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delineated (delineated) wrote in fandom_rant,
@ 2008-07-27 03:48:00

Oh, that Batman thing

Okay, people? The Joker? That guy with the scarred face and the clown makeup and no discernable name?

HE IS NOT MEANT TO BE FUNNY. Stop complaining that he's not funny enough, please. Just because he's dressed as a clown/you watch the Diniverse and weren't expecting a Nolan film to be, y'know, gritty does not mean he is meant to be funny.

(Post a new comment)

harcourt
2008-07-26 06:08 pm UTC (link)

When I saw the movie loads of people laughed at various parts. Maybe it was over-excitement because we were a bunch of nerds at a preview, but still. He's not meant to be funny, but there was incidental amusement in some ways at the "funny-peculiar"ness of it.

But yes to your rant. He's not meant to be a comedian. You are somewhat missing the point if you're disappointed that he wasn't cracking jokes.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	delineated 2008-07-26 06:11 pm UTC (link)
	Oh, laughing at certain parts of the movie, definitely. But the Joker himself is not a 'funny' man, exactly. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	herongale 2008-07-27 12:33 am UTC (link)
	In some of the older versions he is funny! Jack Nicholson's was hilarious. :D (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

murriness, 2008-07-29 11:34 pm UTC

hobbitsexual
2008-07-28 08:46 am UTC (link)

I'm not sure which Joker you've been reading in the comics. There is nothing unintentional, incidental or accidental about the deliberate way Joker apes and exploits traditional 'humorous' set-ups to underscore his crimes and behaviour.
The electric handbuzzer is a good example - a very old, tried and true gag - he perverts it by making it kill you. He IS a comedian, this is the framework within which he positions himself and as a reader you are meant to laugh at him, at his outrageousness, his wisecraks, and be discomfited and perturbed by him. Not LEAST because he punctuates his crimes with a punchline.
There's no question the people he shares his universe with don't find him funny; that doesn't change the fact that he very deliberately and consciously presents himself as a 'funny man' and, yes, a comedian. He sees himself as a comedian, even if he's aware the rest of the world doesn't find him funny. He finds HIMSELF funny and that's really all that matters to the Joker.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	frito_kal 2008-07-26 06:15 pm UTC (link)
	I laughed, I just felt dirty about it afterward, which is how the Joker should be, IMO. He -can- be funny, he should make people laugh - but you should feel REALLY guilty about it afterward. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	siempredescalzo 2008-07-26 06:36 pm UTC (link)
	Yes. This. Completely. I cracked up at certain parts, and that was immediately followed with an "Oh, shit. I'm going to hell." (Reply to this)(Parent)

	ladybug218 2008-07-26 06:40 pm UTC (link)
	Yes, this. We were laughing when he stumbled out of the hospital in the nurse's outfit and fumbling with the button and the laughter died as soon as the hospital blew up. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	squishycat 2008-07-26 11:16 pm UTC (link)
	I still can't figure out when he (or anybody) had time to plant all those bombs. My willing suspension of disbelief fails me on strange things. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sithwitch13, 2008-07-27 03:08 am UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:46 am UTC

wtf, 2008-07-28 02:36 pm UTC

littlest_lurker
2008-07-27 12:43 am UTC (link)

Yes, exactly. The fact that the Joker is funny adds to the unpredictability of the character. If he hasn't made you go "hahaha..oh shit" (or vice versa) at one point, then he's not been written right. It's one of the things that I really loved about TDK, and Ledger's performance.

Otherwise, he's just another psychopath in a costume and makeup. And frankly, that's just plain boring.

(Reply to this)(Parent)

	negativecosine 2008-07-26 06:15 pm UTC (link)
	Actually, he scared me more when people laughed, frankly. Like, the pencil trick? Nightmares for a WEEK, and half because the audience CRACKED UP. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	anarchicq 2008-07-26 06:18 pm UTC (link)
	It was the "tadaaa!" That did it for me, made me laugh, but like Frito said, you feel bad about it after. The laughter is triggered to defuse the tension. It was all brilliant, to me. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

cleolinda
2008-07-26 07:10 pm UTC (link)

Yeah, my default to reaction is to laugh at almost anything, but they're different kinds of laughs--amused, awkward, horrified, whatever. (Usually you can tell by the look on my face which one it is, because I'm terrible at hiding what I'm thinking.) Most of TDK, I was laughing either because the absurdity was off the charts (the hospital scene) or because I couldn't believe he'd done/said whatever (like the pencil--actually, I didn't laugh at that; I couldn't even look because I knew something awful was coming. But I understand why people would).

