joke at the end of 'the killing joke' batman

[spider-neil]

am I correct in thinking the two guys in the asylum are batman and joker and they want to escape (become sane)
one escapes (batman) and wants his friend to escape so he shines his light (inspiration/example) so the other can follow but the friend (joker) is scared he will turn off his light when he is trying to follow (go mad/become a crook?)

did I read the joke correctly?

 

[Kebab gud]

no... its a joke..

somepeople read to mutch into things.. its just a simpel joke..
a bad one at that..

 

[batnkevlar]

I, for one, thinks the joke alludes to the marxist theories supported by the Soviets in the Col War, in which Einstein once said you can't go faster than the speed of light, and supports the arguement of quantum mechanics in the early 14th Century.

But that's just me...

 

[shapeshifter]

no solid object can move faster than the speed of light. as you near the speed of light your mass increases exponentially. Only things lacking mass could potentially move at superliminal speeds.

by the way.
that joke at the end isin't even that funny

 

[BrianWilly]

am I correct in thinking the two guys in the asylum are batman and joker and they want to escape (become sane) one escapes (batman) and wants his friend to escape so he shines his light (inspiration/example) so the other can follow but the friend (joker) is scared he will turn off his light when he is trying to follow (go mad/become a crook?)

did I read the joke correctly?

I think you're right.

Batman wants to help the Joker, but his method of helping will never really help. It's about as useful as shining a flashlight across a building and thinking that someone can climb over the light.

And Joker wants to be saved, but never can be saved due to his very nature. It's his insanity they're trying to help, but he rejects any help due to his very insanity.

The two of them are forever trapped in a vicious cycle that will never end until one or the other is dead, no matter how much they want it to change. It's an incredibly profound and tragic look at these two characters, and exactly why this scene is so well-known.

 

[Harlekin]

Nice, didn't think about it that way before. Just figured it for the joke it was.

 

[Dark Spidey]

Okay let me help some of you guys out.

The first guy says he will shine his torch across the gap and then the other guy can walk along the beam.

But this guy is crazy remember. He's talking like the other guy could actually walk along the beam of light as if it was solid.

The second guy seems to be appalled by this thought, "What do you think I am? CRAZY?"

But... and here's the punchline, he's not appalled at the other guy's suggestion that he could actually walk across a beam of light. He's appalled because he thinks that while he's half way walking along this imaginary solid object, the other guy would turn it off, letting him fall to his death.

Get it? Because they are both insane! Just like Batman and The Joker.

LOL! t:

 

[Harlekin]

Yeah, we all got the joke, we're just talking about Moore's intentions in using the joke.

 

[Dark Spidey]

Yeah, we all got the joke, we're just talking about Moore's intentions in using the joke.

I know.

 

[spider-neil]

basically joker AND batman are crazy

batman is crazy because he thinks he can save the joker

and joker is crazy because...well, he's just crazy

 

[Mr.Dent]

Wow, I own The Killing Joke and I've read it a million times, but I've never thought about that joke like that.
I actually very much like that interpretation. I think it kind of fits with the scene at the beginning of the story where Batman tells Joker (Or, who he thought was the Joker), that he wanted to help, because the only way their battle would end is with one of them dead.
But I never quite understoof Moore's decision to end the story with the two of them laughing together.

 

[shapeshifter]

basically joker AND batman are crazy

batman is crazy because he thinks he can save the joker

and joker is crazy because...well, he's just crazy

no batman is crazy because he is obsessive, and a thirty nine year old man who dresses up like a bat.
my kind of crazy

 

[Darthphere]

Sometimes a ***** is just a *****.

 

[Spike_x1]

Sometimes they vibrate or glow in the dark, though.

 

[the_ultimate_evil]

i actually prefered the idea that while both are laughing as you get further and further away it looks like batman is choking the joker

 

[shapeshifter]

i still say they could have come up with a better joke

 

[Assassin]

Sometimes a ***** is just a *****.

what color was the *****?

 

[ImrtlLimpWrist]

FYI: That joke is not original to the story. That's an old classic. Some of the analysis is interesting though and could still be valid.

 

[Kitsune]

what color was the *****?

http://www.flamingmailbox.com/maccomedy/movies/ibrator.html

 

[Aristotle]

no... its a joke..

somepeople read to mutch into things.. its just a simpel joke..
a bad one at that..

And Fight Club was just about a bunch of guys punching each other. It was just an action movie. And a dumb one at that.

 

[Aristotle]

Wow, I own The Killing Joke and I've read it a million times, but I've never thought about that joke like that.

That's mind-boggling. That scene is so loaded with importance and meaning.

I think it kind of fits with the scene at the beginning of the story where Batman tells Joker (Or, who he thought was the Joker), that he wanted to help, because the only way their battle would end is with one of them dead.

Yeah, especially since Moore re-uses that early monologue in caption boxes shortly before this scene.

But I never quite understoof Moore's decision to end the story with the two of them laughing together.

To keep from crying.

 

[Aristotle]

i still say they could have come up with a better joke

It wasn't about whether the joke was funny by itself. It was about what it means, when applied to the story of the Joker and Batman, and another example of the way that the Joker relates to the world as a tragicomic farce, the only way he can. In the context Moore uses it in, it's incredibly funny, in a very tragic way.

FYI: That joke is not original to the story. That's an old classic. Some of the analysis is interesting though and could still be valid.

I think that's why Moore used it. It "reminded" the Joker of a joke. It didn't give him the idea for a new one.

 

[WoodsnaM]

In my opinion it is not an admission on the Joker's behalf. He and Batman laugh because they both think that they are the one that has escaped the mental asylum. Yet they both are willing to make the admission that they are completely stark-raving-mad in that they both think the beam can carry them across the gap. They just don't trust the other person.
I'm not sure the metaphor can be extended so far but if anyone can offer any further analysis on the beam etc then I would like to hear it!