The Genius Behind the Insanity of the Joker

I was having difficulty falling asleep one night, which often leads to me thinking about random things. I had been contemplating the character of the Joker, particularly the Heath Ledger version in The Dark Knight and that night I came to a bit of a realization. Here it goes!

Source: http://www.smscs.com/photo/
heath_ledger_dark_knight_wallpaper/36.html#.UnF_DJTTWMU

Throughout the movie, the Joker was all about chaos. Batman was trying to figure out the Joker's motive and what made this movie so interesting is that the Joker didn't seem to have a motive. He wasn't in it for the money or power; he just wanted to cause chaos. This is something that he practically preaches to everyone he meets and it's what he uses to drag Harvey Dent down. The Joker loves chaos, so much that he claims to be the embodiment of chaos. It seems to fit him so well, causing us to look at the Joker and think "he's crazy." But the Joker's not crazy. At least, he's not crazy in the way we assume, in that he's a psychopathic killer who's only in it for the thrill of chaos. In reality, there's another layer to the Joker behind his chaos theory and his insanity.

The truth is that the Joker is an embodiment of control and manipulation. The Joker doesn't live for chaos. Rather, he lives for control under the guise of chaos. From the very beginning, the Joker had everything and everyone under his control. He knows just how to manipulate someone to get them to do what he wants them to do while they are thinking that they are doing it for their own reasons. The minute we meet the Joker, we can see that he knows how to get under someone's skin, how to push just the right buttons to make that person snap or do what he wants them to do. And they don't realize they're playing right into his hands.

For example, whenever the Joker is telling someone the story of how he got his scars, the story changes with each person that he tells. One might think that he is changing the story because it's chaos and it shows his insanity, but that's not true. He tailors his story to each of his victims to get the desired reaction from them, from fear to disgust. It creates this possible reflection of his victims and himself. He tailors his story in order to gain more control over the victim.

The more I think about it, the more this idea makes sense. The Joker couldn't be crazy, at least not completely. He was much too smart for that. Granted, it's true that his psyche was off and that there was something wrong with him. He could be psychopathic and a control freak, but irrationally crazy? No way. Everything he did leading up to his ultimate triumph in the movie (bringing down Harvey Dent) was something he was in control of from the very beginning.

Source: http://protagonist.wikia.com/wiki/Batman_(Christian_Bale)

A good illustration of this control is when Batman is interrogating the Joker. Here, the Joker showcases and even points out his control over Batman. He toys with Batman and tries to get inside his head,  but when he realizes that's not working, he tries a different approach. He uses other people, namely Rachel. That's when Batman snaps, and that's the moment when he loses that battle to the Joker. You can tell by the way the Joker is laughing that he's won. He even says to Batman, "you have no power over me, you can do nothing to me." He emphasizes this element of control by escaping the police and telling the Batman the wrong addresses for Harvey and Rachel. He knew that Batman would go after Rachel so he gave him Harvey's address because he knew Batman would get there before the police could reach the other one, thus leading to Harvey's fall. The Joker was in control from the very beginning.

Another interesting fact is that during the whole movie, the Joker denounces the idea of plans, which is marked with his famous saying, "Do I look like a guy with a plan?" And yet he works to a plan. What's different is that his plans are fluid. He can change them in an instant because he understands people well enough that he can manipulate them into his new plan. Even while one "plan" fails, the Joker already has another one in the process. He doesn't particularly care if they succeed, because he has another idea already happening. A good example of this is the events after the Joker gets "captured" by the police leading up to the death of Rachel and the downfall of Harvey Dent. It's not certain whether the Joker had this plan of bringing down Harvey the whole time, but it seemed that he was building up his plans, little by little as the events unfolded. This is what made him so successful. Whenever something may not go according to his original plan, he merely modifies his actions to suit a different plan that's already halfway through the making.

Honestly, this combination of the Joker's fluid plans and his extensive understanding of people is kind of scary. He knows exactly how to push at a person to get the reaction he desires. From a desperate cop to a mob leader to Batman himself, the Joker understands immediately how they all work, what motivates them, and why they do what they do. He then takes that knowledge and uses it for his own plans. The Joker is not just some insane criminal that the Batman has to take down. He is a social genius and a master manipulator who almost brings Gotham to its knees.

So why does no one pick up on this? Why didn't I pick up on this when I watched the movie? I've seen it several times and I'm just now realizing the full extent of the Joker's genius. Maybe because like everyone in the movie, I assumed that the Joker really was about chaos and he really was insane to an extent. I think that was his biggest tool. People didn't take the Joker seriously (word choice fully intended). They assumed that he was a nut job, or that he didn't really have a plan. But he did, and he accomplished his plan while simultaneously making everyone believe he was a psychopathic nut that just loved chaos. But in reality, he was a lover of controlled chaos in which he's the one pulling the strings. The Joker pulled off the biggest lie of the century right under everyone's noses. To me, that's the most frightening part about the Joker in The Dark Knight, and it's also what makes the movie so poignant and, well, beautiful.

Well, that's all I have to say about the Joker for the moment, though I will probably be doing more posts about him in the future. He's an endlessly fascinating character and it's very fun to analyze him and his interactions with Batman. But until then, here's another picture of the Joker, because he's just that awesome!

Source: http://villains.wikia.com/wiki/Joker_(The_Dark_Knight)?file=THE_JOKER.jpg

Until next time, folks!