The Killing Joke

My initial response to the graphic novel is a pang of empathy for each character, the Joker in particular, having his back story unfurl as we're taken simultaneously through his story and that of the novel itself. Though we are almost forced to question the legitimacy of even his own memories through his actions and the way he speaks to the other characters, we are regardless forced to ask ourselves about the kind of extreme pain a man must endure to become what he has. How we are faced with the very true fact that at the end of it all, after shooting Barbara, and torturing the commissioner, after all that he's done he is still a person, and he was just like any one of us at one time. He was at one time just like any of the other characters, just a normal guy who had a rough time and the desire to do the right thing for the ones that he loves. How any number of terrible things could happen to any one of us, and how hard it might be to stay sane. Does it take a super hero mentality, and an almost super human strength of will to keep those desires within us, or are we all just one bad day from the edge. 

The aspect of the text that I connected with the most was the idea of the bad day, and fighting through the hurt. All people experience heart ache in one form or another, part of that heart ache is what I believe can bring us closer together, but what differentiates us from one another is how we cope and process our pain. Do we allow it to consume us and drive us mad, the way the Joker did, or do we allow it to make us stronger, and better than we were before our hurt, the way that the Batman has. The Joker allowed himself to see only futility and allowed that idea to consume his mind and drive him over the edge. Deeply seeded within him is an idea that the world is filled only with heart break and corruption of the soul, and that eventually everyone, in one way or another will be driven to the same point that he has. In a way he seeks primarily to be understood through his actions. His deeds, though horrifying, to him are a means of communication, of opening the eyes of the Batman and Gordon to his reality, the reality he exists in every moment of his life, of memories from before he was the Joker, and of what drove him to this point. As artists I suppose our goals are similar to his own. To be understood and to teach others the way we perceive our own worlds. We seek to help others reach a higher form of understanding through our stories or our work, though our efforts often lie more in line with that of the Batman, as a way to help save others from their own pain and situations.

This story would be best told through an animated medium. While the story itself is inherently human the live action form can often lose some of the over the top aspect and grit of the Joker and his work. Through the animated form the movements and twisted, at times inhuman portrayal of the Joker is much more suited for this field. While the characters themselves may be more believable as animated characters there are moments that may be lost in translation. Such as the tunnel scene where Gordon goes through and sees Barbara, this scene would likely have to be elongated to satisfy the animated form. Other scenes would also have to me modified and larger choices about the commissioners character, along with Batman would have to be made. While the two can be played primarily between the lines in the graphic medium, when putting them in motion and giving them a true voice, dramatic changes can be made in regards to how an audience views them.