As the common saying goes, “Children are born innocent,” but the Joker contends otherwise. He proposes that everyone is born inherently evil, and so, we will explore the morals and objectives of the Joker in three different movies: Dark Knight (2008), Taxi driver (1976), and the Joker (2019). The Joker, while psychopathic, undoubtedly possesses high emotional intelligence, so we must ask ourselves whether there is any validity to the Joker’s claims. Through all of these movies, we are invited to inspect the same villain with different portrayals each time, allowing us to gain a deeper understanding of what goes on in his head.
In the research we have conducted so far, we have watched trailers and read various articles that review the films. The article titled “The Psychology of the Joker from The Dark Knight’’ discusses how people only follow moral codes to reap the benefits of social establishments. In this movie, the Joker believes that people are ultimately “moral-less” and aims to prove that “the constructed hierarchies of society only serve to […] hide the natural tendencies of this human immorality.” In the end, he does succeed in turning the most hopeful, admired, and successful figure in Gotham City into a villain, proving that even morally sound people have the potential to be corrupt under the right circumstances. However, he concedes that Batman is incorruptible, in which he must draw the conclusion that not all people are simply hiding their immorality under the civilized persona demanded and created by society.
What separates good and evil? This is the question humanity has been attempting to find an answer to since the dawn of creation. Are good and evil just a fictional standard society creates to regulate us? Or is it built into our genetics? What makes a person good and what makes a person evil? These are the questions we too would like to find an answer to by the end of this unit, by viewing and analyzing the three movies. Though we doubt we will succeed, like the many that came before us and the many that follow us, we will try our best, for one day, we may find the answer.
