Optimus_Prime_
Superhero
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- Apr 19, 2006
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I feel as though The Killing Joke exists as subtle satire of it's two main characters; Batman and the Joker.
I feel like the famous line "if I have a pass it might as well be multiple choice" is often misread as simply a line indicating the Joker as an unreliable narrator, but in fact defines the point of the story. It also adds to the punchline of the joke at the end, specifically Batman's reaction to it.
The comic offers us an initial explanation for the Joker; that he was a failed comedian whose wife and child were taken away by some less than reputable characters. Later we're let to question this story a bit. Batman's involvement does seem to indicate that the story is true. It seems logically consistent and isn't presently as something of dubious value. Joker seems to reference this story with his "one bad day" line that he repeats.
Young Joker is an everyman, not entirely unlike people who may be reading that comic. In an unfortunate series of events, using the character the Red Hood, Joker becomes involved in a heist. Batman attacks him and accidentally creates the Joker as we know him in the process.
Joker in the story attempts to put Gordon through a "bad day", as if to repeat the process, like an experiment. He forces Gordon through an amusement park where he witnesses ambiguous horrors committed on his daughter. When Joker arrives to their residence we again find ourselves in an everyman scenario. Gordon, a very real, normal comic character sits idly reading the paper, then he is kidnapped and taken to an amusement park. A place that is like a child's fantasy.
Because that's what the Joker and Batman are, a child's fantasy. They have the emotional level of children. The important word in multiple choice is not multiple, its choice. Joker has a theoretical lifetime of days to choose from, yet he chooses one, and chooses that this one day will define him for a lifetime. So does Batman. They're incapable of acting out of character, they have to, forever be defined by their one bad days.
This is where the comic is highly deconstructionalist. In this comic the everyman Gordon is the hero, because when his amusement ride is over he can get off maturly and let go of the horrors he has seen. It doesn't destroy him because he's done away with childish obsession. Joker and Batman have not.
Hence the joke. Batman and Joker are trapped in a prison. If either one attempted to mature beyond their games the other would promptly stab him in the back. They can't ever break their roles. If Joker was real his past wouldn't be a choice, but rather a composite of the good and bad days. Gordon proves this, because Gordon is a man, not a caricature. This is why Batman and Joker share the laugh at the end. It's almost as though they break the fourth wall. As if their saying to their audience "you know this is all a joke, right?"
I feel like the famous line "if I have a pass it might as well be multiple choice" is often misread as simply a line indicating the Joker as an unreliable narrator, but in fact defines the point of the story. It also adds to the punchline of the joke at the end, specifically Batman's reaction to it.
The comic offers us an initial explanation for the Joker; that he was a failed comedian whose wife and child were taken away by some less than reputable characters. Later we're let to question this story a bit. Batman's involvement does seem to indicate that the story is true. It seems logically consistent and isn't presently as something of dubious value. Joker seems to reference this story with his "one bad day" line that he repeats.
Young Joker is an everyman, not entirely unlike people who may be reading that comic. In an unfortunate series of events, using the character the Red Hood, Joker becomes involved in a heist. Batman attacks him and accidentally creates the Joker as we know him in the process.
Joker in the story attempts to put Gordon through a "bad day", as if to repeat the process, like an experiment. He forces Gordon through an amusement park where he witnesses ambiguous horrors committed on his daughter. When Joker arrives to their residence we again find ourselves in an everyman scenario. Gordon, a very real, normal comic character sits idly reading the paper, then he is kidnapped and taken to an amusement park. A place that is like a child's fantasy.
Because that's what the Joker and Batman are, a child's fantasy. They have the emotional level of children. The important word in multiple choice is not multiple, its choice. Joker has a theoretical lifetime of days to choose from, yet he chooses one, and chooses that this one day will define him for a lifetime. So does Batman. They're incapable of acting out of character, they have to, forever be defined by their one bad days.
This is where the comic is highly deconstructionalist. In this comic the everyman Gordon is the hero, because when his amusement ride is over he can get off maturly and let go of the horrors he has seen. It doesn't destroy him because he's done away with childish obsession. Joker and Batman have not.
Hence the joke. Batman and Joker are trapped in a prison. If either one attempted to mature beyond their games the other would promptly stab him in the back. They can't ever break their roles. If Joker was real his past wouldn't be a choice, but rather a composite of the good and bad days. Gordon proves this, because Gordon is a man, not a caricature. This is why Batman and Joker share the laugh at the end. It's almost as though they break the fourth wall. As if their saying to their audience "you know this is all a joke, right?"
