Mansur Ahmed

Yes, I believe comic books are literature. I also believe the inimical relationship between Batman and the Joker is one of the most complex struggles between two characters in all literature, a struggle that has not been so profoundly explored until the brilliance of The Dark Knight. Everything from the writing, the directing, the cinematography, the music, and of course, the acting goes to extreme lengths to serve this purpose. The tragic loss of Heath Ledger is depressing not just because an artist with so much to offer is no longer with us, but because the depths of the enigmatic Joker must now remain a mystery. His performance was absolute and nobody else should continue with the role. What Ledger was doing onscreen is something beyond our understanding. He gave us hints towards a deeper inquiry of this character without revealing too much. The Joker revels in chaos, but you can sense maybe there’s more driving him than we can know, that something has pushed him to an inner turbulence which now explodes externally as total anarchy. This is the great conflict between Batman and the Joker. If someone wanted to better understand the symbiosis of protagonist and antagonist, they can simply look to this film. Not because it is a battle between hero and villain. It’s much more, more even than good versus evil. The Batman has rules. The Joker has no rules. The Batman’s outer shell is dark and serious. In contrast, the Joker is light and jocular. The Batman fights to stay in control of himself. The Joker concedes powerlessness against himself. Most dynamically, Batman seeks to preserve life and won’t kill anyone. The Joker wants to destroy life and is not afraid to die.

Even though everything in The Dark Knight is perfect to me, all the scenes are essential and edited together in such a vacuum of tension, I still feel there should have been more of the Joker. Of course, my sentiments may be influenced by the fact that we can never see another frame of Ledger’s portrayal of him. I did get the notion the filmmakers intended to bring the Joker back, but…nevermind. In any sense, The Dark Knight appears to be more the story of Harvey Dent, brilliantly portrayed by Aaron Eckhart. This character is very much on par with Greek tragedy and his own inner calamity and bearing to Bruce Wayne provides more dimension to the emotional component of the narrative the ambiguousness of the Joker may have been unable to fulfill. As the Joker himself acknowledges, he is an agent of chaos, and his main purpose in the movie is to drive the action forward. He doesn’t do this merely for the sake of it and the Joker is way more complex than to be reduced to a plot device. It is his nature, and along the way, his actions stand to challenge everything all the people of Gotham City believe in.

There are deeper layers Heath Ledger is exploring internally to give us this portrait of such an inherently cryptic character. There are lots of moments where the Joker gazes introspectively, meditating about something before he speaks. And when he speaks, none of it appears scripted. Indeed, Ledger is given lots of dialogue and everything he says seems to have a kind of esoteric subtext. Early on, when the Joker crashes in on a meeting between the gang leaders, he falters when one of them regards him as a freak. He isn’t perfect, but he maintains a kind of supernatural vitality. He is always ten steps ahead of everybody else. His actions are meticulous and orderly even though he adopts a philosophy of disorder. Perhaps he is able to control his chaos because he embraces his flaws. The Joker goes so far as to accentuate his imperfections by smearing the scars on his face with lipstick. On the other hand, Batman is constantly in battle with his imperfections. He struggles to maintain harmony within himself, deliberating the consequences of his actions and trying to resolve the issues of his personal life to attain a peace of mind. In hindsight, the Joker is more in control than Batman because he doesn’t directly seek to control his world. This is brought most into prominence after Batman has flipped the semi-trailer truck. The Joker stumbles out of it and comes to stand square in the center of the street as Batman rapidly approaches him on his Batpod. He begins to shout at Batman like a debauched psycho to run him down. The Joker doesn’t try to fight it, standing there with open arms, but Batman yells in anger as he looms closer, fighting not to hit him. And of course, the Joker triumphs.

He is a murdering psychopath, but I personally don’t think the Joker is crazy. He knows what he is doing and fully understands the effects of his deeds. I don’t believe he is crazy because he seems to make the conscious decision to do everything he does. The brilliance of this movie and Heath Ledger is in the way they make us accept that truth without explicitly defining what drives his motives. We get the impression this is an individual severely damaged in his lifetime. He finds himself unable to function in the world, so he makes it his own playground. It’s just a theory I have. But once again, this is the dynamic between Batman and the Joker. While the Joker is preoccupied with play, Batman deals with responsibility. He takes the preservation and betterment of humanity very earnestly, while the Joker has given up on it and asks, “Why so serious?”