I think the reason I liked the Heath Ledger joker so much besides the performance itself was that they deliberately screwed around creating an unreliable origin story. The fact that he tells multiple contradictory stories is the best part.
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I’m not motivated to watch the new Joker partly because the premise of a whiny incel/red pill/mass shooter type newsy contemporary justification sounds tedious, but mainly because it collapses the wave function. The origin indeterminacy feels essential to the Joker character.
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it is in fact incredibly tedious. and I cannot think of anything more unimaginative than to create a villain who is just an evil version of his day job
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He's a trickster archetype, albeit darker than usual. An origin story lessens him, as one would Coyote, or Bugs Bunny.
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Just saw the new Joker, and "origin indeterminacy" plays a major role. I recommend watching it, not just reading the hand-wringing takes from journos.
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Yeah. He's a wildcard. He can be anything! Batman's the one who is a Product of Specific Circumstances.
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That’s a very IDW read of the media cycle 🤣
Or it could just be that the surface craft and gloss yield to a tawdry narrative poverty on a double take
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