The Joke in The Killing Joke

[vibeke_T]

Yeah, I dont get it

 

[Goddamn_Batman]

The joke itself or the significance of the joke?

 

[vibeke_T]

well...now the significance....

 

[Kraven]

I think it's supposed to symbolize why the Joker can't go to the light or something. I think the inmate with the flashlight shining across represents Batman trying to bring Joker to the light, but Joker (the other inmate) doesn't think he can, or he thinks it's too late for him. So he doesn't cross the beam of light.

 

[vibeke_T]

hmm...interesting

 

[Goddamn_Batman]

I think it's supposed to symbolize why the Joker can't go to the light or something. I think the inmate with the flashlight shining across represents Batman trying to bring Joker to the light, but Joker (the other inmate) doesn't think he can, or he thinks it's too late for him. So he doesn't cross the beam of light.

I never really put that much tought into it. I always just assumed that the joke shows how Batman and Joker are both crazy, neither one any more sane or intelligent than the other.

 

[vibeke_T]

maybe its that they cannot trust each other either...which i guess is obvious

 

[Joker]

The inmate who jumped across represents Batman, who while still pretty much insane, can at least make the jump to the right side of the looney bin. The second inmate who's afraid is The Joker. The first inmate saying he can walk across on the beam is how Joker views all of Batman's pleas to him to try and get better, to fix himself. Joker doesn't trust Batman to help him, and doesn't even trust himself to be able to get over, and is in fact scared of what would happen if he did (he would have to actually deal with everything he lost in that one day that drove him crazy instead of just pushing it away and remembering it however he feels at that moment).

 

[vibeke_T]

well, that puts things in perspective

 

[DarkKnight85]

Those are some interesting theories above. If you check out this site, and go to the middle of the page under themes, you can see a different explanation of what the joke means and symbolizes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman:_The_Killing_Joke

 

[Cobblepot]

The inmate who jumped across represents Batman, who while still pretty much insane, can at least make the jump to the right side of the looney bin. The second inmate who's afraid is The Joker. The first inmate saying he can walk across on the beam is how Joker views all of Batman's pleas to him to try and get better, to fix himself. Joker doesn't trust Batman to help him, and doesn't even trust himself to be able to get over, and is in fact scared of what would happen if he did (he would have to actually deal with everything he lost in that one day that drove him crazy instead of just pushing it away and remembering it however he feels at that moment).

Yeah you would know, you made it up yourself.

 

[Renegade]

There are a whole bunch of those jokes. I learned them in Boy Scouts years back, as they were performed as skits. They were originally "Polish" jokes, but we changed them to West Virginians and Pennsylvanians (We're from PA, so we didn't mean offense to people). I found a few that we used to do (I removed any insulting references):

1. These two men rent a boat and go fishing in a lake. They are amazed at the number of fish that they caught that day, so one says to the other, "We'll have to come back here tomorrow!" The other asks, "But how will we remember where this spot is?"

The first guy then takes a can of spray paint, paints an X on the bottom of the boat, and says, "We'll just look for this X tomorrow." The other guy says, "You idiot! How do you know we'll get the same boat?"

2. These two men are building a house. One of them is putting on the siding. He picks up a nail, hammers it in. Picks up another nail, throws it away. Picks up a nail, hammers it in. Picks up another, throws it away.

This goes on for a while, and finally his friend comes over and asks him why he is throwing half of the nails away. He replies, "Those ones were pointed on the wrong end." The buddy gets exasperated and says "You idiot, those are for the other side of the house!"


I always enjoyed those jokes.

 

[Bathead]

Hehe. I remember that second joke from the Three Stooges. Geniuses they were.

 

[Kool-Aid]

I got it, I just didn't think it was funny.

 

[Ibn]

The inmate who jumped across represents Batman, who while still pretty much insane, can at least make the jump to the right side of the looney bin. The second inmate who's afraid is The Joker. The first inmate saying he can walk across on the beam is how Joker views all of Batman's pleas to him to try and get better, to fix himself. Joker doesn't trust Batman to help him, and doesn't even trust himself to be able to get over, and is in fact scared of what would happen if he did (he would have to actually deal with everything he lost in that one day that drove him crazy instead of just pushing it away and remembering it however he feels at that moment).

You beat me to it. You slick bastard!

 

[baronghede]

I got it, I just didn't think it was funny.

It's not supposed to be funny. It's a joke in name only.

The ironical situation in which the joke is presented is what is funny. That is what they are both laughing at.

 

[Ibn]

I got it, I just didn't think it was funny.

It was depressing as hell to me.

 

[Kool-Aid]

It's not supposed to be funny. It's a joke in name only.

The ironical situation in which the joke is presented is what is funny. That is what they are both laughing at.

Ohh I get the irony in it. I just didn't think it was funny.

 

[XSpidercideX]

It's funny because you expect him to say, "that's crazy! you can't walk on a beam of light, idiot!" but instead he is more worried about the other guy turning off the light.

So it's like dumb and dumber.