‘not one of them’.95 Batman
94 Allan Pease, Body Language: How to Read Others’ Thoughts By Their Gestures (London: Sheldon Press, 1981), p. 21. 95 Spencer Kelly, Gestures Fulfill a Role in Language (Acoustical Society of America, 8 May 2012) < http://www.newswise.com/articles/gestures-fulfill-a-role-in-language>.
Deborah Bell 33 | Page however, remains stiff and upright, as he tries to maintain dominance. This difference in body language reflects their attitudes towards laws and morals; Batman is unbending on everything, whilst the Joker tries to prove that everything is flexible and is subject to transformation. As the Joker claims ‘he is just ahead of the curve’, Batman leans forward and drags the Joker across the table. Immediately, it is evident that Batman can physically overpower the Joker, as he begins to hit him repeatedly. Due to the bright lighting, every move the two make is clearly seen, every punch Batman throws is visible which creates a violent and brutal scene. Fran
Pheasant-Kelly emphasised this when she stated the scene was so violent that it ‘evokes scene of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib…which amounted to torture’.96 Unlike most pinnacle fight scenes between villain and hero, there is no confusion between who is hitting who, because the
Joker does not retaliate, he allows himself to be beaten, thus rendering it a conceptual role reversal as Batman is not entering into fair fight, but is beating up the Joker. Nolan referred to this as ‘inverting the expectation’, by using the overexposure and harsh lighting, it completely flips the standard interrogation scene on its head.97
As Batman throws the Joker down on the table, he runs to block the door from being opened by Gordon, highlighting that this is the pinnacle moment where Batman oversteps the line.
This cuts to a canted shot of the Joker laid upon on a table, the cold hard metal resembles a surgical table (see fig. 3). Gustavo Mercado stated that a canted shot conveys a character’s altered state of mind,98 which in this scene could be the Joker’s, however; it may signify the
96 Fran Pheasant-Kelly, ‘The ecstasy of chaos: Mediations of 9/11, Terrorism and traumatic memory in The Dark Knight’, Journal of War & Culture Studies, 4:2 (2011) , pp.235-249 (245)
Deborah Bell 34 | Page change in Batman that occurs in this scene. Additionally, this shot amplifies the tension, and appears unsettling.99
Figure 3
The dialogue which occurs between Batman and the Joker depicts the depths of their relationship and the beliefs that are fundamental to the Joker’s character. He tries to explain how there is little difference between him and Batman by saying ‘to them, you’re a freak, like me. They just need you right now, but as soon as they don’t they’ll cast you out. Like a leper’.
He draws similarities between them and explains one of his pivotal principles – that when under threat civilised people will abandon all pretence at morality and ‘eat each other’. His thesis is that everyone is capable of evil and will lose their sense of integrity and righteousness when pushed. He refers to himself as just ‘being ahead of the curve’ which highlights how he justifies his behaviours, and how he refuses to accept the responsibility of
99 Ibid.
Deborah Bell 35 | Page his actions, a trait common to psychopaths as seen in the PCL-R. The Joker shows a complete disregard for structure and laws, and knowing they are central to Batman, taunts him to break them because ‘the only sensible way to live in this world is without rules’. Batman responds by saying he only has one rule, but the Joker insists ‘that’s the one rule you’ll have to break’.
This correlates to the idea of ‘undesirability of truth’ that Slavoj Zizek suggested was one of the dominant themes in The Dark Knight. Zizek discussed that the concept of revealing the self and taking off the mask is unpleasant because it shows us something else. 100 In this scene,
Batman is perhaps faced with a truth about himself that he does not like, as he begins to break his one rule. Additionally, whilst Batman’s truth behind his mask is disclosed, the Joker appears as a man who is ‘fully identified with his mask, a man who is his mask’,101 which suggests that he is the only character not hiding anything.
As the Joker shouts ‘You have nothing! Nothing to threaten me with! Nothing to do with all your strength,’ it is evident that Batman has broken his rule. He is corrupt by anger and on the brink of torturing a man, whilst knowing that as the Joker said, it will achieve nothing. It seems that a hero without rules can soon descend into villainy, and we are again faced with the question of what constitutes as evil.
