Which is your favorite Jaker? Which do you think of when you say, "The Joker from the Batman movies"? If there were a "real" Joker, which way would you think that he would act like?
Let's discuss each of them and then we may have a clearer idea of them both when we answer those questions:
Jack Nicholson's Joker--This character actually had another persona that you can also look to: Jack Napier, the-right-arm-man for Carl Grissom, the Mob Boss. You couldn't help but understand that this deformed and scarred and multi-colored being was also the same person as Jack. I suppose this could make you either less scared of him--because you knew that deep-down you had seen him as a "real" person, OR this could also make you more scarred of him because you could understand what sort of damage the vat of toxic sludge had done to this once almost-normal-though-still-frightening man... So, when you see him act completely illogically and unmercifully you are still left wondering if this is old-Jack or is it "the new-and-improved-Joker"...
Heath Ledger's Joker--For this character, you actually have no another persona that you can also look to: he is introduced only as The Joker (in fact, remember that Det. Gordon says about him, "No name, no other alias, clothing is custom..." He is THE JOKER. Heath Ledger's Joker, in opposition to Nicholson's, appears with absolutely no explanation as to how his coloring (his skin and his hair) has been changed. Again, I suppose this could make you either less scared of him--because you could understand that this man (monster?) has no story (except for the unbelievable, yet repeated story of what his ex-wife or mother did to him) that explains why he is this way, OR he may be even MORE frightening for exactly the same reasons...
Personally, I couldn't understand how the Nicholson's Joker could be more scary than Heath Ledger's... After all of the breakdown and analysis, I am left with the one outstanding trait that is disturbing than the rest: unpredictability. Heath Ledger's Joker seems to not follow any pattern of thought or carry out plans, but (and this is how I believe the comic book character was intended to portray) he does wicked and evil things for no apparent reason (other than the fact that HE can...). Nicholson's Joker is at least somewhat calculating and semi-predictable, but Ledger's acts only out of desire to do things (and who CAN predict that?) in his convincingly crazy mind...
My assessment over-all is that Ledger's Joker is much, much, MUCH more terrifying!!!
What all do you think?
JPS
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2 comments:
Yes, yes. Ledger's Joker, for sure. For one reason, let's look at it as though we are inhabitants of Gotham. We don't get any back story on our villains, we just know they're bad. Then here comes the worst of all, and he seems to know what could be to blame for his behavior, and manipulates his story to be all the more frightening to us. The worst of all is that he is looking to turn the good in all of us into bad. THAT is very frightening, much more so than pure terrorism.
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