Since I did not read many comics in my life (and only very few of them were Batman comics), I was not very familiar with the Joker. Therefore, thank you very much for the information on this interesting character. And I never thought of Batman as a control freak; but it makes sense.
Coming back to the Joker's non-motives: A while ago, we already had a quick conversation on the question if there really is such a thing as a crime (or other intentional human action) without a motive. Do you think that the Joker does not have any motives? Or are his motives just extremely unconventional?
Thanks as ever for your interesting comments. Not everyone is, or even should be, a comics fan, but for me they were the foundation-stone of my current immoderate reading habits, so I retain soft spot for them. I also like the fact that superhero comics (not unlike opera and Saturday-morning cartoons, I guess) deal with big issues like good and evil, heroism and villainy, in a blown-up, Fauvist-hued manner that magnifies them and makes them somewhat accessible. That's my excuse at least. If ever you are looking for an introduction to Batman (and why would you be?) I suggest Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. Both show just what a truly skilled operator can do with an art form often dismissed as junk.
Yes, non-motives. That's an interesting point and one that I'd respond to with the old academic stand-by: it all depend what you mean by 'motive'. If we refer to 'a quality hat makes a person do something', well, it's evident that a 'no-motive Joker' would just spent all day sitting round the Joker-house watching Netflix and terrorising no one. Clearly, then, in a sense, he *does* have a motive. It's just one that disguises itself almost as an anti-motive. He wants nothing more than to disrupt, ruin, and burn. For most criminals, surely these would be tools on the way to achieving some other goal, but for the Joker they are an end in themselves. In writing that, I think I have properly understood what I meant, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to work it out.
I hope you liked the piece. I have nearly finished the Unabomber documentary you recommended, by the way. My thoughts continue to percolate...
The distinction between ends and means is very relevant. For example, quite a few people assume that the motive for committing a sexual offense is the pursuit (is this even the right word?) of the sexual act. I have often heard people say things like "It's a good thing that there are prostitutes, otherwise there would certainly be more perpetrators who would have to satisfy their sexual needs by committing sexual crimes." However, these people overlook the fact that sexual behavior is only the means in many sexual crimes, while the end, for example, lies in the exercise of power and control.
You watched the Unabomber documentary? I hope you find it interesting. The question also arises as to what his motives were: Was it to achieve political goals, as he himself wrote in his philosophical manifesto? Or did his philosophical ideas rather serve as the (unconscious) intellectual justification of more profane motives and needs? I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this.
First— I loved this. I’m a big Joker fan; I subscribed to that Joker comic book and got all nine issues in the mail. One standout story involved the Joker and Lex Luthor switching brains, somehow— and I still recall the panel where the Joker said (not verbatim) “I understand— EVERYTHING! And the shock of all this understanding is driving me sane!”
Also— there was an earlier Joker origin story, in 1951. I recall it as a good story but the explanation was unsatisfying. Looking back on it through the lens of your article, it seems to me that I didn’t want the Joker to be explained.
Also— my son once wrote to the Unabomber and got two separate responses. (The prison didn’t allow Kaczynski to respond directly. The second response was again from a prison employee and passed along a website that Ted recommended. I’ll have to ask my son what the website was; I think it talked about the dangers of technology.)
Some may ask why we allowed our young son to write him a letter. My son was fascinated by serial killers and watched many documentaries about them. I saw this as healthy curiosity, and his writing to Kaczynski was him hoping to get some insight into the man’s psychology. And years later my son was the person who insisted I watch the Joker film, which I had been inclined to avoid. I thought it was really good. He then saw the sequel and told me not to see it. As he put it: “whatever the first one was missing, it wasn’t Lady Gaga.”
Thank you for your kind words, Karl! Much appreciated. I’m very pleased you enjoyed the article. I was pleased with it myself & sorry that rather few people read it.
I’m interested to see that your son wrote to the Unabomber! There can be little doubt that the website was all about the dangers of technology. Kaczynski seemed a bit obsessed. I did a bit of research in him myself in the hope of writing something interesting but couldn’t find a Psychology angle. If you find out what the website was, perhaps you wouldn’t mind passing it on: maybe it is the missing ingredient!
Your son is not the only one fascinated by serial killers. I used to get good turn-out for my class on them, back when I was still lecturing. I’m putting together a pice just now on why they are so enthralling.
Your son was right about the Joker film! It was really good. The sequel got such awful reviews I didn’t bother either. Glad to see your son inherited his dad’s gift with words!
I’ll see if I can dig up the website for you— it might take a minute.
