ANTAGONISMS ARE COMPLEMENTARY March 29, 2009
Posted by Geoffrey Wilson in : Meditations , trackbackANTAGONISMS ARE COMPLEMENTARY – THE DARK KNIGHT
There would be few unfamiliar with the legend of the caped crusader and his impressive array of lethal enemies either licking their lips at the prospect of doing battle with him and making inroads into the heart of Gotham City, or entertaining wild notions of defeating him and thereby assuming the mantle of authority in a struggle to maintain power.
Batman made a name for himself in comic books before shifting to the big screen and enjoyed a tremendous following among both the young and the older. That he has endured over a long passage of time does much to raise the quality of his profile and firmly secure a place in the mythical lore of the hero and the genre. His most outlandish nemesis of course is the Joker – who best typifies the antagonistic but nonetheless complementary nature of their dynamic interplay.
The Joker is the antithesis of Batman. If the caped crusader is the hero, then the Joker is the anti-hero. The two go together – like peas in a pod. In many respects, the Joker is actually the complete opposite of Batman. They are opposites in everything from their appearance to the ideals they espouse with gusto and pride. For example, Batman tends to be a rather large and muscular man, while the Joker is of average height and sinewy. Whereas Batman is averse to killing, the Joker views murder as sport. And as intimidating as he is psychotic, the latter nonetheless still manages to recruit merciless henchmen by the hordes despite his obvious and frighteningly maniacal insanity. Batman works alone with a couple of helpers behind the scenes.
Polar opposition is in fact a trademark of the war waged between the Joker and Batman. Before we get into a discussion of their apparel, suffice it to say that their temperaments are like chalk and cheese. The Joker is ebullient in a typically extroverted way. Batman is more self-contained at least when not in the company of his acquaintances and other social butterflies who are accustomed to his arrogance and distinct flair for the show he puts on as a clever subterfuge – though they don’t know it as such of course!
And so our stealthy nocturnal avenger is at heart a loner. Deeply introspective, he broods and contemplates – the memories of his numerous trials and tribulations weighing heavily on his big broad shoulders – especially the death of his father whose brutal murder he witnesses as an innocent child. Only his surrogate father Alfred, who also happens to be his butler and a man with serious talents of his own, knows the true story behind the caped crusader’s perspective on things. So, it’s hardly surprising that Batman is comfortable in the dark.
In the shadows, Batman is the undisputed king of the jungle, a ninja warrior of sorts who steers the course of the true vigilante, as only a creature of the night and devotee of revenge is competent to do. Indeed, Gotham City becomes reliant upon his prowess, and when the Joker begins to make his meddling and sardonic presence known, the beleaguered public and the officials whose job it is to administer justice, look to their patron saint for help.
Temperaments aside, the villain and the revered servant of the people have other differences worth mentioning that bring them together as much as they set them apart. The use of color in symbolism is one of several. Batman for instance, is a champion of the darkest shades – he uses gray and black to intimidate the criminals he encounters. The Joker relies more heavily on bright colors, such as purple, green, and sometimes orange, to dazzle his foes and yet conceal the hidden depths of his mischief. A case in point is the picture of the demented clown he paints with his lime green hair and ripe red lips. Interestingly, we never get to see the man behind the mask when he is in uniform as much as we are welcomed to view the bleeding mascara of a madman!
This brings us unnervingly to the Joker’s methods therefore, which are both unpredictable and incalculable. He does things according to his own twisted and perverse sense of logic, and does not seem to crave or desire the trappings that money can bring. In other words, his actions lack the necessary thread that conjoins one act to another with any degree of coherency and his motives seem to be without relationship to greed. Nor indeed does he suffer from a fear of the one who wields the proverbial sword of Damocles – in his case, the potential threat posed by the caped crusader.
Batman doesn’t wield the sword of Damocles anyway! In this particular tale from the vault told long ago by Cicero – the Roman orator, Damocles swaps places with the legendary ruler Dionysius II of Syracuse for a day just to get a taste of what it’s like to be in a position of power. There he is in all his glory, with servants beckoning to his every call and need, when out of the blue he looks up to see a sword dangling by a horse’s hair from the ceiling.
The Joker does not suffer from the same fear, which surely must have gripped Damocles as he watched the sword of Dionysius dangle precariously above his head. If he could, he would probably love to be Dionysius. If only to have the power to purge Gotham City of its pretensions through some cleverly conceived display of anarchy or to use any means necessary, to prove that organization and corporate structure is both meaningless and futile.
All things considered, the Joker is an exceptionally devious and cunning operator, and this tends to be his greatest weapon in the fight against Batman, the police, and the District Attorney’s office. He is often confronted by the authorities, but easily evades capture due to a combination of survival instinct, wit, bravado, acumen, and good fortune. While Batman prefers to linger in the shadows, the Joker basks in the spotlight clearly comfortable in the role and adept at manipulating the image he wishes others to see.
Though we may safely infer that he is Batman’s undisputed arch-nemesis, the Joker has always understood his privileged position. In ‘The Dark Knight’, he asks his rival, ‘Why would I kill you? What would I do without you?’ Thus, we know that these two characters are inseparable and mutually dependent on the polarity that their intense interaction provides. Without the Joker’s ruthless ambition, Batman has no outlet for recrimination. And without Batman’s personal crusade, the Joker has no assailant.
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