The Tao of Joker

Recently a creative writing professor gave me the following advice:

"The best villains are those who evoke sympathy. They have some apparent character flaws which allow you insight into their existence, but underlying it all is a certain sensitivity, an understanding of goodness that allows you to relate to them, to realize that they are a human being. Only then do they reveal their shriveled soul by using that very same redeeming quality as twisted motivation for further their evil deeds."

Enter the Joker.

This is a man who possesses a simplicity, an understanding of life that borderlines on spiritual. He's content with a cheap suit, and burns money for kicks. Unlike most villains his motivation is not for personal gain; the advancement of his wallet, scope of his influence, or notches in his bedpost. He has relinquished these fruits of life. His sole purpose seems noble: achievement of his dreams. It is only when we realize what his dream is that he becomes so sinister. Unadulterated chaos in Gotham.

The Bhagavad-Gita, and ancient spiritual instruction manual, defines three types of individual:

An agent called pure
has no attachment or individualism,
is resolute and energetic,
unchanged in failure and success.

An agent said to be passionate
is anxious to gain the fruit of action,
greedy, essentially violent, impure,
subject to excitement and grief.

An agent defined by dark inertia
is undisciplined, vulgar, stubborn,
fraudulent, dishonest, lazy,
depressed, and slow to act.

Most villains fall into the latter categories. They attempt to beat the world into submission, using violence, dishonesty, and Machiavellian tactics, destroying its intrinsic value for a petty gain. Along comes a hero, a pure agent, who values not the riches, and sensations of the world, but something more permanent. Hero beats villain.

The Joker is no ordinary villain.

Everything he does screams that he is an agent of purity. He has no attachment, little individualism, is resolute and energetic, and unchanged in failure and success. Furthermore, he possesses a level of surrender, and vulnerability that one might not expect in a villain. His agenda: to free the world of its laws, doctrines, dogmas, plans, legalities, power structures, and rigidity. To return it to a state of possibility and limitlessness. The problem is instead of influencing people to sacrifice their power out of love, he doesn't want to allow them a choice.

"Do I really look like a man with a plan, Harvey? I don't have a plan. The mob has plans, the cops have plans... I just *do* things. I'm a wrench in the gears. I *hate* plans. Yours, theirs, everyone's. Maroni has plans. Gordon has plans. Schemers trying to control their worlds. I am not a schemer. I show schemers how pathetic their attempts to control things really are... It's a schemer who put you where you are. You were a schemer. You had plans. Look where it got you. I just did what I do best-I took your plan and turned it on itself. Look what I have done to this city with a few drums of gas and a couple bullets. Nobody panics when the expected people get killed. Nobody panics when things go according to plan, even if the plans are horrifying. If I tell the press that tomorrow a gang banger will get shot, or a truckload of soldiers will get blown up, nobody panics. But when I say one little old mayor will die, everyone loses their minds! Introduce a little anarchy, you upset the established order, and everything becomes chaos. I am an agent of chaos. And you know the thing about chaos, Harvey? It's fair."

Watching the Dark Knight was a joy. I never would have guessed that as a child, the super hero whose pajamas I refused to take off would develop into the modern day legend that he is. The Dark Knight is just that: a great American Legend. Like the tales of Greek gods, I think this story has so many insights, and illustrates so many facets of the human condition, that it will continue to be retold hundreds of years into the future. The genius behind the Joker is simply one small aspect of the movie.

I'll leave you with one final look at the Joker:

"You look nervous. Is it the scars? You want to know how I got them? Come here. Hey, look at me. So I had a wife, beautiful; like you. Who tells me, I worry too much. Who tells me, I ought to smile more. Who gambles, and gets in deep with sharks. One day they carve her face. We have no money for surgeries. She can't take it! I just want to see her smile again. I just want her to know that I don't care about the scars. So I stick a razor in my mouth and do this... to myself. And you know what? She can't stand the sight of me! She leaves. Now I see the funny side. Now I'm always smiling!"