The striking amount of similarities between the Joker and T
makes me wonder if Bob Cane drew inspiration from (or straight up ripped off)
Graham Greene’s "The Destructors."
The clip of the Joker in which he asks Dent, “Do I really
look like a guy with a plan?” is very interesting. On the surface, it
appears that this question may illuminate a difference between the pair; unlike T, the
Joker does not formally plan his attacks. However, a closer look reveals a frightening parallel between the murdering madman and the
middle class tween. Consider how well T
kept his composure when Mr. Thomas’ early and unexpected return threatened the
completion of the destruction. At first, he “protests with the fury of the
child he had never been,” (Greene, 391) but quickly recovers and formulates the
“child locked in the loo” ploy. Pushing an elderly, arthritic man into an
outdoor toilet and locking him in there overnight while leveling the remainder
of his house can only be described as “heinous.” The Joker also responds well
to adversity. Indeed, he relishes the resistance that Batman offers (as Michael
pointed out) and uses it as both a motivation and justification for his evil
doings.
I also wrote on the quiz today that T possesses a Joker
complex. But considering the character, an alternate motivation for dismantling Mr. Thomas’ house may seem more plausible; at the time, T was in the
throes of puberty. As we all know, male puberty is an emotional rollercoaster that
features fits of confusion and irrationality. Adding to that mess the shame of
having a father who has “come down in the world” (Greene, 382) and an arrogant
mother can and does produce a very angry child. When T presents his idea to the
gang, his eyes are “grey and disturbed” (Greene, 385). Greene describes the
plan itself as having been “crystallized with the pain of puberty” (Greene,
387). These less-than-subtle hints point to the hormonal turmoil of puberty as
the source of T’s negative emotional state.
An angry and irrational person wants to project unto their
surroundings the darkness and pain that they feel. T does exactly this in
demolishing Mr. Thomas’ house. Though I can’t post a YouTube clip of the scene because
of crude language…and gore, T’s mindset mirrors that of Edward Norton’s
character Tyler Durden after he literally beats Jared Leto to a pulp in the 1999 movie "Fight Club." He
states, “I wanted to dump oil over all those French beaches I'd never see, I
wanted to breath smoke... I felt like destroying something beautiful.” In the
same way, T released his anger upon something he personally thought was
beautiful and wrecked it.
I’m sure the image of T burning money lit lightbulbs in many
of our heads, and the similarities between T and the Joker still stand. Considering
the character, however, we must ask what is more likely the root cause of T’s
actions: sociopathic tendencies, or a rough home life mixed with the strains of puberty?
Perhaps a mix of both.
1 comment:
Tom -- This is another very compelling parallel. The quotation you offer from "Fight Club" certainly fits well in this discussion.
It's no coincidence, I think, that Greene inspires these connections to film; after all, as I mentioned in class, he wrote film criticism, screenplays, and saw several of his books made into films. He has left a mark on moviemaking that we still see rippling today.
You are also right to remind us that Trevor's hunger for destruction might be rooted in the "pain of puberty." As we will discuss today, Greene so often writes about the painful loss of childhood innocence. As a result of World War II, boys like Trevor had to grow up quickly; innocence is hard to preserve when there are bombs destroying your childhood home. Thus, it might make sense that Trevor, now alive to the corrupt, experienced world, reacts in such a violent, negative way.
Post a Comment