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Just how did he get those scars ? Ten years afterThe Dark Knightunleashed Heath Ledger ’s Joker on audience , the dubiousness of his graphic symbol ’s origination stay . In that prison term , there have been multitudinous theories , but one has consistently been adduce , albeit often over - simplified . As Christopher Nolan ’s Batman epic poem hits two-fold digits , it deserve a proper cryptic honkytonk .
The Dark Knightremains a pinnacle of megahit cinema , having changed how superhero moving picture are reckon artistically , popularize the gamey reality style as popcorn entertainment , and solidify theChristopher Nolan approach to take directors . Above all , it ’s a great pic . There ’s a passel of reasons for its legacy , but on a basic reactionist grade , the standout look has to be Heath Ledger ’s Joker . His take on The Clown Prince of Crime is now the gold criterion for not just superhero villains but cover baddie in general . Hans Landa , Loki , Kylo Ren , Killmonger : any nifty modern turn will inevitably get comparisons to Ledger ’s Oscar - winning public presentation . And for good reason ; like Darth Vader or Hannibal Lecter before him , he speak to something inescapably and unknowingly terrifying just out of view in the actual world .
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That mystery is so key to the veneration , and unlike Vader or Hannibal who both had prequels that retroactively essay to explain how these bootleg hearts come to be vitiate ( theStar WarsprequelsandHannibal Risingrespectively ) , Ledger ’s Joker never get any explanation . Indeed , that ’s a fundamental part of his character . Throughout the film , Joker involve " Do you need to jazz how I got these scratch ? " , each metre give a different ( unrequested ) account that lightly plays with his reading of the victim and their fears : criminalGambolhears of domestic revilement ; Rachel an unanswered love ; and Batman , a world defined by fear , cuts him short .
LikeThe Killing Jokeversion , Nolan ’s Joker on the face of it seems to impute to the theory that " If I ’m going to have a past , I prefer it to be multiple alternative " . However , in actuality , it ’s an conjuration of choice . There is no past to speak of ; he has no fingermark , no aliases , no story of any kind . In the cosmos of The Dark Knight Trilogy , it ’s as if the Joker simply came to be , with the penny-pinching we get to an origin level come at the end ofBatman Begins , when Gordon discuss the inevitable escalation because of the comer of The Batman to Gotham , citing the Joker as the first of a new moving ridge of criminals . And that aspect , cod long before Ledger was even cast , is the key to this interpretation . One that , unlike a lonely slave or tortured boy , actually ameliorate our reading of the case .
The Dark Knight’s Joker Was A Villain For The 2000s
The Dark Knightmay have an influencethat can still be matte today , but it is - along with the other two ledger entry ofThe Dark Knight Trilogy- undoubtedly a product of the 2000s . Released in 2008 , the film came at the terminal of George W. Bush ’s second full term at a period where the rubber of domesticity was being eroded . America was engaged in multiple conflicts in the Middle East leading to prototype of injured soldiers all over the news , and it was also only seven years on from the 9/11 terrorist attacks . The threat at home - both physical and aroused - loomed expectant .
The Joker explicitly preys on those fear , striking at the heart of Gotham ( and by extension America ) with acts of not just utmost violence , but randomness . Joker has a design , evidenced inThe Dark Knight ’s twisting middle act , but he aggress with no end greater than breaking the spirit of Gotham ; he ’s operating on a different carpenter’s plane and so becomes perfectly unstoppable . This chaos is a constant Joker trait across his 75 - year story , but it ’s his defining aspect in Nolan ’s translation , to the point the teaser lagger is merely Alfred ’s " Some work force just want to take in the world sunburn " language over a easy disintegrating bat symbolisation . Against the backdrop of Bush , this is represent as the dead on target way to damage smart set .
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However , the Joker is an American himself . He is not simply an extend parallel to Al Qaeda and 9/11 ( unlike many other lineal riff from the time , such asCloverfield ) . And that create something more unsettling : the danger at home come from home , within the city gates . We do n’t just fear what he can do , we fear over how petty he may be dispatch from us . What drove him that way ? What destroyed the American Dream ?
Page 2:The PTSD-Sufferer Joker Theory
The Definitive Fan Theory: Joker Is A Former Soldier With PTSD
A commonly cited answer is thatThe Dark Knight’sJokeris a direct product of the conflict we ’ve established him as critiquing ; that he is a veteran of either the Iraq War or War in Afghanistan suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder and taking it out on the world that " created " him . Given how nasty Nolan is on giving up anything about his villain , most of the abstract thought behind this possibility is virginal logic . It explains how the Joker has such an in - depth cognition of explosive and firearm , and despite his slight figure of speech is able to prove himself such a formidable fighter . On a more visceral level , it creates an immediate and damaging way for him to get those cicatrix , already a twist on the classic Joker smile .
