| dc.description.abstract | In this bachelor thesis, I research the ways in which JOKER creates moral ambiguity in a traditionally
‘villainous’ character. Though the superhero’s roots can be traced back to mythologic characters, folkloric
stories and pre-superhero literary genres, the superhero archetype was created with the first appearance of
Superman in a 1938 comic book and the default storyline of a superhero story had now become that of a hero
protecting its society from evil villains. With multiple blockbusters released every year, the superhero
universe continues its popularity and success as a film genre within popular culture. 2019’s JOKER travels
back to a time before Batman exists and removes any sign of the existence of superheroes from Gotham.
Instead, JOKER shows a superheroless, decaying Gotham in which Arthur Fleck, a self-proclaimed “mentally
ill loner” is mistreated by life and the city to such an extent that he finally lashes out and commits his first
crimes by murdering three men who beat him relentlessly. Though JOKER tells the origin story of DC
Comic’s famous Joker character, it credits the character with morally ambiguity instead of making him a
clear-cut villain. Because the film left its audience, including myself, and critics puzzled about whether or
not Arthur is the villain or the hero of this JOKER’s story, I researched the ways in which JOKER creates moral
ambiguity in a character that has traditionally been labeled as a ‘villain’ by playing with the superhero and
the villain’s archetypal character traits within its narrative and cinematography.
By first discussing the scholarly field occupied with the superhero and villain archetypes, I conclude
which traits the archetypes consist of, how moral ambiguity can be recognized in these archetypes, which
character traits are shared by these two extremes, creating a morally ambiguous middle ground, and how
labeling a character as either of these two extremes can be problematic. I then analyze JOKER through the
method of a close reading, which is divided into two analyses. In the first part of my analysis, I analyze
JOKER’s opening scene using the device of ‘overspecificity,’ a concept used to describe the way in which a
film’s opening scene presents information in order to establish an overview or a tone that will be continued
throughout the duration of the film, by taking into account the sound narrator and the image narrator
according to aspects of the mise-en-scène. The second part of my analysis, I analyze how JOKER creates
moral ambiguity within its main character Arthur Fleck, by analyzing the textual narrative and
cinematographic elements (mise-en-scène). I conclude my research by discussing the ways in which JOKER
plays with both the superhero and villain archetypes within its narrative and cinematography and how this
results in a morally ambiguous Joker. | |
