He always gets off on the insanity plea in the comics, too, which says something, I think--that people both in-universe and out can't really blame him for his actions, because that's what he's FOR. He doesn't really have any say in it, because he's a force or an archetype.
It's a little like explaining something about Pan's Labyrinth to people: I was more horrified when humans would do awful things to each other than I was at the Pale Man's tendency to eat children and fairies, because that's what the Pale Man was created to do. The humans can choose what to do to each other, but the Pale Man was just doing what he was supposed to; being angry with him is like blaming a volcano for the human suffering it may cause. It's pointless. I think we sort of put the Joker in there, too.
And the really creepy thing is in the stories he seems to know people think like that, and is using that to his advantage. He is written as being a lot more aware that he's in a story than the other characters, and even seems to know what part he has in the story--and he uses that knowledge in-story to manipulate others. It gives us the illusion that he knows we're out here watching him--and that he may in fact be able to come out among us if he chooses. And so when Heath Ledger died we started to wonder if maybe it was him ...
I'd have to look deeper into the Hanged Man, but the Joker is definitely in our mental deck--and he knows that, too.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2008-07-19 09:15 pm (UTC)It's a little like explaining something about Pan's Labyrinth to people: I was more horrified when humans would do awful things to each other than I was at the Pale Man's tendency to eat children and fairies, because that's what the Pale Man was created to do. The humans can choose what to do to each other, but the Pale Man was just doing what he was supposed to; being angry with him is like blaming a volcano for the human suffering it may cause. It's pointless. I think we sort of put the Joker in there, too.
And the really creepy thing is in the stories he seems to know people think like that, and is using that to his advantage. He is written as being a lot more aware that he's in a story than the other characters, and even seems to know what part he has in the story--and he uses that knowledge in-story to manipulate others. It gives us the illusion that he knows we're out here watching him--and that he may in fact be able to come out among us if he chooses. And so when Heath Ledger died we started to wonder if maybe it was him ...
I'd have to look deeper into the Hanged Man, but the Joker is definitely in our mental deck--and he knows that, too.