{"id":21025,"date":"2020-03-26T10:35:43","date_gmt":"2020-03-26T17:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=21025"},"modified":"2020-03-31T14:23:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T21:23:08","slug":"tcns-character-biographies-the-jokers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theculturednerd.org\/?p=21025","title":{"rendered":"[TCN’s Character Biographies] The Jokers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Meet the Jokers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every Joker until date has been presented in different wide-ranging perspectives. I will be analyzing the character arcs of Christopher Nolan\u2019s<\/em> Joker portrayed by the late Heath Ledger<\/em> and Todd Phillips<\/em>\u2019 Joker portrayed by Joaquin Phoenix<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heath Ledger’s Joker is a criminal mastermind whereas Joaquin\u2019s Joker is more of a force of nature. Joaquin is not the scheming terrorist (Not yet, probably) that Ledger\u2019s Joker is. Ledger\u2019s Joker is more evolved in his approach because he is much ahead in the timeline but there are certain differences in their purpose that make it interesting to analyze them side-by-side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy\u201d – Batman-The Killing Joke<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Ledger\u2019s Joker draws much from this philosophy and works towards telling people that \u201cOne bad day\u201d in their lives is enough to make people believe that his perception of reality is the truth. Now, Joaquin\u2019s Joker may or may not reach there in the future, but currently, he is dealing with and becoming the aftermath of his own series of bad days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Joaquin is still coming to terms with the fact that the world outside is crazy, Ledger\u2019s Joker already believes in that reality. We see Joaquin gradually losing control of the reins controlling his sanity and we finally see him unleash it upon the world, while Ledger is on a constant endeavor to make sure that everyone out there loses control of their sanity and be \u201ca dog chasing a car and not knowing what to do once you\u2019ve caught up with it\u201d. Ledger’s Joker envisioned people just “doing things”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Interestingly, the reality that Ledger\u2019s Joker works towards in The Dark Knight<\/em> ends up becoming the reality of Joaquin\u2019s Joker at the end of the movie \u2013 People defying the law and order and revealing their true selves to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ledger\u2019s Joker was honestly, at the heart of it, a conniving sadist.  The rules for the above quote apply to Ledger\u2019s Joker while it does not necessarily apply to Joaquin\u2019s Joker. I believe that one major quirk that splits them apart is \u2013 Sadism. Ledger’s Joker from the get-go always wanted to send a “message” to the people by using live props as examples whereas Joaquin’s character is just another man who’s trying to adjust to the ever-changing world around him and ultimately failing at it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ledger\u2019s Joker is mostly loud and raspy when he talks, whereas Joaquin\u2019s Joker is eerily calm and orotund. Joaquin\u2019s laugh, however, separates the two. Joaquin\u2019s laugh is anxious, rising in pitch and never genuine. His laughter is either triggered by his condition or in a mockery of what he\u2019s witnessing. Ledger\u2019s laugh, on the other hand, is as if someone is tickling him. He knows the laugh is unsettling and sometimes, if not all the times, he uses this as a weapon to unnerve his target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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