100 Zizek, Slavoj, Living in the End Times. (London: Verso, 2011), p. 61. 101 Ibid, p. 60.
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vii) ‘You can’t say we didn’t show you a good time’102
A Conclusion
Dennis O’Neil suggested that Batman has been around for so long he has become part of our collective psyches, and I would argue that the same is beginning to occur for the Joker.103
O’Neil highlights that whilst these characters do not exist, we associate them with being human because there are depictions of humans. The authors thoughts and emotions have gradually filtered into the character development, which is what makes the Joker so powerful, and perhaps even special.
In 2011, a team of forensic psychiatrists suggested that DC use this influential position in pop culture to combat harmful stereotypes.104 This should begin with the correct use of psychiatric terms, which is what I have tried to establish within this essay. Whilst a strict diagnosis is difficult to establish, the Joker in these sources demonstrates psychopathic behaviour, and should not be confused with schizophrenia or psychosis. Perhaps, the Joker is depicted as a psychopath because there is an increasing societal desire to explain evil, or perhaps he is there to question the dichotomous labels used within society. One of the most important things we can take away from this character is that we all exist within in a moving spectrum, and as
Zimbardo states not only do we have the potential for both evil and good within us, but additionally a changing state of mental health.
Considering I have only used three sources within this essay, there is an enormity of possibilities for further discussion in other portrayals of the Joker. If each author or actor responds to the changing society when they begin to portray the Joker, there is an opportunity
102 Arkham Asylum, p.100. 103 Dennis O’Neil, foreword in Batman and Psychology: A Dark Stormy Knight 104 Eric H Bender, Pavreen R Kambam, Vasilis K Pozios, Putting the Caper Crusader on the Couch (New York Times, September 20th 2011),
Deborah Bell 37 | Page to learn from how each one is depicted, and for that, we must wait until the next publication, which could be the starting point for further research. The question remains, what will he be next?
Deborah Bell 38 | Page
Total Word Count: 9972
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Moore Alan, Bolland Brian, The Killing Joke. (New York: DC Comics, 1988)
Morrison Grant, McKean Dave, Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. (New York: DC Comics, 1989)
The Dark Knight, dir. by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros, 2008)
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Bellantoni, Patti, If It’s Purple, Someone’s Gonna Die: The Power of Color in Visual Storytelling (Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science, 2005)
Bender Eric H, Kambam Praveen R, Pozios Vasilis K, Putting the Caper Crusader on the Couch (New York Times, September 20th 2011),
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Cohen A: The Joker: Torn Between Goof and Evil. (National Public Radio, July 16, 2008.)
Deborah Bell 39 | Page
Dini Paul, Timm Bruce. The Batman Adventures: Mad Love. (New York: DC Comics, 1994)
Eagleton Terry, On Evil (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2010) Felson, Richard B (1996). ‘Mass Media Effects on Violent Behavior’ in Annual Review of Sociology 22, Annual Reviews: pp. 103–28,
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Loeb Joseph, Sale Tim, Batman: The Long Halloween, 1:4 (DC Comics, 1997) McCloud Scott, Understanding Comics. (New York: Harper Collins, 1994) Mercado Gustavo, The Filmmaker’s Eye: Learning (and Breaking) the Rules of Cinematic Composition. (London: Taylor & Francis, 2013) Morrison Grant., Van Fleet Jon, Batman #663: The Clown at Midnight. (New York: DC Comics, 2007)
Morrison Grant, Supergods: What Masked Vigilantes, Miraculous Mutants, and a Sun God from Smallville Can Teach us About Being A Human (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2011)
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Olson, Randy, Violence Has Been on the Rise in the Film Industry (December 31, 2013)
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Deborah Bell 40 | Page
Szasz, Thomas Stephen S, Ideology and Insanity: Essays on the Psychiatric Dehumanisation of Man (London: Calder and Boyars, 1973)
Thio, Alex, Deviant Behaviour, 5th edn (New York: Prentice Hall, 1988) Wallace Daniel, Hamill Mark, The Joker: A Visual History (New York: Universe Publishing, 2011)
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