Jay Ewald

ORCID Identifier(s)

0000-0001-9927-9440

Graduation Semester and Year

2017

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in English

Department

English

First Advisor

Timothy Richardson

Abstract

When the Joker first appeared in the pages of Batman on April 25, 1940, he was intended to be little more than a throwaway villain for the hero to face. Since his debut, the Joker has appeared in countless comics, TV shows, and movies. He has become a cultural icon unlike any other and is recognized around the world. The Joker has been studied through the lens of psychology, and has been used as an example of evil, villainy, and moral bankruptcy. The complexity of this comic book villain is unparalleled by even his closest villainous analog. This thesis examines the Joker through various lenses. The Joker’s existence creates an antagonistic binary in which he mirrors his heroic counterpart. This mirroring between good and evil, hero and villain, has ancient roots the combat myth; pitting the monster against the God-like hero in a repeating cycle of life and death. As a comic book villain, the Joker exceeds our definition of villainy and can only be categorized as the supervillain. The prefix of "super" in this case invokes the ideas of not only the Transhuman that exceeds human potential, but that of Donna Haraway's cyborg model of hybridization by blurring the lines between the human body and the genetically other. At the same time that he is exceeding the human condition, the Joker's madness and physical deformities mark him as a Posthuman outsider and toxic contaminant to society's status quo. From a psychological point of view, the Joker's madness is the most pronounced aspect of his character. In the perception of popular culture, it is this madness that defines him not only as evil, but as the villain. The trait of madness has been vilified and placed in association with criminals since the 15th century. The result of this association is the displacement of the mad as a threat to society, who therefore has become outsiders to be feared and despised. These views of madness are reified through our lay understandings that are perpetuated by mass media depictions of the mad. This has led many to make an attempt at defining the Joker through a singular diagnosis of his potential mental ailment, but the complex character not only resists, but defies simple definition of this sort.

Keywords

Joker, Madness, Posthuman, Transhuman

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | English Language and Literature

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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