Although the portrayal of the Joker has changed a lot over the years, there are certain fundamental elements of his character that make him recognizable. The Jokers from Batman and The Dark Knight undoubtedly share these characteristics. Both are known to be psychotic, a claim which may be supported by the fact that both Jokers exhibit symptoms of psychosis. Lack of empathy, for example, is a clear symptom in the way they kill without remorse and destroy things without any consideration. When they find themselves in serious or dangerous situations, they both maintain a carefree, even light-hearted attitude, which one could say is because he is "crazy", but this has no direct logical connection to psychosis , except perhaps the symptom of a lack of empathy. Both Nicholson's and Ledger's Jokers wear makeup and dress in specific ways for certain practical purposes, not just because they want to. Although they have different tones of voice, their way of speaking is similar as they both pause after each sentence. It builds tension, puts you on the edge of your seat, and leaves you waiting for what they say next. Both Jokers are independent and tend to only have their own interests in mind. For example, at the beginning of The Dark Knight, the Joker asks the men at work to kill each other, until he is the only one who can take the money. An example in Batman would be how he encourages his lover Alicia to practice his "art". Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an Original Essay There are some differences between the Jokers from Batman and The Dark Knight that are obvious, while others observe carefully to really see clearly. One of the biggest differences between these two versions of the Joker is the tone they give off. Burton's Joker looks a lot like a clown and his face is frozen in a permanent smile. His voice and obnoxiously colored clothes might make you weird, but he doesn't really scare you until he threatens you. Ledger's Joker, on the other hand, comes off as very scary and intimidating. His face is distorted by scars, his makeup makes him look like it's deteriorating, and he never smiles. Another obvious difference is their attitude towards Batman. In the 1989 version, the Joker wants revenge on Batman because he gets the attention of the press, while the Joker wants to be in the spotlight. He wants to kill him so he can take full control of the city. The Dark Knight's Joker is the complete opposite; he's like Dr. Moriarty from Batman's Sherlock Holmes. He needs someone strong enough to be his opponent, and that person is Batman. In the interrogation room, the Joker tells him: "I don't want to kill you!" What would I do without you?... You complete me. Additionally, the two Jokers are dangerous for different reasons, have different levels of intelligence, and have different methods of committing crimes. Tim Burton's Joker held a lot of power over the city. After killing Carl Grissom and poisoning shipments of produce with smilex gas, he seemed unstoppable until Batman foiled him. Despite this, he never seemed prepared for Batman's sophisticated "gadgets", such as the Batpod, which took away all of his balloons. His crimes are always planned first and can be described as organized chaos, such as when he attempted to kill people on the streets of Gotham with smilex gas. Heath Ledger's Joker is much more dangerous, as he is not only unpredictable, but also extremely intelligent. As he tells Harvey, he doesn'tprojects, and yet he always seems to be five steps ahead of everyone. I think this proves his ability to think and act on the ground. On top of that, he has the ability to manipulate people to get what he wants, such as how he provokes the police officer who is in the holding cell with him by explaining why he kills with knives rather than with firearms; "In some ways, I know your friends better than you ever did. Would you like to know which of them were cowards? This causes the officer to attack him and Joker is able to catch up to him to that he can request his phone call, which causes an explosion inside the prison His way of committing crimes is much less simple, but he is much more dedicated and willing to follow complicated procedures to do what he does. he wants to. Jack's Joker kills for a specific reason, but Ledger's Joker kills simply because he can. Another set of differences that you need to look at a little closer is the reason why each Joker. wears makeup and a suit Jack's joker does this mainly because it's part of the brand he's created for himself and it's how he wants to be seen by the public He also uses it to. manipulates the public and, during certain periods, behaves "normal", saying that he is removing his makeup. This is to make the audience let their guard down and think that his crazy, obnoxious side is just an act. Ledger's Joker also uses his makeup and clothing for his public image, but he also uses them to make him harder to identify as a real person. As they mentioned in the film, the custom clothing made it much more difficult to find the Joker's true identity. The makeup he wears and the way he wears it makes him