And re: the Joker essay. I’m surprised more people aren’t reading it. Maybe the pop culture substackers are more about lord of the rings and Star Wars, and the marvel movies; I would have thought there’d be a lot of people into Batman and the Joker too, but maybe not. Or maybe they’re here, but somehow they’re not seeing the post. Or maybe the people fired up about Batman aren’t so interested in psychology.
Wow! So much to think about here. I need to read again, jot down my thoughts in my diary. I kept thinking about the book, The Road Less Traveled.
Good quote: "knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people." It reminds me of one my mother likes, about knowing yourself if you want to know others.
I’m really pleased you read & liked this. It’s an article I was pleased with, but almost no one looked at (perhaps because it’s a little long). Your mother is clearly a wise lady! Thank you for the restack.
This is an interesting perspective. The Joker has indeed served as a blank canvas for writers to explore for over half a century, allowing for a wide range of interpretations. Each actor portraying the character has brought a unique vision to life, from a mafia boss to a common street criminal armed with gadgets and goons, to a pure agent of chaos, and even a broken man pushed to crime. It’s no surprise, then, that the character seamlessly fits into various archetypes. At this point, the Joker and Batman feel like two sides of the same coin, endlessly reinterpreted to suit different narratives and societal contexts.
One intriguing angle to consider is how the Joker’s villainy serves as a reflection of societal shifts. Decades ago, when society viewed morality in more black-and-white terms, a simple, gun-toting, thieving Joker was sufficient as a menacing antagonist. As time progressed, the portrayal of the Joker as a mafia boss resonated with the era's preoccupation with organized crime and its takedown in the U.S. More recently, the Joker’s chaotic and unpredictable nature mirrors a society grappling with acts of criminality that often defy reason or justification, embodying a world that feels increasingly random and disordered.
One direction that remains unexplored—at least as far as I know—is a female Joker. It would certainly be an unexpected twist and could offer a fascinating reinterpretation of the character. It would be interesting to see how such a version would challenge and expand the Joker’s established archetypes while offering new insights into the dynamic with Batman and the broader narrative.
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment in my article! It was as kind of you as it was interesting to read. You are quite right that the Joker can act as a kind of cultural litmus. He has been around long enough to adopt any number of disguises. Oddly, the article actually started life as a kind of list of Jokers-through-the-ages (perhaps I’ll still write that one day), but without the socio-cultural ideas you mention. They would very clearly improve it beyond measure!
A female Joker is an interesting idea. I think you are right that there hadn’t been one - certainly not that I can think of. The closest character is surely Harley Quinn, but in her early days she was virtually defined by her relationship to the Joker himself. You should suggest it to DC Comics. Lots of us would like to see that!
The random & chaotic nature - not necessarily of the world, but of our perception of it - has surely influenced the most recent incarnations. Has the Joker also been getting gradually darker & darker in recent years? He seemed pretty dark as long ago as The Dark Knight Returns, which seemed at the time to be stretching comics as far as they would go, but the latest stories almost verge on horror rather than superheroics. If the Joker really is a barometer of society, something very bad is happening out there…
Given the current trends, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually saw a female or non-binary version of the Joker, whether it's to make a statement or cater to certain audiences. As an avid gamer, I’m reminded of one of the Arkham games, which explored a similar idea where the Joker’s consciousness was transferred through a toxin, causing random people (even Batman) to embody him. It was a unique plot twist.
Honestly, I'd love the chance to pitch something like that to DC and get paid for it—that would be amazing, haha!
On a broader note, it feels like society is either getting darker or we're simply seeking more nuanced, complex characters rather than the one-dimensional types that have dominated mainstream media for decades. For our sake, I really hope it's the latter.
Ah, I've never been a gamer, so didn't know about the Joker-consciousness story! It's quite an inventive idea and I could see a good writer doing a lot with it. Of course, Batman has to get the toxin, why not?
I really hope it's the latter - more nuanced storytelling winning the day. There is reason to believe that. Audiences who grew up with comics tend to find the stories of their childhood rather simplistic and boring when they reread them as adults (I can hardly bear it). They may therefore turn to hunting down the more complex stories in the same format, that graphic novels tend to offer. As I say, I hope it's that, I really do, but damn, it's pretty dark out there some days...
"Existence is a joke and we know how jokes work. The Trickster yanks open the trapdoor; we plummet into Story 2. The joke turns out to be extremely dark: There’s nothing in the basement at all."
Thank you! I hope you don't mind my saying, I liked that bit myself, too. Take a step back and everything we do seems mad. And that's what the Joker is telling us.
Since I did not read many comics in my life (and only very few of them were Batman comics), I was not very familiar with the Joker. Therefore, thank you very much for the information on this interesting character. And I never thought of Batman as a control freak; but it makes sense.
