As of the release of the 2019 movie Joker, a total of seven versions of the Joker have appeared on the movie screen. Although this charming villain has no special superpower, the charm is the first of many villains, and its limelight even overshadowed the absolute protagonist of the film, Batman.
The role of the Joker was originally born in the first issue of "Batman" serialized in September 1940, and appeared as a serial killer who used "laughing gas" to kill people. According to the author's original setting, the Joker would be killed by Batman shortly after his debut, but the editor of the comics at the time, Witney Eisworth, thought that the character had more points to dig and create, so the Joker was released. Life.
As it turns out, Esworth was right, and among the many villains in the DC universe, no one can beat the Joker when it comes to fans. Since the Joker appeared in the movie, his status has also grown from an ordinary supporting role, to Batman's lifelong mortal enemy, to the protagonist of a personal independent film, and his personal charm has been rising all the way.
1. The original clown
The Joker first appeared in 1966's Batman: The Movie, played by Caesar Romero. Honestly, this version of the movie is nothing special. Since the overall style of the film tends to be comedy and funny, there is no dark and evil charm in this version of the clown. Combined with the presence of four villains, the Joker is commanded by the Penguin, further diminishing his personality and charming temperament.
The original clown
2. The Killing Artist
Getting the Joker to be remembered should have started in 1989 with Jack Nicholson's "Batman." Nicholson has created many classic characters, including but not limited to the protagonist of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and the villain in "The Shining". In the 1989 version of the clown, Nicholson really played the clown into the appearance in the comics, leaving childhood shadows for many post-80s and 90s with a horrible, evil, and neurotic image.
Unlike Heath Ledger's version of the Joker as he was later known, Nicholson's version of the Joker is a politician, and the film details how he transformed from a political figure into a horror clown, as well as his friendship with Batman. grudges. This also leads to the fact that although this version of the Joker is more than terrifying, it is not mysterious enough, but comparing the seven versions of the Joker, the two versions of Nicholson and Heath Ledger are the most similar. Nicholson played the Joker as a murderous artist, while Heath Ledger played the Joker as a philosopher of human nature.
3. Organ weird
After Nicholson, the Joker once again appeared as the first villain in the 1993 animated film "Batman v The Phantom Man." This animation is considered to be a model that surpasses live-action movies, and was ranked 62nd in the 100 best animated films. The film has an obvious DC movie style, dark, heavy, suspenseful, gloomy Gotham City, gangsters meeting secretly, and ghostly street killers. This is a poignant film, with a detailed description of Batman's feelings. The downside may be that the description of the heroine's superpowers is too brief, or even completely absent.
The Joker in this movie is a weirdo, crazy and terrifying, and he can be regarded as a villain with clever methods, but since the focus of the movie is on Batman's twisted love tragedy, there is not much room for the Joker to play, so this A version of the Joker is also not widely known.
4. Infatuation and bitter love
2017's "Lego Batman" is also an anime movie, the timeline is after "The Dark Knight", but the Joker is completely two clowns. This movie belongs to a popcorn comedy movie for family fun. The rhythm of the film is fast. The villains not only gather many villains from the DC universe, but even Sauron from the Middle-earth universe and King Kong from the Godzilla universe all came to make a cameo appearance. Dazzling, and the Joker, the leader of these villains, took them to love and kill Batman.
Look at his heartbreaking little face when he's rejected
It is very characteristic that the Joker and Batman are like a couple in a bitter love in this movie. The Joker is an active girl who can't ask for anything, and Batman is a hard-nosed academic bully with different hearts. The two are entangled and fight each other, and everything is because the Joker wants Batman to say those three words. It can be said that this is the most delicious clown movie, and the whole process, hahahahaha, can't stop at all.
5. Infatuated Erlang
We put Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix at the end of the comparison, and start with a discussion of the "Suicide Squad" Jared Leto Joker. It should be said that it took a lot of courage to play the clown with the classic images of Nicholson and Heath Ledger, but limited to the requirements and design of the film, apart from being handsome, it is difficult to say that this version of the clown has anything else Brilliant place.
Because the focus of the film is not on the clown at all, and all the scenes of the clown are designed for the performance of Harley Quinn. Whether it is his performance in the lunatic asylum, or his behavior in the bar, the street and the prison, it is to better explain the formation and charm of Harley Quinn. Sometimes I even feel that the role of the Joker is just to add love scenes and kiss scenes to this movie. In order to highlight the clown girl from the side, the clown incarnates into a gangster, the godfather of local tyrants, and a affectionate man; but the clown's own personality is very weak.
6. Philosophers of Humanity
I believe that the most popular clown by fans is the Heath Ledger version. The reason why many people are obsessed with or like the clown also started from "The Dark Knight". Indeed, Heath Ledger breathed the soul into the film, which earned it its only Oscar.
Heath Ledger's version of the Joker is an ultra-intelligent, elusive, mysteriously crazy practical philosopher. With a firm concept of "human nature is evil", he uses the entire Gotham City as his testing ground, and vows to prove to Batman that his concept and method of saving Gotham are absolutely wrong; for this, he does not hesitate to use his own His life is a stake, and he confronts Batman, but Batman has nothing to do with this mortal ordinary person in front of him. In this sense, the Joker is an idealist willing to sacrifice his life for his beliefs.
And the charm of Heath Ledger's clown is also here. He seems to have no principles, but he has a self-consistent and systematic worldview; he seems to be unscrupulous, but he has the determination and courage to give everything for his belief ; He associates with gangsters and assassinates politicians, but not for money or power, but to prove his ideas; he tells his own stories, each of which is so vivid and poignant, but no one knows whether it is true or not; Ability, but there is a way to make the whole city unknowingly cooperate with his experiments.
He is a unity of extreme contradictory qualities. The unity of this contradiction makes him transcend the concept of a mere villain and become a concrete person, a symbol of evil that cannot be grasped. And this is the source of his charm.
7. Revolt from the bottom
Comparing Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix, we can see that the two versions of the Joker are not the same at all, and it is pointless to entangle whether Batman and his brother cannibalized, because "Joker 2019" "This is an independent story, but it borrowed the shell of DC and told the story of a marginal character. If this movie has to be included in the DC story line, it can only be said that the clown riot brought by Arthur has affected it. Philosopher of Humanity in The Dark Knight.
"Joker 2019" gives another origin of the clown. This is not a story-oriented film, but a personal film with the protagonist as the absolute center and an in-depth excavation. The clown here has no high IQ, no careful planning, and no force. He doesn't have lofty ideals, he only wants to be respected by others. Being a comedian brings laughter to people, but he is repeatedly suppressed and bullied. He loses everything, his hopes are shattered, and he finally erupts in an atmosphere of depression and despair.
He is the weakling of society, a marginal figure at the bottom, with a morbidly twisted laughter in people's eyes. Such a clown is impressive, and Phoenix uses his superb acting skills to interpret another possibility of the clown; but such a clown is difficult to arouse fanatical pursuit or even worship, because he is too weak . However, this does not affect the quality of the film. If the Joker is made into a crazy freak with high IQ and high force in this film, it is just a repeat of "V for Vendetta".
"Joker 2019" is not about making the audience understand the clown, but about understanding why the clown is the clown. A good film should not have a preset value position, and there is no reason for the audience to reject a film simply because of three views. Needless to say, whether it is a literary work or a film and television work, it only tells a story, as for the rest, it should be left to the audience to experience.
The article was first published on the public account [Jianxie Mochen], please indicate the source for reprinting
View more about Joker reviews