even scarier, and he knows it. Seeing her makeup immediately gives you a feeling of chaos and carefreeness. The last difference I want to talk about is their attitude towards themselves. Jack Nicholson's Joker cared about his own well-being. He took precautions, planned escape routes, and asked people to fight for him. Heath Ledger's Joker didn't care about himself at all, which is evident from his unkempt appearance and the way he yells at Batman as he rushes towards him on his bat bike, telling him to " do it,” which means crush it. . Society and our expectations of cinema are certainly partly responsible for the Joker's change. Over time, we as an audience want or even need to see the subject matter of film and television become darker and darker because we become immune to this view. We always need more to give us that shock value we need to maintain our interest. As a result, we needed a darker, much more menacing version of the Joker, which would be a departure from the previous versions of the character, who were much less serious and less frightening. In the video "The Sound of Anarchy", Hans Zimmer explains how he created the music for The Dark Knight, and specifically how he captured the sound of anarchy in his music. He really thought about what anarchy is and what it feels like. Hans wanted to find a way to define the Joker's character in music using anarchy, what it does to a person and the fearlessness it instills, as the Joker's character is largely defined by the philosophy of the Joker. 'anarchy. He performed thousands of sound tests, experimenting with different objects and instruments in order to achieve the sound that would capture certain feelings, including tension and suspense, fear and mystery. He used everything from blades ofrazor on piano strings to pencils tapping on desks. At one point, he said he wanted to be able to define the Joker with a single note, which ended up being two notes on the cello that "clashed beautifully." These notes produced a haunting sound that gave you a feeling of danger or chaos. Hans Zimmer's dedication to capturing the idea of ​​anarchy and turning it into music really made the musical score of The Dark Knight special. To answer the question of whether Heath Ledger's description of the Joker as a "psychopathic, murderous, schizophrenic, empathic clown" is correct, we have to take the statement piece by piece. To begin with, is the Joker a psychopath? A psychopath refers to a person suffering from psychosis. Psychopathy has many symptoms, several of which are clearly present in the Joker. These include a lack of empathy, which is clearly demonstrated when he shows no hesitation towards blowing up a hospital or a ferry full of innocent civilians. Psychotic people also show a lack of emotion and also do not show a differential brain response between emotional and neutral terms. Throughout the film, the Joker remains stoic, apart from perhaps a few moments of annoyance or anger. Even when the Joker laughs and smiles, it communicates not as happiness, but rather instability. You could plead and cry, asking him not to kill you, because you have a family, and it would elicit no different reaction from him than if you had said nothing at all. Another symptom is “externalizing blame,” or blaming others for events for which they are responsible. This is evident in the Joker when he speaks to Harvey Dent in the hospital and Batman in the interrogation room. Instead of continuing on the topic of what he did wrong, he will continue to blame society and its rules. I could go on with two more symptoms, but the answer is clear. Yes, the Joker is a psychopath. The next question is: is the Joker a mass murderer? Well, mass murder is the act of killing a number of people, usually simultaneously or over a short period of time and in a small geographic area. Although not all of his assassination attempts succeed, for example on the ferries, he still kills several people in Gotham (small area) in a few days (short period). So based on his definition, the answer to the question would be yes, he is a mass murderer. Ledger describes the Joker as schizophrenic, but I have to disagree slightly. Schizophrenia is a serious mental disorder characterized by emotional impairment, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions and hallucinations, and estrangement from reality. Based on the information we get about the Joker from the film, there isn't enough evidence to support the suggestion that he has schizophrenia. It shows emotional dulling (lack of empathy and emotion), social isolation and possibly distancing from reality, but the former is also a symptom of psychosis. We can't know if the Joker is experiencing symptoms like hallucinations and delusions unless he tells us or we see the world from his perspective. Schizophrenia can also mean that something is contradictory or has inconsistent elements and is characterized by unusual disparity. I find that this definition does not correspond to the Joker either, because he is not shown to contradict himself. Heath Ledger's Joker does not meet the definition of a clown in the sense.