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

stromatolite, 2008-07-27 09:33 pm UTC

dark_puck, 2008-08-08 10:27 pm UTC

	negativecosine 2008-07-26 10:32 pm UTC (link)
	Of course it was brilliant, I wouldn't dream of disputing that. But it's also something that'll make me look at any lesser form of slapstick and kind of shudder, because. It is just so well-executed in the exact style of things I do laugh at, and... yeah. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

littlest_lurker, 2008-07-27 12:44 am UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:44 am UTC

negativecosine, 2008-07-27 07:39 am UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:00 pm UTC

negativecosine, 2008-07-27 05:08 pm UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:10 pm UTC

negativecosine, 2008-07-27 05:12 pm UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:16 pm UTC

squishycat, 2008-07-27 05:23 pm UTC

squishycat, 2008-07-27 05:23 pm UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:35 pm UTC

negativecosine, 2008-07-28 04:29 am UTC

hangingfire
2008-07-26 10:51 pm UTC (link)

The pencil thing is one of the few things I've seen in a movie in the last several years that genuinely shocked me. It happens so fast, and the Joker is so cheerful and casual about it; and sure, there's no blood, but I missed the subsequent thirty seconds or minute or so because I was too busy going "WTF THIS IS A PG-13 MOVIE PEOPLE".

But yeah. The Joker brings the nervous laughter a lot.

(Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

squishycat, 2008-07-26 11:14 pm UTC

anarchicq, 2008-07-27 08:20 am UTC

mary_mac, 2008-07-27 02:38 pm UTC

anarchicq, 2008-07-27 08:23 pm UTC

missdaisy, 2008-07-28 03:06 pm UTC

seiberwing, 2008-07-27 05:01 pm UTC

jrs1980, 2008-07-30 03:26 am UTC

missdaisy, 2008-07-28 02:52 pm UTC

notbulgarian, 2008-08-09 06:23 pm UTC

squishycat
2008-07-26 11:13 pm UTC (link)

I am used to him being slightly more, uh, whimsical, I guess. Bizarrely cracked-out schemes, Jack-in-the-boxes that shoot crazygas, bombs full of confetti, confetti full of bombs...

Still dark and completely crazy, but slightly more playful.

(It's slightly difficult to watch films in which I'm already familiar with the villains, but the protagonists aren't, because I end up sitting there with my brain going "OMFG THAT'S THE FUCKING JOKER YOU DON'T PUT HIM IN GEN POP HOLY FUCKING SHIT ARE YOU CRAZY?")

(Reply to this)

	tehrin 2008-07-27 02:18 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, he's not joking (well, the nurses outfit may have been a joke), even if his name is The Joker, but there's still the dark humor that surrounds the character and he uses a great deal of sarcasm. I laughed (not nervous laughter, mind you, I tend to howl). So yeah, in my opinion, he's unintentionally funny. (Reply to this)

	seiberwing 2008-07-27 05:43 am UTC (link)
	I laughed at a few parts, like with the pencil. It's an awkward sort of laugh, but it's a laugh. (Reply to this)

delarina
2008-07-27 07:57 am UTC (link)

In a way, that was the best part of seeing it in a packed theater - seeing where and why people laughed. Most of it was the laughter of shock, like the pencil scene, or of "holy shit no way" in the parts where the Joker's schemes were revealed. The funny parts were funny, but the laughter was like a visceral reaction, one unconnected to the kinds of "jokes" we associate with movies and other media. After all, laughter and, by extension, humor are ways to cope with horrifying or upsetting things - almost all humor is, at heart, dark humor. The Nolan/Ledger Joker captured that and took it to its ultimate extent. In that way, I didn't feel guilty - I wasn't laughing because it was funny, exactly; I laughed because it demanded a physical reaction.

(Reply to this)

	magicpants 2008-07-27 04:53 pm UTC (link)
	I actually found him quite funny. Really, I think the Joker is best when he's really disturbing AND funny at the same time (which makes him all the more disturbing). (Reply to this)(Thread)

	hobbitsexual 2008-07-28 08:24 am UTC (link)
	agreed. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	your_face 2008-07-28 04:16 am UTC (link)
	...did they watch the same movie as me? I'm a Diniverse fan, and I found this Joker plenty funny, particularly for Nolan's type of film. (Reply to this)

hobbitsexual
2008-07-28 08:23 am UTC (link)

er, well, the nature of the Joker is that he PRESENTS himself as funny. He might not BE funny, but he positions himself as a comedian and a clown and enacts his crimes within that framework.
He is, also, very funny. No, not to the people WITHIN the stories, but the readers should find him funny. It's part of the perverseness of the character.

I did love Ledjoker and thought he was very funny, actually. But he wasn't THE Joker.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

	sparkysrevenge 2008-07-31 05:36 am UTC (link)
	He was soooo my Joker. So it. (Reply to this)(Parent)

	sparkysrevenge 2008-07-31 05:40 am UTC (link)
	So, ah, I'm late to the party, but I laughed at the pencil trick because I honest-to-God thought it was funny. I didn't even think he killed the guy. I just thought he knocked him out, TBH. To me, it was fucking hilarious. My friend laughing at Joker blowing up the entire building? Not funny. (Reply to this)(Thread)

	chibikaijuu 2008-08-01 07:42 pm UTC (link)
	Wait, wait... You saw him slam a pencil through a guy's eye socket and you think all it did was knock him out? (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

sparkysrevenge, 2008-08-01 08:15 pm UTC

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