Disclaimer: This is a warning stating that the following article may contain spoilers about the movie “The Dark Knight” directed by Christopher Nolan.
Are humans fundamentally good or evil? This continuing debate started long before we were even born. Different supporters advance different sides, but there is an extreme supporter of the latter: Joker from the Dark Knight. In the movie, the audience can see the intense line that Joker wants to cross. Even besides his belief, Joker is a strong antagonist, if not the most, with all the joy he feels towards evilness.
He wants to prove the evilness inside people to the whole world even if that means risking lives. “When the chips are down, these civilized people, they’ll eat each other” (The Dark Knight). Joker attempts to kill hundreds of people but not with his own hands. He sets up two groups in separate boats: one with criminals and one with civilians. They are both given a switch to explode the other boat. If both of them do not push the button in a certain amount of time, both boats will explode. Through this experiment, Joker wanted to prove to the world that the world is full of evilness, and he did not hesitate to use people’s lives to prove his ideology.
His actions serve no other purpose than to just create chaos among people. When Joker made Harvey Dent, a hero of the people, into a villain who kills people, he was trying to crush what people believe in. He simply wanted people to know that this good guy that everyone believes in turned into a cruel killer. In doing all these actions, Joker does not want money. He does not want fame or recognition. He is not afraid of getting beaten or even dying. He does not want to kill Batman, his enemy. He just wishes to “play” with Batman for the rest of his life. He is not the type of person who seeks vengeance or is blinded by hatred but then later realizes his faults. He is the type of person who wants chaos and evilness for no reason. This unconditional desire of Joker for chaos and evilness makes Joker a true villain.
Joker’s ruthless actions for his belief in human evilness and for no other purpose than to create chaos through his belief make him the best villain that everyone remembers until this day.
By. Miso Kim
Works Cited
The Dark Knight. Dir. Christopher Nolan. Warner Bros. Pictures, 2008. Film. Mishra, Neha. “Sad Clown Paradox: Smile on the Outside, Frown on the Inside.” Hypothetical Minds, Hypothetical Minds, 30 Aug. 2020, www.hypotheticalminds.com/post/sad-clown-paradox.