Coming back to the Joker's non-motives: A while ago, we already had a quick conversation on the question if there really is such a thing as a crime (or other intentional human action) without a motive. Do you think that the Joker does not have any motives? Or are his motives just extremely unconventional?
Thanks as ever for your interesting comments. Not everyone is, or even should be, a comics fan, but for me they were the foundation-stone of my current immoderate reading habits, so I retain soft spot for them. I also like the fact that superhero comics (not unlike opera and Saturday-morning cartoons, I guess) deal with big issues like good and evil, heroism and villainy, in a blown-up, Fauvist-hued manner that magnifies them and makes them somewhat accessible. That's my excuse at least. If ever you are looking for an introduction to Batman (and why would you be?) I suggest Frank Miller's Batman: Year One and Alan Moore's The Killing Joke. Both show just what a truly skilled operator can do with an art form often dismissed as junk.
Yes, non-motives. That's an interesting point and one that I'd respond to with the old academic stand-by: it all depend what you mean by 'motive'. If we refer to 'a quality hat makes a person do something', well, it's evident that a 'no-motive Joker' would just spent all day sitting round the Joker-house watching Netflix and terrorising no one. Clearly, then, in a sense, he *does* have a motive. It's just one that disguises itself almost as an anti-motive. He wants nothing more than to disrupt, ruin, and burn. For most criminals, surely these would be tools on the way to achieving some other goal, but for the Joker they are an end in themselves. In writing that, I think I have properly understood what I meant, so thank you for giving me the opportunity to work it out.
I hope you liked the piece. I have nearly finished the Unabomber documentary you recommended, by the way. My thoughts continue to percolate...
The distinction between ends and means is very relevant. For example, quite a few people assume that the motive for committing a sexual offense is the pursuit (is this even the right word?) of the sexual act. I have often heard people say things like "It's a good thing that there are prostitutes, otherwise there would certainly be more perpetrators who would have to satisfy their sexual needs by committing sexual crimes." However, these people overlook the fact that sexual behavior is only the means in many sexual crimes, while the end, for example, lies in the exercise of power and control.
You watched the Unabomber documentary? I hope you find it interesting. The question also arises as to what his motives were: Was it to achieve political goals, as he himself wrote in his philosophical manifesto? Or did his philosophical ideas rather serve as the (unconscious) intellectual justification of more profane motives and needs? I'm looking forward to your thoughts on this.
First— I loved this. I’m a big Joker fan; I subscribed to that Joker comic book and got all nine issues in the mail. One standout story involved the Joker and Lex Luthor switching brains, somehow— and I still recall the panel where the Joker said (not verbatim) “I understand— EVERYTHING! And the shock of all this understanding is driving me sane!”
Also— there was an earlier Joker origin story, in 1951. I recall it as a good story but the explanation was unsatisfying. Looking back on it through the lens of your article, it seems to me that I didn’t want the Joker to be explained.
Also— my son once wrote to the Unabomber and got two separate responses. (The prison didn’t allow Kaczynski to respond directly. The second response was again from a prison employee and passed along a website that Ted recommended. I’ll have to ask my son what the website was; I think it talked about the dangers of technology.)
Some may ask why we allowed our young son to write him a letter. My son was fascinated by serial killers and watched many documentaries about them. I saw this as healthy curiosity, and his writing to Kaczynski was him hoping to get some insight into the man’s psychology. And years later my son was the person who insisted I watch the Joker film, which I had been inclined to avoid. I thought it was really good. He then saw the sequel and told me not to see it. As he put it: “whatever the first one was missing, it wasn’t Lady Gaga.”
Thank you for your kind words, Karl! Much appreciated. I’m very pleased you enjoyed the article. I was pleased with it myself & sorry that rather few people read it.
I’m interested to see that your son wrote to the Unabomber! There can be little doubt that the website was all about the dangers of technology. Kaczynski seemed a bit obsessed. I did a bit of research in him myself in the hope of writing something interesting but couldn’t find a Psychology angle. If you find out what the website was, perhaps you wouldn’t mind passing it on: maybe it is the missing ingredient!
Your son is not the only one fascinated by serial killers. I used to get good turn-out for my class on them, back when I was still lecturing. I’m putting together a pice just now on why they are so enthralling.
Your son was right about the Joker film! It was really good. The sequel got such awful reviews I didn’t bother either. Glad to see your son inherited his dad’s gift with words!
Hope you’re having an excellent weekend.
I’ll see if I can dig up the website for you— it might take a minute.
