In my paper for Friday, I wrote about the character The Joker from the Batman franchise, but more specifically from the movie rendition The Dark Knight. While not a typical "monster" per se, the Dark Knight interpretation of the Joker is by far the most frightening character I have personally ever encountered. His lack of humanity and enjoyment in watching human suffering haunted me for weeks after I saw the movie, and I still to this day cannot look at the Joker without cringing with anxiety. After reading Cohen's theses on monster culture, I find that one could argue both for and against the Joker being a monster. I, however, still believe the Joker to be a monster, more so than before since reading Cohen's theses, and the argument can be best seen in the first, second, and seventh theses.
Cohen's first thesis states that "the monster's body is a cultural body." The character of the Joker has been appearing in comics since the early 1940s, and his appearance is, by now, well recognizable. The green hair, purple coat, and white made-up face compare the Joker to a clown (another being that has always terrified me) or the joker in a deck of cards. Most well-known of his features, though, is his red-painted lips, often made into an over-exaggerated grin. In the Dark Knight, this was further emphasized by knife scars in the shape of a smile on his face. I find that I now associate the Joker's appearance with the feeling of horror, as I felt helpless and terrorized watching the Joker's plans unfold, both as a child watching the cartoon and as an adult watching the Dark Knight. For me, the Joker's body and appearance is truly a sign of his monstrosity.
"The monster always escapes" is Cohen's second thesis. For the Joker, this is alarmingly true and is even mentioned throughout the Batman franchise. The Joker is one of- if not the single most- recurring villains in the series, a fact that frustrates Batman throughout due to his constant evasion. In the Dark Knight, the Joker is finally captured and taken into custody, but it is later learned in the next movie that the authorities are not entirely sure if he's in prison or not. The fear that the Joker could turn up at any moment to wreak havoc is made possible by his ability to escape, and I feel that this fear is part of what makes the Joker's character so terrifying.
Finally, Cohen's seventh thesis of "the monster stands at the threshold... of becoming" is an important thesis to remember when thinking of the Joker as a monster. Despite the crazed appearance and lack of humanity, the Joker is a living, breathing, human being. One may wonder how he became so heartless, but he still has a beating heart and feelings that make him human. In addition to this, his actions make us not only question life as we know it, but they make us come together and work to find a way to stop his madness. As Cohen stated, "these monsters ask us how we perceive the world," and for me, no monster does this more than the Joker does.
I love that you wrote about the Joker from the Batman franchise because I have always been fascinated by the backstories of the villains. As mentioned in Cohen’s fifth thesis, the monster has two stories to tell. The first one is how the monster came to be. In the movie, he got his smiling scars after he found his parents fighting and his father cut them because he was acting too serious. For the Joker however, he gets his fame for the second story; cultural use the monster serves.
ReplyDeleteThe Joker is a monster because of his mentality, not because of his physical appearance. He thinks that humans are by nature, animals. He strongly believes that as soon the structure of the government placed to keep them in check is gone, they will return to their original, natural place as killers, thieves, and savages. During one of his famous attacks on the city, he stated, “I’ll show you, when the chips are down, these…these civilized people? They’ll eat each other. See, I’m not a monster, I’m just ahead of the curve.” He gets his kicks by testing the mental strength of Batman and attempting to push him right to the edge of madness, and pulling him right back again.
The Joker is interesting because he does not see himself as a murderous, crazed monster. On the contrary, he sees his victims as the monsters. Rather than him, the Joker would believe that his victims would fit into Cohen’s sixth thesis; that the monster is a symbol for desire. The monster is sometimes envied because of their ability to act without worrying about consequences, laws, or a loss of reputation. They can partake in every grotesque form of fantasy which only makes them more attractive. Cohen backs this up perfectly by confirming, “We distrust and loathe the monster at the same time we envy its freedom, and perhaps its sublime despair.” The Joker shows Batman how animalistic humans can be by using government officials as the guinea pigs. When he manages to corrupt a person with authority, let alone the whole system, he is proving his point. The most famous example is when he manages to turn Gotham’s prized Harvey Dent into the chaotic Two Face.
I agree with what you said about the Joker fitting into Cohen’s seventh thesis because he is every bit as human as anyone else. He lives in the same world as us and has needs just like us. No other monster asks you to look at the world from a different perspective more than the Joker.
