Like Joker Do! – Clown Prince of Crime or Loving Partner and Stepdad?

Years ago, out to lunch with one of my best friends, he made an observation, “You know, I think you’d be happy never getting married.  You’re comfortable on your own.  You don’t need someone else to enjoy life.  But if you get married, I think you’ll marry a single mother.  Lots of guys wouldn’t.  Lots of people avoid dating single parents.  But you don’t.  You’re good with kids.  You love kids and you’d love her kids, which would be great for everyone.”  While this friend knew me better than most (at the time, we’ve lost touch a bit), he rarely weighed in on my personal life.  So it was unexpected but I didn’t disagree.  It felt authentic.  Still, I’d’ve never guessed this would be a bridge to see a little of myself in the Joker :8.  Gah!  The Clown Prince of Crime.  The Harlequin of Hate.  The Jester of Genocide.  The King of Arkham Asylum.  This is the guy – thanks to HBO Max’s mind-bendingly brilliant and sensationally subversive Harley Quinn – I’m now empathizing with??  Color me surprised.

The Joker Examined – Jared Leto and Suicide Squad (2016)

Happy Halloween everyone!!  As the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead weakens (thanks Samhain…), we’ll spend the night with lighted jack-o-lanters to ward off nefarious spirits and decked out in all sorts of ghoulish garb to blend in with the dead who will traverse the land of the living.  Or, you know, we may do all those things in the name of free candy (yay for Reese’s Cups!!!).  Either way, today’s Halloween and that means I’ve only one Joker left to examine in this series.  Yay!  So let’s say hello to Mr. Jared Leto.

The Joker Examined – Cesar Romero and Batman (1966)

Alright, so it’s officially October now right?  That means our thoughts turn towards things spooky and scary.  In the spirit of the season, I thought it would be interesting to use a character I’ve always found particularly terrifying to muse on the philosophical nature of evil.  In so doing, I can jump from fictional frights to the true terror that exists in the world around us.  Nothing says “holiday/seasonal fun” like wrestling with the darkness that can grow in the heart of the human soul right?  Haha, nope!  Sounds fun!  This, of course, naturally brings us to the Joker.