The Joker is most definitely a trickster. But first, to
label someone a trickster, we have to define what a trickster. A trickster is a
person that fools others for his own amusement/needs and generally causes
mischief and chaos, and is generally anti-social and has a deeper meaning
behind his/her deeds. The Joker is a trickster because throughout the movie, he
is constantly fooling people and causing mayhem, one example being when he
destroyed the art museum by painting over the art in crude ways and destroying
all the sculptures. He is also constantly causing mischief and chaos, like when
he killed the person in front of the law building and merely walked away.
Burton supports the idea of the trickster several times
during the movie. One example of this is when the Joker offered all the people
of Gotham a chance to get free money in a parade type giveaway, and then
toxically gassed all the people who showed up. This was a deadly trick, and it
also had a deeper meaning; the Joker was only killing people who were greedy
and showed up for the free money. I believe that this is how the Joker
rationalized mass killing those people. Obviously, the Joker had no problem
with murdering people in general, but I don’t believe he would have just mass
murdered a random group of people. Another example of the Joker being a
trickster is when he apologizes one of the mob group leaders for attempting to
take them over and gives him a handshake, then fries the man alive with a
handheld taser of some sort.
Tim Burton undermines the idea of a trickster in the movie
in several different ways. One way he does this is by making the Joker the
leader of a group of minions who throughout the movie seem more like friends or
cronies to the Joker. This contrasts with the common view of a trickster, who
is supposed to be anti-social and unfriendly. Another way Burton challenges the
common conception of a trickster is when he has the Joker put the restaurant
full of people to sleep just so he can talk to the beautiful photographer. This
challenges the idea of a trickster because once again the Joker is being
sociable and coveting a beautiful woman as opposed to being anti-social and
avoiding contact with others as much as possible.
Noah, you bring up a lot of great points about the Joker and his trickster qualities. I especially enjoyed reading your take on the parade scene. When I watched that scene, I only took it for face value and really did not think much of it. However, you bring up a great point about the Joker’s rationale for his mass killings. The Joker is such a deep and interesting character because he has reasons for his destructive behavior. Jack Nicholson’s portrayal of the Joker in Batman was done in such a great and successful way, mainly due to the fact that despite the Joker being apart of the trickster archetype, Burton directed the character as more than just the trickster. Burton changed it up a bit and gave the Joker more depth by allowing the Joker to be social, a fact you pointed out in your post. This slight change helped to evolve the Joker into more than just a petty villain and helped to create the Joker that we all know today.
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