A philosophical exploration of Joker and the meaning of the iconic antagonist’s murderous escapades
A diabolically sinister but clownish villain, Joker is a symbolically rich and philosophically fascinating character. Both crazed and cunning, sadistically cruel but seductively charming, the Clown Prince of Crime embodies everything opposed to the positive ideals of order and justice defended by the Batman. With his enigmatic motivations, infectious irreverence, and selfless devotion to evil, Joker never fails to provoke a host of philosophical questions.
Joker and Philosophy plumbs the existential depths of the most popular of Gotham City’s gallery of villains with an abundance of style, wit, and intelligence. Bringing together essays by a diverse panel of acclaimed scholars and philosophers, this engaging, highly readable book delves into the motivations, psychology, and moral philosophy of the character for whom mayhem and chaos are a source of pure delight. Easily accessible yet philosophically substantial chapters address the comics, animated movies, television shows, video games, and live-action films, including memorable portrayals by Heath Ledger in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight and Joaquin Phoenix in Todd Phillips’ Joker and its upcoming sequel Joker: Folie à Deux.
Joker and Philosophy offers deep insights into moral and philosophical questions such as:
- What is a sane response to a mad world?
- Can laughter be liberating?
- Is civilization a thin veneer over our natural lawlessness?
- Can violence ever be justified in response to an unjust social order?
- Is one bad day really all it takes to create a villain?
Exploring a broad range of timeless issues of human nature, the metaphysics of freedom, the nature of identity, good and evil, political and social philosophy, aesthetics, and much more, Joker and Philosophy: Why So Serious? is a must-read for all fans of one of the most fascinating villains in the DC comics universe.
Jadual kandungan
Notes on Contributors ix
Introduction: ‘There Were These Two Guys in a Lunatic Asylum …’ 1
Part I ‘Is It Just Me or Is It Getting Crazier Out There?’–Living with the Absurd 3
1 It’s All Just a Sick Joke: Joker, Batman, and the Absurd 5
Erich Christiansen
2 ‘Do I Look Like a Man with a Plan?’: The Joker as a Daoist Wild Card 14
Ryan Harte and Alba Curry
3 The Dionysian Clown: Analyzing the Fool through Nietzsche’s Philosophy 22
Marco Favaro
4 The Clown Prince of Chaos: Philosophy and the Fear of Indetermination 32
Alberto Morán Roa
Part II ‘I’m an Agent of Chaos’–The Good, the Bad, and the Crazy 39
5 Good and Evil: The Two Jokers in Plato’s Deck of Cards 41
James Lawler
6 Radical Evil, Diabolical Evil, and The Dark Knight’s Joker 49
George A. Dunn
7 ‘When the Chips Are Down, These Civilized People, They’ll Eat Each Other’: The Joker’s Anti-Hobbesian State of Nature 59
Damien K. Picariello
8 You Get What You F****** Deserve 68
Greg Littmann
Part III ‘When You Bring Me Out, Can You Introduce Me as Joker?’–Joker’s Identity 77
9 From Momus to the Joker: Genealogy of an Anti-Hero 79
Massimiliano L. Cappuccio
10 Tell a Joke, Be a Hero: Joker and the Trickster Archetype 88
Andrea Zanin
11 The Contradictory Clown Prince of Crime 96
Roy T. Cook and Nathan Kellen
12 ‘If I Am Going to Have a Past, I Prefer It to Be Multiple Choice’: The Joker, Madness, and Metafiction 106
Jan Forsman
13 Madness in Relation: The Autonomy of a Joke 117
Shaun Respess
Part IV ‘Their Morals, Their Code-It’s a Bad Joke’–Joker’s Justice and Political Philosophy 127
14 More on Joker: From Apolitical Nihilism to a New Left–Or Why Trump Is No Joker 129
Slavoj Zizek
15 ‘If It Was Me Dying on the Sidewalk, You’d Walk Right over Me’: Joker’s Guide to Responding to Injustice 139
Luke Howie
16 Battleground Gotham: Joker’s War on Capitalism 148
Clint Jones
Part V ‘Why So Serious?’–Laughter, Humor, and Satire 157
17 In Praise of Joker 159
Walter Barta and Emily Vega
18 Joker–The Epitome of Humor in Three Silly Acts 169
Jarno Hietalahti
19 Ha-Ha-Ha! I’m Going to Die!: Laughing at Death with Joker, Jerry, and Deleuze 176
Corry Shores
20 ‘Perhaps Even Laughter Still Has a Future’: Joker’s Carnivalesque Politics 186
Utku Cansu
Part VI ‘You and I Are Destined to Do This Forever’–Significant Others, Reason, and Sanity 197
21 ‘Puddin” Her Place: Harley Quinn as Joker’s Enslaved Lover 199
Elizabeth Kusko and Caleb Mc Gee Husmann
22 The Stoic Punchline of ‘One Bad Day’ 207
Matt Hummel
23 The Joke’s on You: Brains, Responsibility, and the Myth of Mental Illness Revisited 215
Thomas D. Harter
24 Joker and the Need for Fathers and Family 225
Kody W. Cooper
Mengenai Pengarang
MASSIMILIANO L. CAPPUCCIO is a Senior Researcher in the School of Engineering & Technology of the University of New South Wales Canberra, Australia. He has contributed to several Pop Culture and Philosophy titles and edited a collection of essays on The Matrix.
GEORGE A. DUNN is a research fellow at the Institute for the Marxist Study of Religion in a New Era at Hangzhou City University, China, and a community associate at Indiana University Indianapolis. He is an editor of The Hunger Games and Philosophy and True Blood and Philosophy and has written chapters in books in the Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture series on Terminator, Iron Man, Battlestar Galactica, and Mad Men.
JASON T. EBERL is Professor of Health Care Ethics and Philosophy and Director of the Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University, USA. He is the editor of Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy and co-editor of The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy, The Ultimate Star Trek and Philosophy, Sons of Anarchy and Philosophy, and The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan.
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