Joker: Insecure Loner?

Christopher Nolan's 2008 mega success about Batman's attempts to defeat a criminal mastermind known only as the Joker.
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There are subtle details to suggest he was desperate, maybe even insecure, in his misanthropy. In the mob scene, when Gambol calls him a freak, he sharply breaks off of his trail of thought, changing the focus of the conversation from "a guy like me" to "I know why you (the mob) are afraid to go out at night," as if to deflect the offense away from himself on to the others. When another mobster says he's crazy, he somewhat angrily says "No, I'm not" and his eyes glisten. In the interrogation scene, he tells Batman "to them, you're just a freak, like me. . . they'll cast you out, like a leper," showing that he is aware what people think of him, takes it to heart and wants to project his social alienation onto Batman.

Later, when the Russian mobster calls him a freak, he says "freak" back in a strained way and briefly loses his temper, which is out of character for him. Finally, after his social experiment fails, Batman says "What were you trying to prove, that deep down, everyone's as ugly as you? You're alone." You can tell that he hit the nail on the head because Joker is clearly upset, but tries to hide it w/ some unconvincing lines like "you gotta do everything yourself," and "it's a funny, funny world we live in," before trying to change the subject to "you know how I got these scars?" The last shot we see of him as he's laughing while hanging shows facial expressions indicating discomfort and sadness, rather than sadistic glee.

I think the whole agent of chaos thing was at least partially a cover. He was just a human being in the end, just like Batman.

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Smiling Nihilist wrote:There are subtle details to suggest he was desperate, maybe even insecure, in his misanthropy. In the mob scene, when Gambol calls him a freak, he sharply breaks off of his trail of thought, changing the focus of the conversation from "a guy like me" to "I know why you (the mob) are afraid to go out at night," as if to deflect the offense away from himself on to the others. When another mobster says he's crazy, he somewhat angrily says "No, I'm not" and his eyes glisten. In the interrogation scene, he tells Batman "to them, you're just a freak, like me. . . they'll cast you out, like a leper," showing that he is aware what people think of him, takes it to heart and wants to project his social alienation onto Batman.

Later, when the Russian mobster calls him a freak, he says "freak" back in a strained way and briefly loses his temper, which is out of character for him. Finally, after his social experiment fails, Batman says "What were you trying to prove, that deep down, everyone's as ugly as you? You're alone." You can tell that he hit the nail on the head because Joker is clearly upset, but tries to hide it w/ some unconvincing lines like "you gotta do everything yourself," and "it's a funny, funny world we live in," before trying to change the subject to "you know how I got these scars?" The last shot we see of him as he's laughing while hanging shows facial expressions indicating discomfort and sadness, rather than sadistic glee.

I think the whole agent of chaos thing was at least partially a cover. He was just a human being in the end, just like Batman.
That's very interesting. The character is deeper than peope think. Sometimes I feel like he's kinda trying to convince himself and others that there's no hope anymore, you know? But maybe, deep down, he's just a sad and hopeless guy, like you mentioned.

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I like this.

Also, I too have noted the couple times when he starts a sentence and then switches to something else. Great, writing, great acting. It certainly helps your case of his insecurity.

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