And re: the Joker essay. I’m surprised more people aren’t reading it. Maybe the pop culture substackers are more about lord of the rings and Star Wars, and the marvel movies; I would have thought there’d be a lot of people into Batman and the Joker too, but maybe not. Or maybe they’re here, but somehow they’re not seeing the post. Or maybe the people fired up about Batman aren’t so interested in psychology.
Wow! So much to think about here. I need to read again, jot down my thoughts in my diary. I kept thinking about the book, The Road Less Traveled.
Good quote: "knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darkness of other people." It reminds me of one my mother likes, about knowing yourself if you want to know others.
I’m really pleased you read & liked this. It’s an article I was pleased with, but almost no one looked at (perhaps because it’s a little long). Your mother is clearly a wise lady! Thank you for the restack.
This is an interesting perspective. The Joker has indeed served as a blank canvas for writers to explore for over half a century, allowing for a wide range of interpretations. Each actor portraying the character has brought a unique vision to life, from a mafia boss to a common street criminal armed with gadgets and goons, to a pure agent of chaos, and even a broken man pushed to crime. It’s no surprise, then, that the character seamlessly fits into various archetypes. At this point, the Joker and Batman feel like two sides of the same coin, endlessly reinterpreted to suit different narratives and societal contexts.
One intriguing angle to consider is how the Joker’s villainy serves as a reflection of societal shifts. Decades ago, when society viewed morality in more black-and-white terms, a simple, gun-toting, thieving Joker was sufficient as a menacing antagonist. As time progressed, the portrayal of the Joker as a mafia boss resonated with the era's preoccupation with organized crime and its takedown in the U.S. More recently, the Joker’s chaotic and unpredictable nature mirrors a society grappling with acts of criminality that often defy reason or justification, embodying a world that feels increasingly random and disordered.
One direction that remains unexplored—at least as far as I know—is a female Joker. It would certainly be an unexpected twist and could offer a fascinating reinterpretation of the character. It would be interesting to see how such a version would challenge and expand the Joker’s established archetypes while offering new insights into the dynamic with Batman and the broader narrative.
Thank you for such a thoughtful comment in my article! It was as kind of you as it was interesting to read. You are quite right that the Joker can act as a kind of cultural litmus. He has been around long enough to adopt any number of disguises. Oddly, the article actually started life as a kind of list of Jokers-through-the-ages (perhaps I’ll still write that one day), but without the socio-cultural ideas you mention. They would very clearly improve it beyond measure!
A female Joker is an interesting idea. I think you are right that there hadn’t been one - certainly not that I can think of. The closest character is surely Harley Quinn, but in her early days she was virtually defined by her relationship to the Joker himself. You should suggest it to DC Comics. Lots of us would like to see that!
The random & chaotic nature - not necessarily of the world, but of our perception of it - has surely influenced the most recent incarnations. Has the Joker also been getting gradually darker & darker in recent years? He seemed pretty dark as long ago as The Dark Knight Returns, which seemed at the time to be stretching comics as far as they would go, but the latest stories almost verge on horror rather than superheroics. If the Joker really is a barometer of society, something very bad is happening out there…
Given the current trends, I wouldn't be surprised if we eventually saw a female or non-binary version of the Joker, whether it's to make a statement or cater to certain audiences. As an avid gamer, I’m reminded of one of the Arkham games, which explored a similar idea where the Joker’s consciousness was transferred through a toxin, causing random people (even Batman) to embody him. It was a unique plot twist.
Honestly, I'd love the chance to pitch something like that to DC and get paid for it—that would be amazing, haha!
On a broader note, it feels like society is either getting darker or we're simply seeking more nuanced, complex characters rather than the one-dimensional types that have dominated mainstream media for decades. For our sake, I really hope it's the latter.
Ah, I've never been a gamer, so didn't know about the Joker-consciousness story! It's quite an inventive idea and I could see a good writer doing a lot with it. Of course, Batman has to get the toxin, why not?
I really hope it's the latter - more nuanced storytelling winning the day. There is reason to believe that. Audiences who grew up with comics tend to find the stories of their childhood rather simplistic and boring when they reread them as adults (I can hardly bear it). They may therefore turn to hunting down the more complex stories in the same format, that graphic novels tend to offer. As I say, I hope it's that, I really do, but damn, it's pretty dark out there some days...
"Existence is a joke and we know how jokes work. The Trickster yanks open the trapdoor; we plummet into Story 2. The joke turns out to be extremely dark: There’s nothing in the basement at all."
Loved this.
It is mad what this ape, we call humans, does.
Thank you! I hope you don't mind my saying, I liked that bit myself, too. Take a step back and everything we do seems mad. And that's what the Joker is telling us.