Malia, I was thinking the same things. I also think that Cohen's third thesis could fit here. While the Joker himself doesn't defy a category crisis, he continually makes a point of revealing that it's not being that easy in others. I think a large point of his experiments – especially his experiment with the ferries – was to defy these assumptions about people being good or bad, which is interesting because the Joker may take on the identity of being the villain without any qualms.
DeleteIn that scene there are two ferries, one full of prisoners, and one full of civilians. The Joker informs them that their own ferry contains the detonator to the other ferry. One must detonate the other by midnight, or he will detonate both. Under the assumptions of prisoners being bad people, and civilians good, one would expect the prisoners immediately blow up the other ferry while the civilians immediately accept their fate, dying either by the other prisoners or the Joker. But, this isn’t how it plays out at all.
As the Joker predicts, the civilians, the ‘good people’ start believing they have a greater right to life, they are better, and deserve to live whereas these ‘bad people’ do not. This is the Joker’s goal, to show everyone they have this potential, as you pointed out with Cohen’s seventh thesis. However, the inverse is also demonstrated, that while we each have a monster inside of us, there is also good there, too. This is shown in both ferries, as a large, scary prisoner throws the detonator overboard, and as the largest proponent of detonating the other ferry on the civilian boat puts the detonator away. Both ferries choose not to kill, they choose not to listen to their monstrous instincts, and do what they know is right.
Malia, I was thinking the same things. I also think that Cohen's third thesis could fit here. While the Joker himself doesn't defy a category crisis, he continually makes a point of revealing that it's not being that easy in others. I think a large point of his experiments – especially his experiment with the ferries – was to defy these assumptions about people being good or bad, which is interesting because the Joker may take on the identity of being the villain without any qualms.
DeleteIn that scene there are two ferries, one full of prisoners, and one full of civilians. The Joker informs them that their own ferry contains the detonator to the other ferry. One must detonate the other by midnight, or he will detonate both. Under the assumptions of prisoners being bad people, and civilians good, one would expect the prisoners immediately blow up the other ferry while the civilians immediately accept their fate, dying either by the other prisoners or the Joker. But, this isn’t how it plays out at all.
As the Joker predicts, the civilians, the ‘good people’ start believing they have a greater right to life, they are better, and deserve to live whereas these ‘bad people’ do not. This is the Joker’s goal, to show everyone they have this potential, as you pointed out with Cohen’s seventh thesis. However, the inverse is also demonstrated, that while we each have a monster inside of us, there is also good there, too. This is shown in both ferries, as a large, scary prisoner throws the detonator overboard, and as the largest proponent of detonating the other ferry on the civilian boat puts the detonator away. Both ferries choose not to kill, they choose not to listen to their monstrous instincts, and do what they know is right.
Malia, I was thinking the same things. I also think that Cohen's third thesis could fit here. While the Joker himself doesn't defy a category crisis, he continually makes a point of revealing that it's not being that easy in others. I think a large point of his experiments – especially his experiment with the ferries – was to defy these assumptions about people being good or bad, which is interesting because the Joker may take on the identity of being the villain without any qualms.
DeleteIn that scene there are two ferries, one full of prisoners, and one full of civilians. The Joker informs them that their own ferry contains the detonator to the other ferry. One must detonate the other by midnight, or he will detonate both. Under the assumptions of prisoners being bad people, and civilians good, one would expect the prisoners immediately blow up the other ferry while the civilians immediately accept their fate, dying either by the other prisoners or the Joker. But, this isn’t how it plays out at all.
As the Joker predicts, the civilians, the ‘good people’ start believing they have a greater right to life, they are better, and deserve to live whereas these ‘bad people’ do not. This is the Joker’s goal, to show everyone they have this potential, as you pointed out with Cohen’s seventh thesis. However, the inverse is also demonstrated, that while we each have a monster inside of us, there is also good there, too. This is shown in both ferries, as a large, scary prisoner throws the detonator overboard, and as the largest proponent of detonating the other ferry on the civilian boat puts the detonator away. Both ferries choose not to kill, they choose not to listen to their monstrous instincts, and do what they know is right.