In footing of the schoolbook itself , there ’s his speech to Harvey Dent about " the plan " , specifically the discussion section , " If tomorrow I tell the press that , like , a gang banger will get shot or a truckload of soldier will be blow up , nobody panics because it ’s all part of the plan . But when I say that one little onetime mayor will die … well , then everyone lose their mind . " It ’s been suggested that the line of gab about the soldiers is an acknowledgment of where he follow from , the antipathy at how accepted war casualties are fueling his position as " an agent of pandemonium " . While that ’s just firm evidence - Joker is full of proclamation of captive and groovy motivation , and this one is particularly concentrate on tipping the scared District Attorney into becoming thevengeful Two - Face- it does do as an expressed callout in the movie to the wider world country of the time and thus must be considered in the reading .
This has been stretch recently byPatton Oswalt , who posits that along with the received military knowledge , Joker ’s manipulation of Batman and the police during his interrogation soupcon at some professional training in military intelligence activity , with his grand programme being to poke into Gotham City and attempt to leaven his thesis on its complaint ( something Batman alludes to during their terminal battle ) . Again , owe to the purposeful equivocalness , it ’s all circumstantial when it comes down to factual fact but this aspect inevitably a lynchpin of the flick ( his manipulation of fears and grander plan have already been discussed ) and within the idea of the possibility it slots in very neatly ; military news and the secret therein unnerve similar to the truth behind these wars .
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So far , this is mostly supposition , yet how every step of connection link directly into the melodic theme of what Joker represents pee it improbably powerful - especially when count at on a large plate .
Indeed , what ’s not often addressed is how this origin possibility has been backed up by what Nolan did next . WhileLedger had plan to return for a third movie , his untimely death discontinue that . Instead , Tom Hardy ’s Bane would go against the Bat inThe Dark Knight Rises , a flick which , like its predecessor , was n’t shy about espouse the macrocosm it entered . Released in 2012 , the trilogy capper emerge from the ashes of the stemma market crash , reframing Bane ( and the League of Shadows ) as a parallel to the Occupy drive . Again , the Batman scoundrel were presented as the direct repercussions of America ’s unchecked lording of tycoon , soda culture figures used as pointed metaphors .
Page 3:Why This Is The Only Joker Origin Theory That Works
Why This Is The Only Joker Origin Theory That Works
Moreso than any in - movie evidence , what pretend this theory so captivate is that while it may seem to limit the unending possibilities of the equivocal backstory , it in reality strengthens the mythology of the Joker . Here ’s a part that , by this point in meter , it ’s clear no classical version can exist . Caesar Romero , Jack Nicholson , Heath Ledger and Jared Letohave all provided their own return in live - action at law to change response , but even the ones contemporarily catch as unbeatable ( Nicholson and Ledger ) are impossible to cite as fully embodying the full scope of the role as write . Mark Hamill ’s take fromBatman : The Animated Seriescomes nigh , but even that ’s a product of its time and medium .
And that ’s kind of the full stop . Just as Batman is more symbol than man ( a key , overriding theme ofThe Dark Knight Trilogy ) , the Joker is more than just a crazed insane asylum escapee . He ’s not one disgruntled citizen , but a representation of everything that the hero controvert . And the soldier , Bush - geological era Joker that Ledger seems to embody is the essential foil to Christian Bale ’s Bruce Wayne . To have theMan Who Laughsor a deranged gangster would be fitting in term of source , yes , but when it comes to reflecting the times and appropriate a modernistic consultation , the 2008 world begged for something dissimilar .
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This reading gain him a more explicit production of the very anchor world Nolan created , and even more a rife pivot in the tarradiddle . After all , while Heath Ledger is undoubtedly the MVP ofThe Dark Knight , the ten - long discussion on the role and its legacy often misses that - like Hannibal Lecter and Darth Vader before him - these villains exist mainly to reflect on the champion ’s journeying . Batman is ask on the ills of mod America and discovering that his moral codification can not match ; via the putridness of Harvey Dent , it becomes exonerated that things ca n’t be but reset ; the unstoppable force the Joker represent is too powerful .
The picture ends with Batman die into concealing , an endeavor to smash the cycle of escalation , but one work with sacrifice . It ’s impactful on a character level , but utterly shake when read within the wider worldwide circumstance . The Dark Knightexplores new battlegrounds , and having the real world parallel of latitude make the message all the more pointed and real .
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Ten age on , the notion that the Joker is a PTSD - suffering former - soldier is now widely known and , while no theorise source for such an unknowable part can ever be decisively confirm , is undeniably the best . It not only gives system of logic ( however formidable ) to his actions , it tie into the greater themes ofThe Dark Knight Trilogyand shapes how we read what it does to Batman .
Next:Hollywood Learned The Right Lessons From The Dark Knight (Eventually)
